Kya Pappu pass ho gaya
PAPPU, as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been pejoratively called for several years by the ruling BJP, has cleared the people’s test, as we know by now, with pretty good marks. Not with a ‘first class first’, as was said in the good old days, nor with ‘distinction’ or ‘flying colours’, because that would have meant that the Congress or the INDIA bloc was voted to power in the recent elections. But certainly enough to make a difference in the 18th Lok Sabha — as well as in the rest of the country.
According to this hyper-realist school of thought, warm and fuzzy speeches in Parliament, like those made by Rahul and Mahua, are, frankly, irrelevant.
Rahul’s speech in this short, inaugural session in which he invoked the gods and saints — from Shiva to Guru Nanak and Jesus Christ — as he sought to draw a distinction between the all-encompassing spirit of Hinduism and a more muscular Hindutva that the BJP has recently espoused, was long needed to be made in Parliament.
Meanwhile, fiery Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra quoted both Pablo Neruda and Puneet Sharma (“tum kaun ho bey/mujhe poochhtey ho/iss desh se mera rishta kitna gehra hai”) to assert the new ‘freedom from fear’ that she insisted was the new leitmotif of the land.
Significantly, neither Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP nor Nitish Kumar’s JDU, which help keep Prime Minister Modi in power, made much of a noise. It was almost as if they didn’t care. Seems both Naidu and Nitish are keenly aware — despite the latter’s alleged medical condition — that this is the time to strike while the iron is hot. Meaning, now is the time to demand cash from the Centre to refurbish their states, with or without ‘special category status’.
Naidu especially, who furnishes 16 key MPs to the NDA, well understands the nature of his newfound power. He’s been in a few political parties, doesn’t mind the tag of a turncoat, and as Modi’s ally intends to extract his pound of flesh. So, on Thursday in Delhi, he met six ministers — Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Manohar Lal Khattar and Hardeep Puri — apart from the PM. The Centre, he added, should set up a mechanism to ‘effectively coordinate’ with his state’s officials for ‘timely intervention’ in the issues flagged — from building a ring road around the new, unbuilt capital at Amravati to demanding that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announce the establishment of a new oil refinery for Andhra Pradesh in her Budget speech.
It’s not clear how much money Naidu wants. Some say Rs 1 lakh crore; others say half of that. What is crystal clear is that he is going to get it. According to this hyper-realist school of thought, warm and fuzzy speeches in Parliament, like those made by Rahul and Mahua, are, frankly, irrelevant. That Modi 3.0 will last only as long as Naidu remains fully satisfied, and that therefore it will be in Modi’s interest to keep him in that state of pleasure.
Moreover, it’s not as if Delhi doesn’t have the money — it does. It also has the smartest bureaucrats to figure out how to pay it out. Both Modi and Naidu know that. Nor has it escaped them that Nitish may be the more dangerous man today because Bihar will go to the polls next year and that a desperate man may go to any lengths to get his needs met – including switching political parties. Fortunately for all sides concerned, India is one of the few sweet spots in the world today, because its economy is doing fairly well — although it’s another matter whether a substantial part of the money should be used to dress up just two states.
Which version of Delhi, then, is more true? The one that insists that India has changed because the BJP is not just no longer in majority, but on the back foot, and that people will no longer bend towards the ruling party’s majoritarian agenda? Or the one that believes that Parliament must necessarily remain an upscale debating club, because the real exercise of power will always take place outside?
As always, of course, India abhors either extreme, veers towards the middle, much preferring a little bit of this and a little bit of that. In the exactly one month since ‘the people’ cut the BJP and the PM down to size, the message has gone out loud and clear — the government can no longer ride roughshod over an empowered Opposition.
So, even if it sticks in their gut, the BJP — and the Speaker — will have to listen to the recently elected 232 MPs from INDIA; they aren’t that far behind the BJP’s numbers, anyway. Jagdambika Pal — more famous for being chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for one day — may or may not have understood Mahua when he sat in the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair as she fulminated about ‘losing her uterus’ along with her seat when she was expelled last year from the House, but he allowed her to speak for a full 28 minutes.
Significantly, the opposite is also true. Look at Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh and Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid. They have been held under the National Security Act and UAPA, respectively — Amritpal is lodged in Dibrugarh, Assam, and Rashid in Tihar jail, Delhi. But both were brought to Parliament at state expense on Friday — Amritpal via a chopper, then a flight and then a convoy of cars — to take the oath, swearing allegiance to the Constitution. Both have been accused of spreading secession, and yet their families as well as radical supporters back home realise that the only way the rest of India will offer either man an understanding — and even sympathetic — ear is if in the exercise of their vocal cords, they also moderate their rhetoric.
The question now is, kya Pappu pass ho gaya? Has Pappu passed the people’s test? Certainly Rahul Gandhi must keep up the pressure, but if Hathras is a yardstick, the answer must be a cautious yes.
