Challenging the article of the Hindu – “The Little Dramas in Gujarat”
Shiv Visvanathan had written an article titled “The Little
Dramas in Gujarat” which was published in the Hindu dated 28-10-2017. The
article is attached with this mail.
He is a Professor in Jindal Global Law School and Director,
Centre for the Study of Knowledge Systems. As he is a Professor in a Law School
apart from holding a position of importance in the Study of Knowledge Systems,
one can reasonably expect a reasoned and logical and cogent presentation of his
views.
If one hates Modi for his doings and non-doings and even
wrong doings, we can accept or reject his views based on our own understandings
of things presented. One can even tolerate if the same person had love and
affection towards Modi’s challenger – viz. Rahul – but, the author should
present the picture as a professor of law and logic that appeals to so called ‘Knowledge
Systems’ of which he heads.
Let me straightway plunge
into the subject of discussion.
The author writes about Modi as under:
One sees huge hoardings of Modi, but he seems a distant god.
The god might land up to announce a new ferry or spate of new projects. BUT AS
A HOARDING HE IS STIFF, REMOTE AND SILENT.
My observations: I am wondering how can the author expect a hoarding picture to talk? The
other epithets such as ‘stiff, remote etc.’
are not to be from the pen of a professor – he had stooped down to a level of a
third rate politician!
Same author writes about Rahul thus:
Watching Rahul Gandhi or Hardik Patel, one senses AN
ANIMATION, A NEW DRIVE. GANDHI FOR CHANGE LOOKS FRESH. THE PINK TURBAN ON HIS
HEAD SUITS HIM. THERE IS A LOOK OF EASE, OF CONFIDENCE, OF HAVING FOR ONCE A
NEW REPERTOIRE OF TACTICS.
My Comments: Gandhi looks fresh for the
author, as he started appearing with shaven face – which becomes a major point
to win the PM seat or the Gujarat State Election, as per the author perhaps!
The author goes on to portray Gandhi having a look of ease, of confidence, of
having for once a new repertoire of tactics – with no supporting facts.
Actually the tag of ‘Pappu’ is yet to be erased for which Rahul is yet to come
of age.
IN FACT, ONE SEES A REVERSAL OF POSITIONS, ALMOST AS IF IT
IS A MIRAGE. MODI PLAYS THE INCUMBENT OF DISTANT DELHI WHICH HE HAS SO OFTEN
DEMONISED IN THE PAST, AND RAHUL PLAYS THE LOCAL CHALLENGER.
My Comments: Modi was born, brought up here
in Gujarat and he was CM for a continuous period till he became the PM. Hence
he is more LOCAL than Rahul. Rahul may be a challenger – but he cannot be
called a LOCAL challenger.
GANDHI FOR ONCE SEEMS CONTENT AND CAPABLE IN THE DRIVER’S
SEAT. HE LOOKS FRESH, WELL-GROOMED, WELL-SHAVED, HOLDING FORTH CONFIDENTLY ON
DEMONETISATION AND GST. THERE IS NO LONGER A SENSE OF FATALISM, OF THE
INEVITABLITY OF DEFEAT.
My Comments: Authors’ comments of Gandhi –
Fresh, Well-groomed, well-shaved etc. – are the repeats of earlier observations
of the author. I don’t know why the author is very much worried about Rahul’s
beard and his appearance rather than his power of speech and understanding of
various problems facing our country.
Gandhi is young enough for such a game. But more importantly,
this has to be a collective exercise. One needs a panchayat of thinkers to tap
into fresh problems on the ground and integrate it all into the making of
policy.
My comments: The author in the course of his
essay admitted that Congress cannot unseat the BJP either at the Centre or at the
Gujarat Elections – but, the author wanted Congress to indict a few upsets at
the State level so as to add space to the future of regional politics. ‘Panchayat
Thinking’ instead of ‘State Thinking’ is clearly retrograde steps, as State policies
are to be quite different from Panchayats – but, the author advocate this
approach to Rahul to win Gujarat Election at least.
The
author is all praise for Rahul to rope in Alpesh Tahakor or Hardik Patel to
support Congress in the forthcoming Gujarat Election. But the author had
conveniently forgotten that the same Hardik Patel called Congress as ‘Chor’ –
while BJP being a Big Chor. Now Hardik
Patel challenged Rahul to take a stand on reservations for Patels or face
consequences.
It is
to be watched how Rahul – fresh looking, well-groomed, well shaved, Pink
Turbanned – is going to handle Hardik Patel.
Let good sense prevail to the Hindu Newspaper in selection
of articles.
The full text of the article published in the Hindu:
The little dramas in Gujarat
By
Shiv Visvanathan is Professor, Jindal
Global Law School and Director, Centre for the Study of Knowledge Systems
(Published in the Hindu dated 28th
October 2017)
Politics is sometimes
seen as more than a stage where a predictable plot plays out. It is seen as a
drama reflecting broader dreams and interests, a sense not just of who wins but
what the game is about. One senses this in the recent events around the Gujarat elections. Commentators reduce
the recent challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) to an aberration of the Patels. The standard caste scenarios so
readily available before the elections start playing out. Interests are no
doubt important, and it is easy to portray them in a realist scientific
language. But sometimes something more nebulous such as a sense of the
political game becomes tacitly significant.
A new script?
Watching television,
listening to expert insights between the sentences, one senses a mood of
boredom about the BJP — maybe it is a boredom of its current inevitability.
People want to see new stories, new characters, new scripts. They want to give
all players “a chance”. The word chance is no longer an English word. It has
been indigenised to mean a possibility of fairness, of luck, of an affirmative
action in politics that allows other players an opportunity to show their
mettle. Often as you talk of local candidates or a weak opposition the
electorate would say, “They need a chance.” It is a sense of openness that
sustains the quality of the political game and allows politics to often become
the world of the unexpected. Watching Gujarat, especially Gujarati TV which is
less linear than the English in allowing a play of body language and a sense of
the vernacular, one senses a different rhythm, a sense of anticipation, a need
for
In fact, one can see
it semiotically.
One sees huge hoardings of Mr. Modi but he seems a distant god. The god
might land up to announce a new ferry or spate of new projects. But as a
hoarding he is stiff, remote and silent. He is an icon.
Watching Rahul Gandhi, or Hardik Patel,
one senses an animation, a new drive. Mr. Gandhi for a change looks fresh. The pink turban on
his head suits him. There is a look of ease, of confidence, of having for once
a new repertoire of tactics. It is not just the rumour around Alpesh Thakor,
known locally for his organisation skills, or Mr. Patel’s announcement that he
is open to the Congress.
It is the tremor of
gossip that winds are changing, that new possibilities might be signalled, the
sense of playing with a different set of scenarios. It is like shuffling a set
of sub-plots and being excited even if the main frame is predictable.
In fact, one sees a reversal of positions, almost as
if it is a mirage. Mr. Modi plays the incumbent of distant Delhi which he has
so often demonised in the past, and Rahul plays the local challenger.
The
development model
The little dramas
around the BJP attempt to video Congress meetings, “offer” of bribes to Patel
dissenters adds a touch of spice, a hint that the BJP is not as confident as
earlier predicted.
There is a dramatic energy to these situations. Mr.
Gandhi for once seems content and capable in the driver’s seat. He looks fresh,
well-groomed, well-shaved, holding forth confidently on demonetisation and GST.
There is no longer a sense of fatalism, of the inevitability of defeat.
The Congress at the
local level has a few things to crow about, including performance in panchayat
elections, thanks to the skill of its State unit chief Bharat Singh Solanki.
The addition of Mr. Thakor vitaminises the party further. These are local
chieftains from local territories who know local mathematics. It also
highlights the unease among Thakors and Patels which might need fixing. Then
there is Hardik Patel, a perpetual machine of dissent and dissatisfaction,
casting doubts on whether Patels fit the Modi development model. One senses the
emergence of a politics growing beyond resentment, a feeling that development in Mr. Modi’s world may not be as
inclusive as he promises.
Watching these political
tremors (or hiccups, depending on your perspective), one senses a demand for
the different and the new. Beyond this one senses that the government has not
only alienated a few dominant castes but is indifferent to Dalit feelings and
sensibilities. The tremors of discontent combined with a new aura of competence
the Congress has begun projecting conveys the possibility of a dramatic
struggle. There is a sense that the local is emphasising its vitality again and
as a wag put it, “A dogfight in Gandhinagar maybe more important than an
election in Japan.”
Experts, used to the
predictable grids of interest group politics, who believe caste has the supreme
theme, might dismiss such speculation as trite and temporary. To this friends
in Gujarat add that the Navnirman agitation too began as a flicker in the pan.
But realistically, one senses that doubts about the economy and the spectre of
unemployment that haunts the youth are creeping in.
The BJP is seen as a split world, electorally formidable but economically
incompetent. The stars are still there but the sky is getting dimmer.
The dour pictures of
Mr. Modi and Amit Shah inadvertently add to the gloom. The BJP might return to
power at the Centre but a few upsets at the State level might add space to the
future of regional politics.
But there is a
symbolic challenge here that we must examine.
Gujarat today is
iconic of the BJP. A change in vote share, even marginal, might bruise not just
the political egos of the Modi-Shah combine, but make the BJP feel less
symbolically confident and less all knowing. They will be seen as bumblers of
electoral math on home territory, a crime the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
may not forgive the BJP for. It might create a buzz in national politics,
catalyse the voter into thinking about side bets and alternatives. The
immediate impact on the electoral fate of parties may not be so important. One
senses the BJP effort to make assurance double sure in its attempts to offload
a bonanza of lakhs of crores on the economy.
A collective
exercise
The Election
Commission has announced polling on December 9 and 14. The problem of time, one
must admit, adds a realism to speculation and daydreams. The Congress does not
have too much time to sanitise itself. The BJP, on the other hand has the RSS
ready as an electoral machine. Simultaneously it has created networks of
patronage that go deep into Gujarati society. Yet I think the recent winds of
change are important. Sometimes a set of tremors tells you more about
long-range geology than a return to normal. Somewhere one senses that there are
chinks in the BJP armour, that a clever strategy might drive deeper wedges into
its vote banks in the future. It is time the sages, shamans and planners of the
Congress read the future to plan their strategies for the present.
Mr. Gandhi is young enough for such a game. But more
importantly, this has to be a collective exercise. One needs a panchayat of
thinkers to tap into fresh problems on the ground and integrate it all into the
making of policy.
It will be
disappointing if when the voter is ready, the Congress after a fortnight of
resurgence were to return to its tired ways, content with glories of the past,
oblivious to the fact that it has not been in power for decades in Gujarat.
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