Read the writing on the wall by Bipin Sharma

The Modi juggernaut is once again all set to storm the capital city Delhi and the states of Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir in the forthcoming elections. Albeit, the BJP and its allies may not be able to cobble up the desired 44 seats for forming the next government, it will certainly make a big dent in the share of National Conference and the Congress vote share bank.

For the PDP government too, it will be an uphill task, and if one were to evaluate as per the recent poll prediction reports, the PDP too will not be anywhere near the majority mark. Thus it will either be a hung house, or political parties working up some permutation and combination to form the next government in the state that has perpetually remained on the boil.

On the other hand, Lalu Yadav, Sharad Yadav and company are working round the clock to stitch an alliance of all the “secular parties”. While all such parties would unanimously attribute it to ‘secularism vs communalism’ ideological fight, the fact remains that it is actually the threat of the ever increasing Modi charisma on not just the national front, but also the global arena, that is driving parties such as the TMC, Left, Congress, JD (U), SP and (even the BSP in the near future) to come on forum by shedding their age old differences for remaining politically relevant.

For BJP and their allies, the ‘Achhe Din’ have begun with massive victories in Haryana and Maharashtra, but for Congress, the troubles are just beginning to grow as they have not only been routed in their two key bastions, but the chorus to bring a non-Gandhi leader at the helm of the affairs too is slowly, but surely beginning to gain momentum. Political pundits say that the slugfest could see a face-off between the old Gandhi family loyalists and the progressive thinking segment that is so earnestly wanting the party bigwigs to read the writing on the wall.

Though defection has been happening since time immemorial when a political party is fishing in troubled waters, the Congress party is today facing its biggest challenge ever. On one hand, there is a great deal of discontentment regarding the leadership of the party, while on the other hand, there is the large looming threat of action being initiated against some party bigwigs in connection with their role in some of the most sensational scams that have come to light in the recent times.

As of now, the Modi led government may seem to have adopted a ‘slow and steady’ approach over the UPA regime scams, the day is not far when a high level inquiry panel would be instituted for probing the various scams that were unraveled in the second half of the UPA-II regime.

Added to this, there is a certain perception in the media that the Gandhi scion is not as inclined as his mother or late father Rajiv Gandhi in full time politics. The same is evident from not just how he dozed off during one of an extremely crucial Parliament session, but from the fact that he has really done nothing worthwhile to motivate his party cadres subsequent to their crushing defeat in the 2014 general elections.

Well if this really seems to be the case, then both Rahul and his mother Sonia Gandhi should take the next logical step, that of anointing a non-Gandhi Leader at the helm of the affairs. However that too seems a distant probability as a slight mention of a possibility of a non-Gandhi leader at the leader by none other than the veteran P. Chidambaram too was not taken sportingly by the Party top brass. The conspicuous absence of Chidambaraam from Nehru’s 125^th birth anniversary celebrations said it all.

If the Congress scion Rahul Gandhi does really anoint a non-Gandhi leader at the top, his act would be akin to what his mother did few years ago by delegating Manmohan Singh to the top chair. The idea of a non-Gandhi will help Rahul Gandhi introspect on his flaws and eventually help him in the longer run to emerge even stronger in the times to come. After all, the name ‘Gandhi’ is not going anywhere, and is bound to do wonders when the present day NDA led government will run out of ideas, and steam. If cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties, politics happens to be a game of musical chair.

The media projection of pitting Ra Ga vs Na Mo was erroneous as the two are entirely different individuals with an altogether different upbringing. The young Gandhi scion was bound to crumble under pressure which is precisely why he needs to take a break, and work in consolidating the party at various levels, and at the very ground level.

He should bear in mind the classic instance of his fellow MP colleague Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who relinquished the captain’s post when it was hindering in his performance as a batsman which happened to be his key role and responsibility.

Amidst all this, another school of thought proposes to bring Priyanka at some stage or the other might for infusing new life into the Grand old party of the country. This too would be a hara-kiri as it would be difficult for Congress to disassociate Priyanka from her husband Robert Vadra who has for long been hogging the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

Quite naturally parties such as the JD (U), SP, BSP, DMK, Shiv Sena may not admit the Modi charisma on the camera, but hearts of hearts, many would secretly be striving to emulate or even surpass the charisma of Modi. Modi’s phenomenal rockstar like performance and reception in both USA and Australia has not just won him more fans the world over, but even his political adversaries have been discreetly applauding his charisma. If some political adversaries have chosen to refrain from lauding any of Modi’s decisions or announcements, that too is fair by all means in a democratic set up such as India. However what seems absurd is when politician’s especially the seasoned ones make absurd and preposterous insinuations that the crowds were stage managed by BJP during PM Modi’s overseas trips. If such noble intellects are doing so, to simply steal the thunder that Indian PM Modi enjoys, then it is fair, but if they have made the suggestions on a serious note, then all one can say is that they have not read the ‘crystal clear’ writing on the wall.

Time for some serious introspection for all such leaders who need to come out of their