Political bankruptcy & narrow mindedness

Political madness in the country seems to have reached a new high in the country. There was a time when the country used to unite on national issues and give an exemplary demonstration of unity in diversity, cutting across party lines.

But now all parties seem to be facing a leadership vacuum. While the senior leaders who have crossed seventies are not able to exercise an absolute control over their respective parties, the younger generation has not been trained to emerge as leaders with statesman-like qualities. This is the impact of leaders, not allowing the second line of leadership to grow in any political party. Even a great leader like Indira Gandhi did not allow the second line leadership to grow and we are seeing the levels of political immaturity of the present-day leaders in Congress. The regional parties are no different.

This sounds a bit harsh. But then this is the scenario in all political parties across the country. The young leadership, whether it be Rahul Gandhi or Akhilesh Yadav or for that matter any other leader belonging to any regional party, should understand the responsibilities of an opposition party and the role it should play in the society. Most of the young leaders have not been trained from the grassroots level. They are what they are because of the policy of succession in all parties.

Their main or perhaps the only aim is to defeat the ruling party and come to power. Fine, nothing wrong as every political party wants to come to power. But then they are not able to earn the goodwill of the people to defeat the ruling party. That is because these parties had failed in the past or are not able to convince the people that their policies are better than those of the party in power. Elections, hence, have become a game to be played with money power and muscle power and by dividing people into castes and sub-castes.

Let me cite the recent incident that took place in Visakhapatnam to explain how our politicians are behaving. Two groups of fishermen in Visakhapatnam clashed with each other, opposing the use of a certain variety of fish nets by the other group and the clash led to burning of six boats while they were fishing in the sea.

Similarly, the young political leaders clash with the ruling party even on frivolous issues. They stall the parliament or assembly, shout slogans, force adjournment of the proceedings and waste public money. This has become a routine affair which to my mind is nothing different from the clash which the fishermen keep indulging in on the issues like which net the other group is using to catch fish in the Sea. Every party has its own agenda, and no one bothers about what people really want.

Decency has been thrown to the wind. They don't hesitate to make fun of even serious issues. Let us take the example of the serious security breach during the Prime Minister's visit to Punjab and the reaction not only of the Chief Minister of Punjab but also of the Congress leaders in Delhi. For them, what happened in Punjab was more like a comedy. The Congress leaders tried to label it as a sort of 'Tit for Tat.' The Centre treated the farmers in an inhuman manner and what the Modi faced was reaction to it was the sum and substance of their statement.

Unfortunately, here in Telangana, TRS working president K T Rama Rao, too, seems to have got carried away by such thoughts and made similar comments. TRS was peeved over the remarks made by BJP national president J P Nadda a day prior to this incident when the state BJP president Bandi Sanjay was arrested. The sharp reaction from the TRS was understandable and expected. In political rhetoric, such "Tu Tu mein mein' is understandable. But making childish comments on the security of Prime Minister is not correct.

Irrespective of who is in power, the fact is that there was a very serious security lapse and violation of protocol. It was an official visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi not BJP leader Narendra Modi. As per protocol, the Chief Secretary, the DGP and other officials should have received him at the airport. In fact, there is no bar even if the Chief Minister decides to go to airport to receive the Prime Minister. But in this case, none of them went to the airport. When such VVIP movement is there, the rule book says that even if the PM or the President is scheduled to take a chopper to the venue, alternative road plan should also be kept ready in case of any emergency. But even that was not followed in Punjab.

While anyone with a sense of responsibility would have expressed serious concern over such developments, the AICC leaders in Delhi and the Chief Minister of Punjab did not express any regret. On the other hand, they said they did not know that the Prime Minister would go by road. The Chief Minister cannot be so blind that he did not know how the weather outside was. Any sensible and responsible government would have sought weather report and the DGP and the CS would have worked out the security plan in coordination with the SPG. This clearly indicates that the protest was politically motivated and not a genuine lightening dharna by the farmers.

The SPG gives a minute-to-minute programme schedule to the state Chief Secretary and the DGP and all security arrangements for the Prime Minister are shared with the local State governments prior to the visit and even joint discussions are conducted ahead of the visit in order to ensure the high level of security that is required and is maintained.

Still, the Chief Minister had the cheek to say that they did not know that the PM would go by road. He also said his CS was down with Covid and hence did not go to the airport. If CS was not available, his second in command should have gone to the airport. It is a matter of shame that the leaders who swear by the Constitution and take oath to protect it in letter and spirit act in such a manner, sending wrong message across the border. It is nothing but a bankruptcy of thought and narrow political mindedness. Even two days after the incident, the AICC leaders say it is a ploy by the Centre to impose President's rule in Punjab. Mistakes do happen and if accepted gracefully, it would demonstrate the statesmanlike quality of a leader.

In the past we had seen how the same Congress party raised a hue and cry and enacted a high drama on the floor of the Parliament when the route of the flight carrying Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi was changed or choppers not allowed to land due to bad weather. We saw how they accused the government of the day of conspiracy to harm their leaders.

But they see nothing wrong when the Prime Minister was held up by some protestors close to enemy country. For them it is not a major issue. Since it was a government programme, the CM should have personally monitored all arrangements which apparently did not happen. Was it under the instructions of the AICC? If so who? This is the most important question for which no reply would ever be known.

The Congress leaders are not ashamed to say that PM had to go back due to poor attendance at the venue of the public meeting. Did Modi turn back or was he forced to do so as his security was worried over the development? It was not a BJP public meeting. It was a government function where the PM was to launch developmental activities worth Rs 46,500 crore and it was the duty of the Chief Minister to be present at the function. But he ignored all basic protocols. When will these leaders learn to say, 'Country First?'

Even if for argument sake we accept that the PM had decided to travel by road at the eleventh hour, the most important question is how did private persons get access to PM's route if it was decided at the last minute? Why did farmers think of protesting near the flyover when the PM was scheduled to reach the venue by chopper? They should have organised protest at the venue it they wanted. It is the most reprehensible act on the part of the state administration. Let us hope that such lapses would never again occur in any state. This only indicates the level of political immaturity being displayed by the present genre of politicians.