All of us probably know the G23 group in Indian Nation Congress (INC) who have openly revolted against the Gandhis. The G23 consists of the biggies in INC which INC can’t afford to ignore. Lets analyze the fold of events.
Why are they revolting?
Actually, such revolts are very common in any dynastic succession, is typically seen among all royal families. When a new dynast takes over power, he typically tries to build his own team. And the old persons serving the dynasty, who had seen the new prince growing up a kid in their eyes, don’t take the new king seriously. This results to a conflict and the old timers are typically weeded out.
Then, why this is a problem for INC? Because, the age of Kings/Queens are over. INC though is a monarchy, it has to pose as a democratic party and can’t openly claim Rahul as Prince and Sonia the queen mother.
Why did then G23 dare to revolt? There are four reasons:
First is economic. The Gandhis, during their reign have built an financial ecosystem which owes its allegiance only to Gandhi family(not to INC, nor to any other leader). The ecosystem needs the Gandhis to survive or else the ecosystem would vanish. Few example: the Dalals protesting farm laws, the corrupt people who looted the vast subsidies allocated for poor, the illegal mining lobby etc. Starting 1990s, successive Govts. (even Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Govt) and lately the Modi Govt have struck hard(and mercilessly) on the ecosystem. This has reduced the cash inflow of the lobby who sponsored the Gandhis. No Gandhi becoming the PM after 1989 is not just a coincidence. The Gandhis are sponsoring the farm protests simply because of the fact that the new farm laws will destroy their last surviving financial backers.
Second is also economic: Why did Sonia Gandhi become the INC supremo, not Menaka? The reason is simple. Sonia inherited all the money Indira Gandhi had amassed, not because of any special virtue. Modi’s initiatives to have Swiss banks disclose the details, demonetization, new black money laws etc. gave a severe blow to this wealth. Recently , we saw the deaths of Ahmed Patel and Motilal Vohra. Both were treasurers of INC, i.e. they managed the money of the Gandhis. Whether they died of their own or were killed, no one knows. But, the Gandhis have no one trust worthy to manage their wealth. All these have weakened the Gandhis.
Third is political: Why had INC been so powerful over decades? There was no alternative to INC. There was no other political party who had the ability to govern a complex country like India. We saw what happened to the Janta Party Govt. in 1977-80. But lately, starting from Vajpayee’s tenure, people have seen the BJP to be an better alternative than INC and have developed faith that BJP can manage/govern a complex country like India. BJP also, over years has also developed the skill and system to govern a country like India in a professional manner.
Fourth is also political: The Gandhis are actually Mughals and all Sunni Muslims know this very well. We (Hindus/Sikhs/Jains/Shia Muslims etc.) are actually stupid. The Mughal rule was the golden age for Sunni Muslims (not Siha or Ahmediya) in the sub continent. The Sunni Muslims, who are nearly 15-20% used to vote en-masse for Gandhis, with the sole hope to revive their Mughal glory. Any political party needs nearly 35% votes to form Govt. With another 15-20% non Sunni Muslim votes going to Congress, Gandhis could easily form the Govt at Center. But after 1990s, due to Hindu awakening and rise of many regional parties, the Hindu voters of INC have steadily gone down. Sunni Muslims still vote for INC, but with Gandhis becoming weak, they are looking for alternatives like Owasi or Ajmal etc, which has further weakened the Gandhis.
Considering all the above aspects, I feel that G23 does have a chance to win against Gandhis. Please note, G23 are not opposing dynasty because of virtue. They are preaching democracy just to ensure that they are not weeded out.
What should ideally happen, what is good for nation and what should BJP do? Lets consider the below aspects.
- We should not forget, INC is the only other political party which has got ability to govern India. That’s a rare ability. And hence it is not in nation’s interest for INC to get destroyed. It would take decades for any other political party to develop the ability.
- Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If BJP stays in power for very long, it will become corrupt just like INC. Hence, an alternative must exist for rotation of power to happen.
- The enemy of the nation are the Gandhis. If the Gandhis are booted out, INC will become a nationalist party as it was earlier.
- Hence, BJP should support the G23 covertly. G23 and BJP should keep cursing each other, but BJP and G23 should work together secretly for further weakening the Gandhis by destroying the remaining ecosystems financing them. The Gandhis are in power due to this money, if money supply goes away, they will be booted out.
- I can think of the following major ecosystems remaining: First, the farm dalal ecosystem – in order to destroy this, the new farm laws should be implemented in letter and spirit. Second, is the Bollywood/movie mafia. Third, is the sports lobby.
- BJP should also remain cautious of the fact that G23 are not paragons of virtue. But working with G23 should not be a big problem, as most of them have become old.
In nutshell, a strong democratic BJP, a strong democratic Congress (without Gandhis) and Regional parties (without Dynasts) and a rotation of power is needed for India to become a BISWAGURU. If nepotism persists in Indian politics, then India will go back again to its dark ages. And hence, destruction of the Gandhis is a first step in the direction.
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