Hydra-Headed Alliance

APART FROM FLYERS on a couple of occasions inserted in my morning newspapers by a BJP candidate for Lok Sabha, there is little sign of electioneering in the national capital. With polling scheduled for Delhi only on May 25, rival contenders may still be conserving resources for closer to the D-Day. No point peaking too early. Even the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor excise scam by the Directorate of Enforcement has failed to energise the AAP support base, though party leaders desperately try to whip up sympathy for the fallen anti-corruption messiah. The I.N.D.I.A. bloc meeting at the Ramlila Maidan convened to protest the arrest of the AAP boss drew a poor crowd. The rally would have completely flopped had the ruling party in Punjab not trucked in a few thousand people. At least, the meeting had one redeeming feature—it brought leaders of the hydra-headed alliance on one platform for an afternoon. Since that meeting, the alliance leaders have gone their separate ways, fighting bitterly over seats in most states. The erstwhile rivals had hurriedly come together for fear of Narendra Modi, but still find it difficult to shed old antipathies for the sake of mutual survival. The public recriminations over seat sharing could well mean that instead of hanging separately, they will now hang together, left pondering after the polls whether they would have been better off had they fought separately instead of under a sham alliance.

SO WOEFUL IS THE once mighty Congress that it is unable to locate three brave souls willing to take on the BJP challenge in the capital, though AAP, its ally in Delhi but rival in Punjab, had declared its four candidates weeks ago. The fact that the Delhi Congress is headed by someone who after the 2019 polls had left the party to join BJP tells its own story.

LET US STAY with Congress. As if the Gandhi triumvirate of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka was not enough to weaponise BJP’s attack on dynasts (parivaarvad), or, as Modi likes to put it, naamdaars, yet another member of the family, through marriage, is bitten by the political bug. Some years ago, Robert Vadra had indicated his desire to contest from the erstwhile Gandhi family bastion, Amethi. At the time, he had claimed that “people want me to contest but I will decide at the right time”. That time seems to have come going by his interview with a news agency. He claims people of Amethi “want me to contest… they have put up posters demanding that I contest. I know I enjoy their support.”

Now, the same sycophantic factotums who put up his posters could be blamed for Vadra’s delusions, while the Gandhis themselves seem reluctant to contest either from Raebareli or Amethi. Congress is yet to declare its nominees for the twin seats hitherto reserved for them. Since Sonia Gandhi has now got herself elected to Rajya Sabha, critics say to retain the Type-VIII-plus 10 Janpath bungalow, she should grant the son-in-law his wish. It may be foolish courage to contest from Amethi, but at the very least, his entry would lend colour and curiosity to an otherwise listless poll slated for all of Uttar Pradesh, which seems to be in thrall of the Modi-Yogi jugalbandi.

DESPITE TALL CLAIMS by AAP of having wrought wonders in the educational and health sectors, conditions remain far from satisfactory. Not a day passes without hapless patients being turned away by the Delhi government-run hospitals for want of functioning equipment or basic medicines. As for the government-run schools, the less said, the better. With an eye on results, the drop-out rate at the pre-Board levels has risen sharply with a large percentage of students being held back in lower standards. The Delhi High Court, the other day, castigated the education department. “Broken desks, serious shortage of classrooms, absentee teachers, 144 students in one classroom, two different subjects being taught simultaneously with one-half of the class looking in one direction, the other half in other.” The education secretary present in the court meekly accepted the above findings of a court-appointed inquiry. One of the schools under review was run from a tin shed. Viva the AAP revolution in education!

About The Author

Virendra Kapoor

Virendra Kapoor is a political commentator based in Delhi