LESSONS OF THE CENTURY

As the UPA-II Government completes 1 year and the Congress marks it’s 100th year there is no doubt that the Congress is the strongest political party in India. Also the fact that it is the Nehru-Gandhi leadership that has kept the party united.
Our senior Congress Ministers as we have all witnessed in the last couple of months, not only have big egos but big loud mouths too. We have noticed Shashi Tharoor speaking out of turn and we had Digvijay Singh writing an article in a daily newspaper about his colleague’s department which is very inappropriate and uncalled for. We have Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal who are very sharp and intelligent. But I think they have a problem in not being able to control their sharp tongue and wit. The leader of this team Manmohan Singh is just the opposite; he doesn’t air his views, he waits patiently to be signaled as to what has to be done. This intellectual technocrat has performed his duty as Prime Minister according to his party ‘The Congress’ brilliantly. He is a firm believer of Mahatma Gandhi’s “Hear no evil, See no evil and Talk no evil”. The UPA President Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Rahul Gandhi have acted very wisely by choosing their advisors. These advisors are low key; they deliver; they know the pulse of everything and also know exactly how much liberty is to be taken; they are knowledgeable about everything; they have honest sources for their information which is not filtered as it goes up to the UPA Chairperson.
Whatever talk there is about the differences between Prime Minister’s office and the UPA Chairperson’s office, they are all false. They work closely together. The troubleshooters like senior Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Chidambaram are delivering for the Congress. They are experienced, mature and action guys. But it is sad to see that Prime Minister has not been able to reign in the members of his Cabinet or Senior General Secretaries who comment publicly on ministries and departments. It is unfortunate that some General Secretaries comment publicly on ministries and departments. They should infact air their views within the A.I.C.C offices and not to newspapers. Arrogance and politics never pay in the long run.
The partners of the UPA-II have quietly gone on into their dens as the core committee of the Congress showed them their true colours in a subtle mature manner. It was long overdue as these alliance parties were really riding high. They managed to take plum portfolios and make enough gains for personal reasons and for their small regional party fundings atleast for their lifetime. The senior partner the Congress has also managed to convey to them that they will not be blind to their faults. How long can you go on piggy riding on the Congress? And then flex your muscles too.
It is on the whole been a great year for Congress with it’s ups’ and downs’. It has successfully managed to get a lot of their things done, great negotiations and most importantly realizing that the Congress has to not give in to the tantrums of senior Ministers, senior Congress men or bullying partners.