All round resonance from 'nonsense' :: Storm in Rahulspeak
- Sangai Express Editorial :: September 30, 2013 -

Complete nonsense. It should be torn and thrown away.

Had this come from any lesser mortal, it would have been taken as someone expressing his or her opinion on an issue.

But not when it comes from Rahul Baba, anointed heir of the Congress and someone who has 'unofficially' been projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Congress party in the upcoming Parliamentary election in 2014.

The dust that has been kicked up by the 'nonsense' tag given to the Ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet to nullify the ruling of the Supreme Court to disqualify all convicted Parliamentarians and Members of Legislative Assembly, far from addressing the core issue, has taken a completely different turn, with the Opposition parties, particularly the BJP training their guns on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and drawing the conclusion that it amounts to belittling the high office of the Prime Minister.

There may be some truth and merit in the observation of the BJP, but in the process of piggy riding on the outburst of the Gandhi scion, lies the danger of sidelining the core issue, which the Supreme Court has brought to the public domain.

Stopping criminals from stepping into the august floor of Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, that is.

A responsible Opposition should have debated on the merits and demerits of the Ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet, but instead what the country is witnessing today is the Opposition parties, led by the BJP, capitalising on the opinion passed by a Congress MP, who happens to belong to the Gandhi family.

An indication that the obsession with the name Gandhi is not confined to the Congress alone. It is here that questions ought to be raised on the position of the BJP and its allies on the ruling of the Supreme Court.

What is the take of the Opposition parties on the Ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet ?

Has any meaningful debate, discussion and observations come forth from the Opposition on this point ?

As things stand today, there has been no elaborate or sincere discussion on the ruling of the Supreme Court as well as on the Ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet.

Instead the focus has shifted on the opinion passed by Rahul Gandhi, who is not in the Union Council of Ministers with the guns trained on the Prime Minister and the chair of the Prime Minister.

Something which would not be prescribed to make Indian democracy a vibrant and healthy one.

This is a testing time for Prime Miniser Dr Manmohan Singh.

A man largely perceived to be honest to the core, but projected and that too successfully to a certain extent by the Opposition, as a weak Prime Minister, the good doctor has to battle not only the Opposition but also forces from within his own party.

It is hard to believe that a man like Dr Manmohan Singh decided to swim with the opinion of his Cabinet colleagues on the ruling of the Supreme Court and give his stamp of approval on the Ordinance.

Political compulsion ? Perhaps it is this, especially with Parliamentary elections round the corner or it could be a case of the Prime Minister succumbing to pressures, which has not helped his personal cause in any way.

Weak Prime Minister is the whip which the BJP has been banking on for years now and the recent Ordinance and the backlash from Rahul Gandhi has only gone to add some degree of legitimacy to the stand of the BJP.

Whatever the case, what cannot be sidelined with the wave of the hand is the fact that trying to take political mileage from the 'nonsense' outburst from Rahul Gandhi will not do the country and the people any good.

It was an opinion passed by, perhaps the second most important man in the Congress party, but the outburst should be seen in its correct perspective.

It should not be interpreted as publicly humiliating the Prime Minister but should ideally be seen as the need to review the Ordinance so that convicted people are not allowed to enter the portals of Parliament and the State Assemblies.

It should not be solely seen as an internal affair of the Congress party, for the core issue is about the ruling of the Supreme Court and the decision of the Union Cabinet to nullify it.

This is a matter that concerns all the citizens of the land. Solely projecting the 'nonsense' outburst of Rahul Gandhi as belittling the chair of the Prime Minister would be belittling an issue which concerns everyone and not only Rahul Gandhi.