Congress: A Seasoned Strategist

Yet again the Congress proved why it has survived nearly 50 years ruling (and not governing the country). The happenings of the last 3-4 months are a proof of why the Grand Old Party of India is also the shrewdest when it comes to realpolitik. Ever since UPA II has come to power there has been a haze of price rise surrounding the Government every now and then. And this haze has been on the upsurge especially from the latter half of 2009 at a time when the BJP was involved in its own internal battle, and the CPI (M) limping. There were a few who could speak for the common of this country.

Come 2010 and the BJP this time overcoming its internal issues finally showed signs of standing on its feet. The first external agenda for the new Party President was to “Capitalize on price rise” and demonstrate “politics of development” unlike what BJP has always been accused of getting involved in. And ever since this was known in public, the Congress pressed the panic button. Late December and early January saw the media more focussed on the Liberhan Commission Report which was followed by Women's Reservation Bill. Everyone including the Congress knew that the Bill doesn’t stand a chance of getting passed in the Lok Sabha but still went ahead with the introduction of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha and succeeded in breaking the Opposition camp which for the first time was standing united (BJP+Left+Yadavs). Then came non-issues (compared to price rise) like Modi being summoned up by the SIT which was followed by the Naxal debate or say presently the Tharoor controversy. But this present approach to the Tharoor controversy makes me feel “daal mein kuch kaala hai”.

Why is the Congress pulling Tharoor saga so much? Either get him out or reaffirm the faith in the MOS for External Affairs. But no! The clever Congress Think-tank sees this as an opportunity to over-shadow the fact that inflation had crossed 9% in February and is expected to cross 10% this April.

This is the time when the BJP President has ambitiously planned the April 21st "Delhi Chalo, Parliament Ghero, Jail Bharo" pilot project wherein 10 lakh BJP karykartas are expected to reach Delhi - attend a rally at Ramleela maidan, march to the parliament and then court arrest. At a time when such a big event has been planned by the BJP which would have intended to not just mobilize the cadre but also seek positive media attention; Congress' Tharoor has managed to over-shadow it. And as the BJP foolishly expects to win brownie points in the Parliament over the Tharoor issue and waits for PM to come back and give a statement it loses out to cash in on its most ambitious-ever initiative since the new President took over the party.

Is this actually an indicator of a rift between the Party Parliamentary Board and the Party Organizational wing per se? Or is it a failure of the BJP Think-tank and strategists who failed to see this trap coming? Or the BJP purposely wants to keep the rally a low profile event till the 21st as it isn't sure about its success? Also, the question which arises is, is this an attempt by an anti-Tharoor lobby in the Congress to settle scores with Tharoor, who had been at the receiving end of Madam's favours. The answers if not to all the questions but most of them can only be answered by BJP of course and no one else.

The entire five month drama has yet again proved and asserted why Congress is sitting at the helm of affairs and BJP still limping back. Also, by making BJP play the gallery in both the cases i.e. Women's Bill as well as the Tharoor debate, the Congress has obviously gained much more than BJP who could not even contest the Women's Reservation Bill on democratic grounds. The Congress indeed has succeeded in killing 2 birds (taking steam off both Chidambaram-Digvijay controversy and BJP price rise agitation)

But the question I want to ask the BJP is - "Is Tharoor more important than Price Rise?" especially when the Congress has managed to take away BJP urban middle class vote-bank with it in the last elections and is furthering into BJP's core constituency. The BJP knows this and saw an opportunity to yet again assert itself as the representative of urban middle class by raking up the Price Rise issue which seems to yet again get hijacked by the Congress.

Price Rise might be important for the masses of the country but not for Congress and the BJP Parliamentary committee.