Author: Tarun Vijay
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 25, 2011
URL: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/entry/get-soaked-in-the-rains-inside-the-rainbow-has-turned-tricoloured
It's no time to remain inside and get entangled
in the mumbo jumbo of political technicalities. Come out and feel the pulse
of the nation. The rain of change is flooding the masses and it is bad to
take refuge under umbrellas.
For once, the political leaders should forget
the colour they wear and lead the change, without any ideological inhibitions
or proprietorial technicalities. No ideology or organisation can be bigger
than the collective national good and peoples' will. Nobody understands if
some one preaches that Parliament is supreme. Yes, but it is supreme because
it reflects the peoples' will. Everybody feels Parliament must represent peoples'
mood and wishes. No flag can be greater than the Tricolour.
Feeling the void created by the absence of
a Vajpayee in the active political field, it is now Advani who people think
can take up the challenge to lead the nation towards a politically transparent
public life. He has done wonders before, he took up the issue of black money
years before anyone thought about it, initiated the idea of women's reservation
in the party and had it realized too. He changed the political idiom and language
through his powerful commitment to the 'India First' policy and later converted
the upsurge into a development oriented campaign making BJP run governments
take up poverty eradication programmes concentrating on middle class and introducing
new anti corruption laws like those in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. There may
be some hiccups and spots here and there, which people 'on the other side
' may criticize, but none can match his statesmanship and mass acceptance
and he remains a father figure who people trust as a leader above board. Can
he take up the challenge to initiate a national campaign for a clean and aam
aadmi oriented politics? I am saying this as a lay man, a common citizen and
not as a party worker. I am saying this because I am flooded with SMSes and
phone calls urging us to do something that addresses the public mood. And
one call I can't ignore was from the living legend called F.C. Kohli the father
of Indian IT. "Anna has a point. He has caught the imagination of the
common Indian. Advani is the only leader who can take up the cudgels in political
arena."
In this politically incorrect atmosphere where
a politician is hardly respected and any allegation on any khadi wearing politico
gets chipkoed like a verified truth, we need leaders who still enjoy the trust
of the masses. We have some in many other parties too. Let them put their
heads together and take a plunge to lead the nation out of this darkness.
The more they delay, the more unpardonable would be their procrastination
in the eyes of the people.
Way back in April, I had written about the
pregnant silence of the people. There was a time, just in the recent past
when every one felt so hopeless that people and leaders would say with confidence,
however bad the corruption scenario, it's hardly a political issue now. Everyone
seems to have accepted it as a way of life. But it was not to be. The silence,
mistaken as an 'acceptance' was pregnant with a revolutionary outburst. Not
that I belong to the party, but it is an accepted fact that it was BJP's nation
wide campaign against 2G, its examples in clean and efficient development
oriented governance through the miracle called Narendra Modi , Shivraj Singh
Chauhan, Raman Singh and the collective impact of its national leadership
in Advani, Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley that made an indisputable
contribution creating the right atmosphere which was further powered and fuelled
by a sensitive and concerned media blitzkrieg.
It's a rarest of the rare opportunity when
the entire nation seems to be speaking one language, expressing one desire,
putting forth their best foot forward, cutting across barriers of castes,
parochialism, religious denominations and economic disparity bars. Like a
Kargil war, one nation, one people thread is visible all around. Those would
be utterly unfortunate who stay away of it for whatever reasons. Pardon me
if I say that at this hour I would also hope that the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan
Singh, whom I have always respected as a nice and a decent person, will think
and act out of box. Heavens won't fall if he joins Anna's fast at Ramlila
ground for a day and shares the concerns he is representing.