Saturday, April 6, 2013

Jaitley is right but in Gujarat context



BJP leader Arun Jaitley while reacting to Rahul's CII speech of April 4 has said '...the elected leader must have the last word, along with the ability to overrule and take big decisions'. I think these words can be true for Narendra Modi in Gujarat, where he rules with a huge majority, but not for the coalition politics at the Centre.  For long, BJP has been out to degrade PM Manmohan Singh. Once veteran Advani, crossing the limit of decency, termed him 'nikamma' in the Indian Express. We all know how much freedom Vajpayeeji as PM enjoyed with biggies like Advani and Mahajan and fickle coalition partners like Jaya and Mamta always breathing down his neck. Even today’s (April 6) Hindustan Times (p 10) says that Deputy PM Advani, not PM Vajpayee, had the last word in retaining Modi after the 2002 riots and in adopting a particular stance during the 2001 Vajpayee-Musharaf Agra summit. There are skeletons in the cupboard of every political party. So, it's better if the biggies of national politics, the Congress and the BJP, do not waste their energy in the frivolous blame game. Both must understand that it's time for them to arrive at a consensus on economic reforms and ways to fight corruption. This will help them to not to succumb to undue pressures of small regional parties. Here is a quote from the late J. F. Kennedy for the learned BJP and Congress leaders to ponder over: 

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.  

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