Washout.!

I haven't been able to do justice to the title like this ever before. I can relate the topic to the subject in more than one way. Everyone (edit,thanks to a friend:well not everyone but only everyone with an ounce of interest in politics) would be aware of the washout of the monsoon session in the parliament, owing to the Congress raining on BJP's parade. I have been contemplating about writing on the deadlock in the parliament and a chat with an office colleague today offered the added incentive to pen my thoughts.

It is clear as a sunny day that Congress is losing its relevance in the current political landscape and the current hullabaloo in the parliament is one of its numerous attempts to gain some lost ground. The situation is partly the government's own doing. If it was not for the arrogance and over-reaching ambitions of the ruling party to expand its horizons in regions where it has no base like Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal has left it isolated in the arena. Even its allies like SAD are worried of its behaviour like that with Shiv Sena in Maharastra. They seem to be realising their missteps sooner than I thought. The courting of Mamata in Bangladesh and Amma at her residence by none other than the PM should hint the Congress that BJP has learnt to accept its peripheries and is becoming more of a centrist instead of a right-wing organisation. Although it has got less to do with its rightist ideologies, for someone like me they very attempt to allow room for regional players is enough to convince that it is indeed making an effort to bring everyone along. The government made strides in cooperative federalism when it managed to bring around majority of states to agree with a reasonable draft of GST and the deal with Bangladesh (getting Mamata onboard is a remarkable feat) is and will remain one of the greatest achievements of the Modi government.

In one of the daaru pe charcha with colleagues after office, one of our wannabe political analyst colleagues brought in the arguments over the performance of the current central dispensation. Views were mostly similar. Is the government better than Congress? Yes. Is it the government we expected when we voted for a majority BJP government in April 2014? Definitely not. As much as I discredit Congress for its nuisance at the Parliament, I wouldn't blame it for accusing the PM as an excellent salesman, for he is one. I wish he is also the ops guy. If he were able to implement yojanas and schemes instead of campaigns and proclamations, it would do more good to the nation. Well, I am drifting again. Back to the focal point-monsoon session and the entwined politics.

If it was the audacity of the BJP that left it desolate, the scare of losing their relevance gathered the disjointed opposition. One conspiracy thought in me was that BJP is ready to give up the monsoon to serve it cold to the Congress in the winter. In case the phoenix like Congress miscalculates its interim relevance to its reincarnation and decides to overplay its hand in the Bihar polls, say press too much in the seat-sharing talks to wreck the grand alliance it has so meticulously built, it will not only make it easy for the BJP to win but will also be stranded in the winter session. Assuming politics to be like the dice-game of Sakuni, it would be a masterstroke if the Modi-Jaitley-Shah trio offered Sushma-Shivraj on a plate to embolden the Congress momentarily to win the Bihar polls and concurrently smear the credibility of Sushma, to write her off in the medium term. Again, these are quite a conspiracy theories.

Is it justified to raise state issues like Vyapam gate or a case of nepotism (whatever the BJP says, the Lalitgate is a simple case of nepotism.Sushma's husband is Lalit Modi's lawyer) to create a brouhaha in the house? Absolutely not. While the Congress leadership might have offered the much-needed energy boost to its cadre, it has lost its credibility to be a critical opposition amongst the middle-class by being a cynical and frivolous one. One might argue that the government is to be accountable for the misdeeds of its members but lets face it, if we are to implement accountability in the letter, we would be left with none in the executive or legislature of judiciary. The Congress could have gobbled the credit by demanding a debate in the assembly and presented its case with facts and forced the government to take action instead of demanding resignations before debate. It has presented the case when it was the ruling party and BJP created ruckus. That is the worst possible explanation they could give for squandering the country's time and resources by hampering the proceedings: tit-for-tat. I wonder why no one has questioned the Congress for its dubious ploy,not the journalists or the parties on the sidelines of this drama like ADMK or BJD or the NDA allies.

It is safe to assume, everyone is in the game to save their own skin and not for the welfare of the state. I was becoming intolerant towards the Modi dispensation for non-performing till the monsoon session started but now my exasperation over Congress overrides my intolerance. With someone like RaGa as a replacement offer to Modi, I would say Congress is turning arrogant and over-reaching and in the process unwittingly strengthening the BJP's position. When will they learn? Or probably I am not smart enough to understand their masterplan. :P