Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Intolerance of the newly “appointed” chief of Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee K.P.Singhdeo for shout of victory (jindabad) in favor of Youth Congress chief Rohit Pujari as was witnessed in Deogarh has precipitated a ban on any jindabad for any local leader in any Congress congregation in Orissa. But while contriving this elimination of applause for others, precaution has been taken not to stop singing of glory to Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and to the man in whose favor she had mysteriously given up her seemingly possible premiership, Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Media cell of KP says, except these three, jindabad may be raised at best for Rajiv and Indira Gandhi in special occasions.
Members of the extra-constitutional presidium of Congress in Orissa as well as its campaigner-in-chief know that any of them must act ex-officio object of applause in any meeting of or convened by their party till at least the general elections are over and thus there is no specific necessity of saying that the ban shall not affect them.
Congress workers, these days, have not known anything other than raising jindabad in favor of anybody who poses or aspires to be or is imposed upon them as their leader. They do not tell peoples of political economy. They do not emphasize on the importance of internal democracy in a political party. They know only one thing. That is raising jindabad in support of whoever bosses over them or whosoever represents the boss. On the other hand, whosoever wants to show himself / herself as a leader of the Congress in the village or panchayat or constituency level, cultivates sycophants in his / her sphere to raise jindabad in his / her favor. What should these fellows do if jindabad is banned?
Except Jindabad in their favor in hoodwinked or hired mouths, Congress candidates for so many years were never marked for having placed premium on political economy or any ideological issue during electioneering, at least in Orissa.
Not a single candidate of Congress party had discussed election manifesto of the party during entire electioneering last time. None of them had perused manifestos of rival parties and compared them with that of theirs and shown how the congress manifesto was better than others.
This time the same syndrome is also discernible. So far, nowhere in their meetings, they have discussed political economy. Only one thing they are saying. That is, the state government is unable to spend central government grants. The “appointed” presidium has declared that they will go to the people with this issue in their mouth. This makes it clear that their electioneering will be an act of mudslinging, not an act of politico-economic analysis.
Is mudslinging possible sans the sound of jindabad in support of the mudslinger?
With KP at the helm of affairs, Congress campaign is getting funnier day by day.