When someone listens to other people’s
problems and genuinely tries to find a solution, when a person works towards
getting people together, thus creating a bond with the common people, this
person usually gathers respect and love from the populace who begin to look up
to him as their leader and he becomes a ‘talisman’, so much so that people
begin to idolize him as they would worship their beloved deity. People are
willing to give up everything for this person. Naturally, those around him
start to reap the benefits of this person’s virtue, his family bagging a
sizeable share. But if this person’s offspring proves to be incompetent, they
will end up as the king’s monkey. Now, after this leader, his descendants begin
to feel as though they are the owners of those around them and that the
respect, they receive from others is a result of their accomplishments.
Maharashtra has witnessed firsthand a similar demonstration and now the people
will impart a lesson to those who believe they are the owners of Maharashtra in
this election.
People who had lived with such an
attitude are the ones who had declared ‘India is Indira’. This was nothing but
the height of their self-obsession which came across when ‘Emergency’ was
imposed which was the pinnacle of their thirst for power. During the Covid-19
pandemic, Maharashtra also experienced a leader who was as power-hungry and
greedy. People saw at that time how the state failed as a result of irrational
self-perceptions and a total lack of competency necessary for good governance.
This offspring leader believed that the affection he was receiving from the
populace was due to his own abilities, but in reality, it was because of the
bond his patriarch had established with the common people. Failing to realize
this very difference, the leader disregarded the mandate given by the people
and believed that he had the right to behave the way he pleased. He made the
grave mistake of bringing back into Maharashtra politics the very vices and
immoralities that his father had spent his entire life fighting against. As a
result, a national party like the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s party, that lost
more than two-thirds of its MLAs, are now trailing this immature leader. This
is evident from the events of the past week. The leaders of these parties
regard themselves as Maharashtra’s rulers and its people as their subjects. And
hence, people too need not take their indifferences personally. Voters are sure
to put an end to their politics, that has nothing to do with the welfare of the
people. However, the only silver lining is the fact that the indifferences
between them are coming to the fore following their ongoing campaign rallies.
We often treat our daughter-in-law
like our own daughters. But Sharad Pawar, who proclaims to be the architect
behind creating policies for women, demonstrated his weak philosophy when he
made mean remark about his daughter-in-law, referring to her as someone who is
‘outside Pawar family ’. People who truly care about the well-being of women
will never say anything like this. And hence it is proved, that all this
passion for women’s well-being was merely for the namesake. Those who dedicated
their lives to sowing seeds of divisions and spent more than five decades
practicing pure hatred towards their political opponents are now turning to one
another for support. This is nothing but the politicians turning hostile
towards the populace. Any punishment for such valueless politics will be far
less; in fact, the real penalty for such leaders, who have lost true virtue,
will be to keep them away from power and Maharashtra’s voters are astute enough
to punish them appropriately.
The pronouncements made last week
showed that Shiv Sena’s reverence for ‘Chhatrapati’s seat’ is just as
pretentious as Pawar’s ostentatious compassion for women. Congress has nearly
employedthe same strategy as the overly outspoken Shiv Sena leaders when they
denigrated Chhatrapati’s seat in order to forward their political agenda;
nevertheless, Congress leadership was able to carry out this action without the
public learning about it. It’s become a habit in recent years – the moment
these politicians struggle to deal with difficult situations, they conveniently
resort to Chhatrapati, which in my opinion is tantamount to treason against
Maharashtra and I have no doubt that the people in Maharashtra will teach these
traitors a good lesson.
Not only are the two so-called
regional parties, that have their presence in barely a few districts, but even
the Congress, that calls itself as the national party, is also in poor health.
They have no leader to guide. As a result, everyone views themselves as the
leader and nobody is sure what needs to be done in the given circumstance. And
such a bewildered party, whose development agenda amountsto just 15 paisa out
of Re.1, which even their leaders had publicly admitted that of the Rs 100
spent on government welfare programs, barely Rs 15 reach the actual
beneficiary, is demanding answers
from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has actually set
swift and intense development standards. I am sure the voters will properly
address this haughtiness at the polls.
(Article Pre-Published in
Times of India -15 April 2024)
Keshav Upadhye, Chief
Spokesperson
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