Rahul strikes a fine balancing act

Winning elections is one of the most difficult tasks for a political party, especially when its popularity is at its all-time low. Here is what happened with the Congress. The party won anyhow three state assembly elections - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh- which were under the BJP rule for years. It is a very big achievement of the Congress party in the face of the rising popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leadership. But even after winning elections, there arose a big problem of choosing the candidates for the posts of Chief Minister among the young and the veteran old guards at least in the case of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for the party President Rahul Gandhi. It was proving to be an Achilles heel for him. Though the case of Madhya Pradesh was settled with the choice of CM's post between Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia fell on Kamal Nath because of his being a senior, astute, resourceful and veteran politician. As hardly four months away from now, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are going to be held. It will be the final war between Congress and BJP. That is why Congress made Kamal Nath MP CM. Though Jyotiraditya is a young, energetic and popular leader of the Congress party, Kamal Nath is veteran old guard who began his politics with late Sanjay Gandhi. He was in the front of Sanjay brigade at that time. He has also been very close to Nehru-Gandhi family, the power centre of Congress party. On the other hand, Jyotirdiya Scindhia has also been very close to Rahul Gandhi. He is a prominent face of Rahul's young brigade in the Congress party. He was also the convenor of Madhya Pradesh assembly election campaigns. He campaigned hard and made a great contribution to the victory of the party in the state, though with a marginal gap. He was also a strong contender along with Kamal Nath for the post of Chief Minister of the state. The MP state legislature party could not reach on a consensus candidate for the post and left it to Congress President Rahul Gandhi to choose one of the two. It was a very difficult task. Gandhi had to maintain a fine balance between the young and the old in the party in view of the war at hand in 2019. But considering the experience and contacts across the like-minded political parties, the choice with the consent of Jyotiraditya Scindhia went in favour of Kamal Nath and ultimately the Congress party declared him as party MP CM. The same problem is in Rajasthan. Here also, there are two contenders - Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot- for the post of Chief Minister of the state. Ashok Gehlot is experienced, veteran and has adorned the post of CM twice. He is also a very popular politician in the state. On the other hand, Sachin Pilot is young, energetic and popular among the youth in the state. He has also been state party president. He also claims the post of CM very strongly. Newly State Congress legislatures left the decision with Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi to take. Again, he was put in a delicate situation. He had to manage and strike a fine balance between the old and the young keeping in view the great battle of 2019 Lok Sabha elections lying ahead. But again, he solved the problems with exemplary alacrity through consensus by choosing the veteran Ashok Gehlot as the CM of Rajasthan. At last, Rahul Gandhi tweeted with himself in the middle of Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindhia in the first photo and Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot with himself in the middle in the second photo. These two photos clearly reflected that at last, the unity in party prevailed. One thing that also came out this is that Rahul Gandhi left no stone unturned in finding consensus and unanimous opinion on any issue in the party.

RBI Governor must be an economist of eminence

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India must have enough knowledge about the domestic and international economy to formulate planning and policy of the Central Bank. Shaktikanta Das, a Tamil Nadu cadre retired IAS officer, has been appointed as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has been appointed RBI governor in the wake of the abrupt resignation of Urjit Patel as RBI governor in the middle of a tussle with the government on autonomy and other related issues. The importance of the RBI governor must not be underestimated and no one howsoever senior bureaucrat he or she might be made governor without expertise in economics. The post of the governor of RBI demands expert knowledge in the subject of economics. World fame economist and former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had also been the governor of RBI. Before and after Dr. Singh, several economists of eminence have adorned the post of RBI governor. It is not only administrative knowledge and experience but also required to be an authority on Economics to become the governor of RBI. Yes, Shaktikants Das, a Tamil Cadre IAS officer, who has served with the state government in the department of finance and other economic-related wings. He was also associated all his career at the Centre as well as in the state with finance departments. But his working with finance department at the Centre and in the state doesn’t make him an eminent economist of the nation. His credentials for being the governor of RBI is totally unfit and unsuitable. Before Urjit Patel, Raghuram Rajan was the RBI governor. He was known for mastery in modern economics. This is the reason that even a senior BJP leader from Gujarat Jay Narayan Vyas, who was also a minister in Narendra Modi Cabinet when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, has rightly poked the new RBI governor Shaktikanta Das not to make it a history. He has questioned his knowledge about economics. New RBI governor Shaktikanta Das is MA in history from the Delhi University. As far as academic credentials for being RBI Chief is concerned, Mr. Das fits nowhere. The appointment of Shaktikanta Das as RBI governor by Narendra Modi government clearly reflects its lack of knowledge about who is fit for what job. It also clearly appears that there is an acute shortage of talents in the Modi government. Union Finance minister Arun Jaitely is not proving to be an able one for the post. Jaitely has defended new governor by enumerating his postings all his career in the finance departments. As far as theoretical knowledge about economics is concerned, it is impossible without academic qualification in the subject. So, appointing Mr. Shaktikanta Das as RBI governor, Narendra Modi govt. has done no good to the economy of the country.

Vote for change

People's yearning for change in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh has resulted in the defeat of the ruling BJP in all these three states. The change and the anti-incumbency factor worked against the BJP. The underestimation of the opposition Congress by the BJP also contributed to its defeat. BJP was in the delusion that now Congress stands defamed among the people and its leadership is novice without any determined purpose and direction. So, people will never look towards it. But the youthful leadership of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his effort to present a united face of the party in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan resulted in the win. Except for Chhattisgarh where Congress swept the BJP, it faced a tough contest in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Despite ruling for 15 years, BJP under the leadership of the outgoing Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave a tough fight to the Congress and the difference in the number of winning assembly seats between the two parties is marginal. BJP has won 109 and Congress 114 in the 230 member assembly of Madhya Pradesh. BJP had been ruling Chhattisgarh for the last 15 years. Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajastha were the strong bastions of BJP in the Hindi heartland. The defeat here by the Congress gives an ominous signal for it in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Though the just-concluded assembly elections were considered to be the semi-final before the final of 2019 Lok Elections, it is not necessary that semi-finalist always wins the final. But the victory of Congress party in these three BJP-ruled states has at least boosted the morale of its workers, leaders and top leadership. After 2014 worst-ever defeat, the party cadres were demoralized by one defeat after another. Congress party leadership realized that to win the election against the formidable political opponent like BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he will have to work 24x7. Congress party President Rahul Gandhi laboured hard and led the party from the front in all these election-bound states. His hard labour and concerted effort yielded fruit that within a year of taking over the mantle of the party, Congress has wrested three states from the BJP. Congress alliance with TDP against TRS in Telangana has failed completely. TRS under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao routed the Congress - TDP alliance and won the assembly elections with a massive mandate. He came back to power on a very strong wicket. Congress party has also lost its last N-E state of Mizoram where MNF ruled the roost. It won the elections handsomely. BJP must learn a lesson from this that the people know everything. Only tall talking cannot yield fruit for a long time. The people want to work on the ground. Firing in air cannot serve the purpose. The popularity of Prime Minister can no longer help BJP win elections without doing anything concrete on the ground. Yes, PM Narendra Modi is still the most popular leader of the country. But when the issue of hunger, unemployment, health facility, price rise comes to the fore, the reality of the ruling party is exposed. People want work and nothing else.