Fly On the Wall
Rahul's
New Gamble
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has emerged a new champion of reservation for the Other Backward Castes (OBCs). Obviously, those watching the Congress for decades were surprised as the Congress had stoutly opposed reservations in jobs to the OBCs other than the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Rahul Gandhi did not stop at providing merely reservations for the OBCs but also advocated that reservations should be at per their population. This baffled even the age-old supporters of the Congress Party. But none of the senior leaders raised any voices considering the larger game plan of keeping the flocks of Mandal parties who are now part of I.N.D.I.A. Rahul Gandhi is well aware that most of the upper castes have already moved towards the BJP while Muslims have been voting for regional parties and OBCs for the Mandal parties. The Congress's vote bank is fast dwindling and confined to a few states. Therefore, Rahul Gandhi has joined the bandwagon of propounding the cause of the OBCs saying,”Jinti Abadi, Utna Haq”. But there is a trail behind Rahul Gandhi's new found love for the OBCs. The author is aware that Rahul Gandhi used to visit late Sharad Yadav frequently at his 7 Tughlaq Road residence even when he was in wilderness after parting company with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. When prodded, Yadav revealed that Rahul Gandhi has been visiting him to understand the caste-system in India and how the Dravidian movement in South changed the political landscape and how it traveled to North since the days of Ram Manohar Lohia to V P Singh. With Congress joining the Mandal bandwagon, it is argued that the OBCs and Muslims will change the political landscape in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
PM harping on “Garibi Hatao”
Strange it may sound but true that the BJP has not blasted Rahul Gandhi for advocating “Jitni Abadi Utna Haq” as vociferously as was expected. After initially criticizing Rahul Gandhi, the BJP went back into a shell. The BJP is aware that INDIA, a group of around 28 UN-homogeneous parties may be able to dent it in some of the states including UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh etc.
Prime Minister Modi, himself an OBC, has already hit the ground with his focus on Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs). He is strongly pitching on “Garibi Hatao” and those below the poverty line will be given the benefits. In addition, the BJP is focusing on women voters as a class with the reservation of 33% jobs. Historically, no party at the national level has won an election on the OBC plank. The Janata Dal under V P Singh considered as a messiah of the OBCs had to lick the dust in the 1991 Lok Sabha polls and the likes of Deve Gowda could not win votes outside Karnataka. It transpires that the Modi government is working on the Rohini Commission report and coming out with a new policy to give benefits to the poor among all the castes and create a new class. Modi may unfold his strategy either in the November's Winter or the Budget session.
Private Power play in Ministries
The Modi government is heavily banking on hiring talent from outside on a contract basis rather than relying on bureaucrats who came through stiff competition in government jobs. While some of the key positions in the financial sector had been handed over to non-Babus such as SEBI, PESB, CCI and other institutions. But it transpires that private companies are hired in a big way to handle publicity and image building campaigns of many ministries of the government. The trained staff at the Press Information Bureau (PIB) looks after the ministries as per their assignment. But the social media, publicity and strategy of more than a dozen ministries is being handled by private players. They have been hired on contract to come out with out-of-the-box thinking and plan campaigns to make a big impact. It is not immediately known whether these private companies have been hired through a competitive bidding or as per the likes of the powers that be. But the purpose is to come up with a strategy to popularize the Modi government's more than 100 welfare schemes on X (formerly twitter), FaceBook and other social media platforms.
Tailpiece: Raghav Chadha, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP, is facing tough times and that too immediately after he tied the knot last month. If on the one hand he is engaged in a bitter battle with the Rajya Sabha secretariat to retain his type VII house allotted to him by previous Chairman N Venkaiah Naidu, he is also in troubled waters due to liquor scam. Raghav Chadha, married to actress Parineeti Chopra, had to cancel the marriage reception planned in Delhi and Mumbai after the wedding in Udaipur. It transpires that the family members of Parineeti Chopra were not enthusiastic either about the marriage as cousin sister Priyanka Chopra, a global celebrity, missed the event though her mother Madhu Chopra was present.
