MILLIONS of Indians evidently see Rahul Gandhi as their candidate to steer the country out of its deep mess driven by hate-filled divisive politics and a K-shaped economic trajectory plying unprecedented inequality.
asserted
MILLIONS → see → inequality
That seemed to be the unspoken sentiment, if not consensus, at the massive Sunday rally of opposition parties in Delhi against vote theft.
asserted
That → seem → theft
The issue has brought out angry youth on the streets.
asserted
issue → bring → streets
Rigging of polls betrays, however, an inability to secure popular support through clean elections, which is a blessing.
asserted
which → betray → elections
India is not alone in subverting democracy.
asserted
India → subvert → democracy
Narendra Modi’s ride-or-die friendship with Benjamin Netanyahu reveals a shared scorn for secular democracy and minority rights.
asserted
friendship → ride → democracy
Netanyahu hopes to disenfranchise Palestinian MPs (strategically called Arabs by a clever political fiat) even as they mock him in turn by holding the balance of power, principally against him, after last week’s elections.
asserted
they → hop → elections
Likewise with Modi, whose controversial victories in Bihar and West Bengal recently benefited enormously as his handpicked election commission disenfranchised millions of Muslim voters and other potential opponents of the regime.
asserted
commission → benefit → regime
Netanyahu rewarded Modi’s friendship by giving his government the Pegasus spyware among other contraptions to undermine democracy.
asserted
Netanyahu → reward → democracy
One would readily go along with the view that Gandhi makes for a great candidate to don the mantle of prime minister and also restore its prestige.
asserted
Gandhi → go → prestige
He has displayed the drive to nurse Indian democracy back to health.
asserted
He → display → health
But is he as equipped as, say, streetfighters like Priyank Kharge or M.K. Stalin or Akhilesh Yadav to deal frontally with the push which will inevitably arrive in the process of dismantling entrenched fascism?
asserted
which → deal → fascism
That Sonia Gandhi and both her children — Rahul as the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Priyanka Gandhi as an outspoken and gritty parliamentarian — called out Israel’s genocide in Gaza, while major parties other than the left looked away is cause to celebrate the family — and also something to worry about as it puts them in the crosshairs of many a foreign and domestic interloper.
asserted
it → call → interloper
The fact that the RSS chief hosted an Israeli diplomat as chief guest at the Hindutva body’s annual day on Dussehra is troubling.
asserted
chief → host → Dussehra
Has anyone bothered to ask Rahul Gandhi if he was himself interested in the job that so many appear keen to award him?
asserted
many → bother → him
A pivotal question needs to be flagged here about widespread faux expertise over a future prime minister from the opposition.
asserted
question → need → opposition
Has anyone bothered to ask Rahul Gandhi if he was himself interested in the job that so many appear keen to award him?
asserted
many → bother → him
A fair guess based on history and Nehru-Gandhi genealogy is that Rahul Gandhi harbours no such ambitions.
asserted
Gandhi → base → ambitions
We could perhaps glean the truth of this hunch from Sonia Gandhi’s soon-to-be released memoirs.
uncertain
We → glean → memoirs
The BJP routinely accuses Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter of political ambition.
asserted
BJP → accuse → ambition
No Indian prime minister with a clear majority in parliament has offered to resign other than Nehru.
asserted
minister → offer → Nehru
In February 1950, Nehru offered to resign as prime minister over the refugee crisis after Partition.
asserted
Nehru → offer → Partition
Sardar Patel persuaded him to withdraw the offer.
asserted
Patel → persuade → offer
Again, in 1958, Nehru announced his desire to step down and take a break from office, citing severe mental fatigue, fading idealism, and deteriorating public standards in Indian politics.
asserted
Nehru → announce → politics
A public outcry broke out, and the Congress begged him to stay on.
asserted
Congress → break → him
Did Nehru want his daughter to succeed him?
asserted
daughter → want → him
On the contrary, there’s plenty of evidence that he desired young socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan as his deputy in 1952, which JP refused.
asserted
JP → ’ → which
There was not even a remote hint that he wanted his daughter in his cabinet or to succeed him.
asserted
daughter → be → him
He engineered a plan for senior cabinet ministers to resign to work at the grassroots with the party.
asserted
ministers → engineer → party
He inducted Lal Bahadur Shastri as a minister without portfolio in the prime minister’s office, a clear signal who he was tapping as successor.
asserted
he → induct → successor
Shastri’s demise in Tashkent set off another round of worry about Desai manoeuvring.
asserted
demise → set → manoeuvring
Powerful regional satraps countered the move and promoted Indira Gandhi believing she could be manipulated.
uncertain
she → counter → Gandhi
Mrs Gandhi favoured supporting Gulzari Lal Nanda.
asserted
Gandhi → favour → Nanda
The ‘Syndicate’ supporting her was essentially conservative, pro-business, and staunchly anti-socialist.
asserted
Syndicate → support → her
Mrs Gandhi turned the tables on them in 1969 by staging a split with the support of the communist bloc.
asserted
Gandhi → turn → bloc
When the left abandoned her after the emergency — one of their defining errors — she was swamped by the conservatives including religious revivalists who were largely seen as devising her fateful Punjab policy that would eventually lay her low.
asserted
that → abandon → her
Rajiv Gandhi was a scrupulously private family man until Sanjay Gandhi’s death in a plane crash required him to stand with his mother.
asserted
death → require → mother
Her assassination set him up as prime minister.
asserted
assassination → set → minister
There’s no dearth of recorded evidence of Sonia Gandhi opposing his entry into politics.
asserted
Gandhi → ’ → politics
In an emotional showdown, she forbade him from becoming prime minister, presciently fearing he, too, would be killed.
asserted
he → forbid → him
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
