THE statement by Congress leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi at a Congress party meet two days ago has naturally begun attracting barbed criticism all over the country. Though other Congress leaders are trying to express support to Mr. Gandhi’s statement, it is obvious that many of them must have felt embarrassed because of the flippancy and idiocy of their top-most leader (who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha -- LoP). Talking to his party workers, Mr. Rahul Gandhi had stated quite assertively that the Narendra Modi Government was bound to fall in the next one year. Hell broke loose the moment the statement got aired -- as most political leaders -- no matter to which party they might belong -- felt stunned by the touch of arrogance and lack of common sense to understand that no Government can fall in a democratic set up just because somebody wishes so.

 

There is no way that the Central Government would collapse in one year when there are no elections in which Mr. Narendra Modi could lose majority. Yet, Mr. Gandhi made the prediction and invited trouble for himself. In such a case, the only way a Government at the Centre can fall is through some unfortunate incidents like the ones that shook the neighbouring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the past couple of years. Does Mr. Gandhi seem to suggest that something like that would hit India in about a year’s time? If Mr. Rahul Gandhi is expecting such a movement to take place in India, then he may even be a part of some nationally dangerous move -- stemming from some foreign land. It is understood that Mr. Rahul Gandhi might be trying to regain his personal prestige in the party particularly after the good showing in the Keralam legislative elections.

 

The overall report card of Mr. Rahul Gandhi states that the Congress party has lost as many as 99 elections under his leadership. Whispers are doing the rounds in the organisation that Mr. Gandhi is leading Congress to a slow but sure death in the next few years. Possibly, disturbed by all this, Mr. Rahul Gandhi may now be trying to win over his workers’ support. Hence the statement that the Modi Government would fall in the next one year. No such indications are available from the ground. No matter the few challenges the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may have faced in the last some time, its winning strides appear almost unstoppable. Astrological to political predictions suggest that the BJP’s dominance of Indian politics is bound to continue for the next 25 years. Even as the country is beginning to absorb this realism, Mr. Rahul Gandhi has come up with a prediction that the Modi Government would fall in the next one year. This has naturally stunned the country.

 

Though most people do not take Mr. Rahul Gandhi seriously, the very nature of his prediction attracts attention. For, Mr. Gandhi is backed by the 125-plus-year legacy of the Congress party. It is because of this that many people listen to him though only momentarily. There are reasons to believe that even the Congress rank and file have no respect for Mr. Gandhi’s statement -- since they know that it has no foundation of political reality. They must have heard Mr. Gandhi’s statement with a dimmed enthusiasm and then chosen to keep quiet for larger good. Yet, it must be admitted that by making such a stunning statement, Mr. Gandhi grabbed news headlines across the country, all right. If that was his purpose, then Mr. Rahul Gandhi has succeeded (to whatever extent). It is clear that Mr. Rahul Gandhi still feels that he can win elections by creating bogus impressions about what is happening in domestic politics. Of course, he lives in a paradise of his own making -- which everybody realises. The Congress party cannot be expected to do well at the hustings under the fake leadership of Mr. Rahul Gandhi. However, there is nobody in the party to tell him what he actually is. If someone dares to do that, he/she would be thrown out in no time.