Only Advani and Rahul are playing politics the right way

It is easy to read motives in L K Advani’s rath yatra. Political moves never come without designs attached. It’s no accident that his latest roadshow was flagged off by Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar; it’s no surprise that it has come at a time when the BJP has a leadership vacuum at the top. Nobody seems convinced that his yatra is really about corruption and highlighting the many failures of the UPA government. The presumption, the easiest one to make, is that the senior BJP leader is trying to project himself as the party’s prime ministerial candidate for the general elections of 2014 and build an axis within the NDA to promote his case. Nitish is an ideal partner since he does not share good vibes with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the closest challenger to Advani. It is possible that Advani wants to prove to the party that he is the only leader in the party with pan-Indian acceptability. There have been murmurs of disapproval and snigger within the party and outside at the 83-year-old leader’s efforts. Some see it as signs of desperation from aging man. But what’s so wrong with what he is doing? Advani’s is a legitimate ambition and his strategy is totally acceptable. He is playing politics the way it should be played - reaching out to the masses, informing people about what it wrong and taking the trouble to travel deep inside the country.[caption id=“attachment_107090” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Senior BJP leader L K Advani. PTI”]  [/caption] Cut to Rahul Gandhi, the Congress’ general secretary. He attracts ridicule for being visible in houses in rural India and all trouble spots across the country than in Delhi. He appears uncomfortable in the national capital’s smart brand of politics that requires a lot visibility and proficiency with manufacturing sound bytes for the media. Whatever his weaknesses, he is also playing the political games right - by connecting to masses and creating small pockets of goodwill for himself and his party. In terms of political stature Rahul is no match to Advani, but both seem to have got their political grammar right. It is winning the trust of the people that matters finally. It requires direct contact. It’s dignified politics how much ever one derides it. Otherwise, politics has lost all sense of dignity. Compare that approach to that of other leaders in both parties trying to score brownie points by getting nasty at political rivals and shouting them down on television channels. In the panel discussions, the leaders lose all sense of mutual respect, self-respect and the basic decorum in vocational relationships as pompous anchors play the judge, jury and the interrogator, all at the same time. If politics reeks of negativity from all pores, part of the blame goes to the media. But why has courting the media become such an obsession with the politicians? It was the BJP which started exploiting the media for visibility and political ends. The Congress has started playing the catch up game, rushing to the media after every incident. On most occasions, there’s nothing unpredictable in what the spokespersons or the leaders have to say but they manage to pour out vitriol and scorn on rivals in sufficient quantity during their brief appearances. Are they this nasty to each other when they meet in private? Not really. They are quite polite to each other. So why do they need to be the way they are on television? It’s possible that the intention is to strike a positive note in the viewer but what they end up doing is looking graceless and ill-behaved. Already low on credibility, it does little to enhance their image. They come across as an uncouth lot, forget the English they speak. It has to be sheer laziness or disinterest. Most of the new generation leaders are reluctant to do the hard work of visiting the people they represent. That has built distances and scope for lack of communication between both. The consequences are evident in people taking up protests on their own everywhere in the country without the support of political leaders. The support for Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement is proof that they don’t trust their leaders anymore and want them to be taught a lesson. Politics should be a process of continuous conversation between the electorate and the leaders. It requires constant interaction between both. By relying more on the media to communicate to their constituents, the leaders have broken the traditional and the most reliable bond with the latter. The media are not exactly the culprit here – barring the question of objectivity – because they do what they are supposed to. Trying to use it to their advantage by parties is the problem. Advani and Rahul must inculcate in their partymen the value of hard work and of reaching out to people.