Opposition parties are playing the fool in front of Modi over demonetisation

When Gandhiji fasted, thousands from Kashmir to Kanyakumari fasted with him in their homes. They did so anonymously. They felt an instinctive solidarity with him. They knew he stood and struggled for them. In truth.

The one thing that the British could not do, was to fight the might of sincerity. The Raj - like all power structures - was a Leviathan of hypocrisy. Like political parties today, the British too claimed to rule us only for our own good. Winston Churchill believed sincerely that it would be irresponsible for the British to abandon India to Indians.

Narendra Modi too is fighting heroically to save us from black moneyed Indians! (That’s why money stashed overseas doesn’t matter). The opposition parties are fighting to save us from Modi! We are fighting for dear life for trickles of our own hard-earned money. The police are fighting to protect the bank-wallahs from us.

Gandhi is our model of resistance. Many of the opposition parties, I understand, profess allegiance to him. But they don’t seem to have learned anything from him.

To Gandhi, strength was not in numbers. It was in truth. Truth has no margin for calculating side-gains and lateral benefits.

As I survey the opposition phalanx, study their sound bytes, the puerile hide-and-seek they call strategy, I am amused. They call it opposition unity! They might as well call a heap of mangled compartments a superfast train.

To add insult to injury, they claim to be united to protect the interests of the poor! Of course, they look poor: poor in clarity, poorer in motivation and poorest in unity.

Not surprisingly, they have succeeded so far in eliciting only derisive dismissal from Modi and Co. They are seen as a bunch of kindergarten children who play Mahabharata on the sand dunes of Jaisalmer. 

Not only the BJP, even the common man refuses to take them seriously. Don’t blame him. What has come through to us so far is as follows:

- Ten opposition parties are absolutely on the same page on the demonetisation issue.

- They want to put up a determined, united front against Modi out of a heroic commitment to the poor.

- But they don’t want to be seen hobnobbing with each other in public. How can the Left stand with TMC; or AAP with Shiv Sena; BSP with SP; or Congress with TMC?

- Anxieties are rife, apparently, that if they get mixed up with each other, there is no knowing which leader would walk away with the credit for opposing Modi.

- All parties are carefully calibrating their vocabulary so that the fish can be caught without wetting one’s fingers.

All this is very pathetic. Surely, these parties cannot claim to be so beef-headed (as BJP would say) that they still do not understand the gravity of what they pretend to have undertaken or the might of their antagonist.

The one thing no one can hide for long in public is lack of sincerity. As regards the opposition parties, going by what we have seen so far, it stands out in lurid colours. I do not know in which fool’s paradise they are living. They have to be mighty blind to not see that their credibility is fast declining.

Give up, folks, the old and profitless habit of being in denial. The results of the just concluded by-elections are the writing on the wall. Those who have eyes to read, let them read.

The loudest proof that your credibility with the common man is at an all-time low is that people are willing to put up with any hardship and misery. What they are saying is simple, “What else can we do?” People find it difficult to trust you; and the sorry figure you are currently cutting in the public sphere will erode what little is left of your credibility.

It is suicidal for the opposition parties to stall both houses of Parliament, on the pretext of fighting the common man’s battle and still remain obnoxiously disunited. History will condemn you for your deviousness.

Do you need primary schoolchildren to tell you that the country is going through the grimmest crisis ever? Is this the time to count your chickens? Can’t you, for god’s sake, cast your stupid quarrels into the Arabian Sea and bridge the yawning gulf between what you say and how you conduct yourselves?

If your house is on fire, would you first check on the ideological itch of your neighbour before you let him join you in fire-fighting?

If your child is in dengue delirium, would you check the creed of the doctor before you buy the medicines he prescribes? Would you keep the ailing child waiting, if you love her?

If your pocket is picked and you spot the pickpocket running away with your purse (an apologetic metaphor for demonetisation), would you check the colour of the constable’s boots before you ask him for help?

We, the harried, hapless people of India, have a humble request. Please don’t insult us any more with your hypocrisy. If you cannot forget your petty squabbles, your soulless electoral calculations, and unite in truth to fight for a cause, please shut up and let Parliament transact its business.

Do not try to convert our misery into your credit card. For seven decades we have lived cheated. We are sick and tired of it. There must be an end. We may forgive the trauma of this botched up demonetisation. But we will not forgive, if you add insult to our injury.

If you continue the way you are at the moment, all you’d do is to prolong our misery.  Look, the options are simple and stark...

Either this demonetisation is going through. Or, it is not.

If it is going through, we would have it go through as smoothly and quickly as possible. We don’t want our misery to be prolonged by a minute, let alone by a day.

If it is not to go through, we doubt if the quality of your present unity and motivation - ten stones cast in twenty directions - is anywhere near that mark.

Sorry, I have to tell you the truth. I don’t know if you are used to it. You better be. It is a matter of life-and-death for us.

I’m telling you what the common man wants you to heed. My task’s done. My conscience is clean. Thank you!

Also read: Simple questions for PM Modi