A Dilemma I and many of my era face ..

 By 1975-76, the roughshod politics of Indira Gandhi had everyone on the backfoot, including the braver Jan Sangh and the Samajwadi Socialist party. We had just passed out of our colleges and universities. The future was full of uncertainty. 

The entire opposition joined hands to overthrow the draconian rule of Indira Gandhi brand of congress govt. I had thought that the malaise of the congress as led by Sanjay and Indira Gandhi had been cleaned up. The new dispensation of the people, the Janata Party held out huge promises but ultimately thanks to the the machinations of the coalition politics, leaving JP, Mahatma Gandhi by the wayside. Even Lohia and his thoughts underwent severe changes.

 The Indira Congress came back with vengeance on all and sundry who had opposed her. The era of safari suit clad politician had established itself, with the Jan Sangh and other parties taking a backseat though the Jan Sangh by the mid eighties had dumped the Old style politics and steadily added to the numbers of the legislators at the cost of less emphatic parties like the Old Congress, Socialist Party the defunct Swatantrata Party and other minor groups. However they still had no love lost for Gandhian principles or politics in their new ‘Avatar’ of the Bhartiya Janata Party ! It ( the name Bharatiya Jananat Party was a very clever ruse by the Jan Sangh of yore which gathered together these disparate elements of post 1980 political landscape.) The rudderless but as yet somewhat committed 'Old value' Gandhians found it convenient to  come under the umbrella influence of BJP with Atal ji as a moderator of finesse in matters of political use. The ‘Jan Sangh’ OR the BJP was chuckling all the way to the eletorate ..1985 onwards till 1999 and by 2004 thought that the draconian Indira Congress was down and out and they had grabbed the country leadership proper !!

No one expected the Sonia Congress to win in 2004 and more so in 2009 ! The gory details of the various scams made the electorate desperate for a change. Narendra Modi had steadily won over Gujarat and was the arbiter in chief in the BJP by the 2014 elections. The Old Congress values and JPs plea for a united front against the corrupt and clueless Congress ( Indira)took a totally new meaning under the BJP ( or the Bhartiya Jan Sangh Party, if you will ..) leadership vociferously led by Narendra Modi. The ‘ease of living’ and the upliftment  of the ‘Antyodaya’ , honesty in public life, the three most powerful and largely successful precepts of the 1977 Janata Party had languished since 1984-85. The new Jan Sangh in its new ‘Avatar’ of BJP had quietly taken over the mindset of the electorate by 2014. A whole new generation had emerged since 1977-81 and you could love your nation once more under the powerful leadership of Narendra Modi and also hope for a better future. NAMO showered praises on Gandhi and Patel for the glorious Indian independence and singled out the Nehruvians for all the ills the nation faced. He gave recognition to the good politician till then ignored jealously by the Indira- Sonia Congress. The foolish conduct of the new scion of the Indira Gandhi family was a willing bait to NAMO rhetorical campaign and ultimate victory in both 2014 and 2019 elections. In fact, today it seems that without the continued idiocies of the so called Congress, even NAMO will find it difficult to win elections as comfortably as in the past ! India largely votes negatively- remove the top guys if you are not happy ! However it is now that for the first time the electorate has to take a call on the directions taken by the NAMO govt. In 2022 it will be clear if the electorate is really intelligent enough to tweak its preference if not the govt ! 

The irony of the situation is that the Congress which owes so much to Gandhi and Patel and Subhash and many other lesser leaders is miles away from these leaders’ values and policies which ensconced them in the voters hearts ! The BJP on the other hand has as yet to take a firm decision on their closeness to the Jan Sangh policies and their leaders of past and not just put all their eggs in one basket ! Something totally different and democratically effective economically and socially has to come forth under a true “Janata” Platform or maybe a new “Janata Party”a free and honest organisation has to take up the top position which will usher a more democratic and stable political system. I and most others have never liked ‘Goras’ rule’ but we certainly want a firm and honest British style of Parliamentary democracy for starters !