By hitting directly at the Nehru-Gandhi family, which has been the strong point of the Congress Party since 1947, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi seems to have begun a trend. He has been followed by Arvind Kejriwal, who targeted Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra. Thus far, the Congress has succeeded in insulating the family from personal attack. With the Modi-Kejriwal assault, the Teflon cover has melted.
For the Congress Party, holding Modi to a draw in Gujarat (by restricting his seat tally to two figures), is crucial to Team Rahul’s strategy of winning back those states that have been lost to regional parties, some since the 1960s. Wherever there is a strong regional challenger to the Congress, minority voters have preferred such parties to Sonia Gandhi’s, apparently in the belief that their particular interests would be better served by such formations. Another key objective of the minorities is to prevent the BJP from winning. Unless the Congress can prove itself better at this than regional parties, it is unlikely to win support. UP is the latest example.
Should the Congress do badly in Gujarat, its credibility as a party that can check the BJP would be severely affected, thereby strengthening the vote banks of its regional challengers. For the BJP, a convincing win in Gujarat is key in ensuring that its own regional parties do not get the traction needed to veto its own choice for PM. Should Modi get 117 seats or more, the JD(U) would be unlikely to persuade the BJP to avoid the Modi option, should the largest opposition party choose the Gujarat CM as its standard-bearer for 2014.
Aware that Sonia Gandhi is the Congress Party’s sole unsullied asset, Narendra Modi zeroes in on her, thereby setting in play a new ground rule, that Sonia Gandhi is no longer out-of-bounds in campaigning. With Arvind Kejriwal now going after Robert Vadra, the Nehru-Gandhi family is now going the same way as others in politics in India, which is to face charges relating to their integrity. Should Sonia Gandhi be found to be vulnerable to the charges that are multiplying against her, her party may face an existential threat, given the total identification between the party and the family. Modi and Kejriwal have opened a front that, if persisted with, spells the end-game for the Congress Party. – The Sunday Guardian, 6 Oct. 2012
See also
- The danger that is Robert Vadra – John MacLithon
- Robert Vadra: No security checks please – HK & JP
- Robert Vadra: Proxy Tycoon? (with videos) – Sandhya Jain
Filed under: india | Tagged: arvind kejriwal, capitalism, christian, congress party, corruption, dynastic politics, geopolitics, gujarat cm, INC, india, indian politicians, indian politics, media, narendra modi, nationalism, nehru gandhi, nehru-gandhi family, nehruism, opposition party, political corruption, politics, priyanka vadra gandhi, psychological warfare, rahul gandhi, regional parties, robert vadra, sonia gandhi |
BHARATA BHARATI 
With 40 plus seats in Parliament, Amul Baby knows he can’t do much in this term. So the only way to get attention is to disrupt the proceedings so that it would appear the BJP could not rule India despite the majority it has. The BJP is helping Amul Baby and his Italian mama to do better in the next elections. What they need to do is rein in some of their overzealous fundamentalists and get their priorities right. They could start by being focused more on development and less on the RSS agenda. Secularism is an asset; no Indian has ever had the need to migrate to another country. Keep it that way. The Congress will always have a presence in Indian politics – no harm having them hold 10% of the seats.
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You are right.This is the beginning of the end game.Modi is now juxtaposed against either those who are corrupt to the extent of being anti national [Sonia,Vadra,Kalmadi,PC,Raja,Pawar,Praful Patel…]or those who are paralysed to the extent of being anti people [MMS,Antony…]
Modi appears a doer and non corrupt.He will becoming rallying point for all those yearning for a Hindu Spring.We had had enough of socialism,secularism,Soniaism .Let us fall back to old fashioned Hinduism.
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There was direct attack on Jawaharlal Nehru & Indira Gandhi for their policies.This time the attack is for the corruption. I am not denaying that Nehru & Mrs Gandhi have much popularity & glamour than Sonia. But here the persons like Kejariwal just attacking congress supremos. At the time of Nehru & Mrs Gandhi such things were not possible (Nehru & Mrs gandhi were also involved in corruption). Even Dr. Subramaniam Swami accused Sonia for various charges. Mr Narshimharao the last congress government PM (Dr.Manmohan Sing is the PM for UPA govt) was delibarately weaken the congress. This is the last term of the congress to remain on power. Congress is sinking by its own weight and within 10/15 years perhaps congress will totally vanished.
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High time to begin the front! Should have begun a long time ago so that this wretched party could have been thrown into the dustbin of history!
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