The young turks, rabid remarks, future of Indian Politics ?

Weekends are for relaxing, a little extra time at home, playing with my daughter and trying to make some sense of the vertiginous political landscape. And that is a tall task! Frankly, I do not worry too much about the outcome of the elections,as the dealings of the governing framework is in the hands of educated and erudite civil servants and increasingly the business leaders have been, of late, not been hauled up with any rabid legislations. Somewhere, there is also a broad consensus that business should be let alone and but for the odd Mamtas, it is business as usual.

Now politics is a whole different smorgasbord! With a little wisdom and some common sense, I feel I can state that ‘Days of coalition politics has now confirmedly become a reality’. All national parties have lost lustre and have increasing dissociated themselves from state level issues. State level issues have been under the grip of the regions which perpetually harbour national ambitions! Without a charming national face and a party to look up to, the media runs around each day to cover each face in the elction fray.To catch media, the new Turks seek routes of infamity and voice the most provocative and thoughtless (Well, perhaps not all that thoughtless) banter.

Latest to enter the melee is Varun Gandhi. His volatile comment against the Muslims is totally uncalled for and is a page straight out of the diaries of the Muthaliks of the world. From relative anonymity and only a ‘Gandhi’ title in his armoury, he has now emerged the ‘media boy’ and soon will be among the league of star BJP campaigners and all in the space of ten days. For the young ‘babalog’ of and the impressionable ( and also the older politicos), this is a crash course in how to make headlines and draw national attention.

1. Make a fiery casteist, racist, provocative comment
2. Be a little temperate – blame the acoustics and see the reaction of the media and the crowds
3. If the reaction is negative – blame the media and the politicians chiding you and claim that the story was concocted and you were misinterpreted by the media
4. If the reaction is - attention and the media is mollycoddling you for airtime – stick to your speech and blame the others for duplicity and hypocrisy – the beauty of our politics is that there are enough instances of leaders and parties taking partisan stances

For the Sangh Parivar, he is the chocolate boy – ‘well’ groomed youngster with a ‘national’ surname right down the lineage of the enfant terrible of National politics once upon a time – Sanjay Gandhi. For BJP, which is projecting L.K.Advani as the youth icon – this maybe the long searched for answer. For the Congress, this is a new line to throw brickbats at – and also an avenue for branding Rahul Gandhi as the more mature face. For the media, the sundry debates and interviews of politicians. For the mother Maneka, sworn animal lover, moments of deep pride – her son seems to follow his father’s footsteps and has picked up some animal instincts too !

It is win-win for anyone concerned. But for the poor, confused voter – another silent prayer – if the youth face of politics demonstrates this demeanour – God save this country!