Monday, May 19, 2008

Manmohan Singh's politics of politicisation

Politicians are known to be overdependent on cliches. Everyone has their favorite ones. The Marxists excel at telling others when it is opportune to do something: 'Now is not the right time...to sing Humpty Dumpty, eat Samosa etc.,' they blare.

Congress honchos have their own peccadilloes. The Dynasty's severe handicap in Hindi is all to well-known: Hame dekhna hai; Bharat ke kone kone se; Hum dekhte rah gaye.......etc.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi can usually be found mouthing the self-righteous platitude, "We don't need certificate of patriotism," "We don't need advice from USA," and few weeks later conveniently dishes out certificate of secularism or advisory to US on how they should conduct their relations with a 'particular' peaceful community, and minor things like that.

However, this post isn't about political midgets you see. Our very own, brave, intrepid, upright, loyal (to Dynasty), civil, incorruptible, unpolitical PM(did I miss any other adjective?), Manmohan Singh, has his own favorite cliche: Don't politicise.

You can find him frequently admonishing 'not to politicize this or that issue' gunning at his political opponents all the while. The pretext that ticks him off can range from serious to frivolous.

Cynics might wonder how you can not politicize something when the person talking about it is the Prime Minister, the highest constitutional authority in town (barring the titular President of course)--a political post. When the PM says something, it is by default politicized.

The alacrity with which the PM has deployed this same platitude over and over is quite impressive. Here's a list:

Don't politicise price-rise: PM tells parties

Don`t politicise people`s misery: PM

Don't politicise Iran pipleline, assess on merits: PM to Left

Don't politicise such thing: PM to Yechuri on rice-quota ("Tamilians are most troublesome allies")

His partymen, and party aren't far behind either.

Don't politicise Rahul's visit: Pachouri

Don't politicise hunger: Kapil Sibal


Don't politicise police: A K Antony

Don't politicise terror strikes: UPA tells BJP


Mr Singh has sung the same jarring tune few times over, whether it be Mumbai train bombings or the Jaipur terrorist attacks. If one can credit him with something, it is the rapid deployment of cliches. Natural calamity or man-made disaster, the man is ready with his arsenal of platitudes.

Tell you what Mr Prime Minister, if only you and your party did the job that's assigned to you, your opponents will neither have the need nor the opportunity to politicize anything. So, please stop lecturing and get on with your job already.

6 comments:

Ravindra said...

Excellent post! The Congress (and the media persons who are blatant Congress sympathisers) do not want the opposition to raise any issues - saying that they are politicising them! Now, if a "politician" raises any issue, it is bound to be "politicised".

So what is the Opposition supposed to do? Keep quiet? Will they be doing their duty?

The other pet argument that the Congress has is to counter any point by the "They did it too" factor. For e.g. they lost the Delhi elections due to onion price rise, the foreign minister escorted the terrorists to Kandahar, there were many terrorist attacks in NDA regime, the BJP chief was caught taking bribes on camera... blah blah... so they have no moral right to raise these issues!

Arre baba, as an "aam aadmi" how do I care if the earlier govt too had shortcomings. Do two wrongs make right?

Anonymous said...

You forgot 'Political Saint' (bah!) by Rajnikanth.

Most people forget that Manmohan is only a bureaucrat (and a loyal one at that) who was smuggled into the parliament via Assam falsely claiming his residence there.

Lip service has been his hallmark. Sermons is all we get from him. You did a better job in this post than my own previous attempts on the same. There's no hope of any action on his part now.

socal said...

Ravindra,

Cliches are not meant to be taken seriously. These people talk more like op-ed writers not politicians. Obviously any such politicians are bound to suffer where it matters.

Dosabandit,
I don't know much about Rajni. Manmohan may have been a bureaucrat but one gotta step into the shoes one is handed over. He hasn't matured much as a politician; he shouldn't be occupying that seat because it's feckless without someone who knows how to utilize the bully pulpit.

Anonymous said...

You cant blame MMS, he's a beauracrat, not a politician, ofcourse he has a problem with people politicizing everything =) he just wants his kursi and his uniform like most chaprasis. my apologies in advance to all hard working chaprasis for the dubious comparison.

SP said...

Nice catch! This is the lamest government ever!

Anonymous said...

Excellent Post, very timely very apt.

PI