Hate is the easiest, laziest tool in politics. It serves the immediate political purpose without requiring the politician to go through the rigors of reform and change, infrastructure development, economic upheaval, and whatnot. Be it at local levels or in grander, bigger elections, hate provides results. It provides the hatemonger with all the required media attention, and public adulation, and keeps them under the limelight until they achieve their objectives.
When the targeted audience is sufficiently fed on a diet of sustained hate, nourished over the years to ignore actual issues and engineered to hail the dynasty-centric group of politicians over the course of several generations, hate is often just enough, ‘Sasta, Sundar, and Tikau’ method to achieve short term goals.
In politics, particularly Indian politics, hate is the ‘entertainment’ equivalent of item songs featuring bikini-clad actresses in Bollywood. It pulls the audience to theatres, the number tops the charts, gets played in weddings and large gatherings, and keeps the movie in the news for just enough time for the makers to break even, get a decent return on their investment, and fulfill immediate objectives.
Bleak scenario ahead for I.N.D.I.A. group, at least Udhay Stalin came up with some proper drama
Tamil Nadu minister Udhay Stalin has literally dropped a “Chikni Chameli” level attention grabber in the otherwise bland, bleak, and morbid political landscape of India’s opposition parties, particularly the so-called I.N.D.I. alliance. Nobody cared when the alliance met for their first, second, or third meetings, apart from some media houses that are duty-bound to report political developments. Almost all expert predictions have stated clearly that there is no contest against Modi in the 2024 general elections.
Rahul Gandhi is being “launched” for the umpteenth time but apart from the Darbari Congress stooges, almost everyone in the country knows how that goes. We have watched Rahul Gandhi “launch” more times than Rahul Gandhi’s age. Congress party should actually consider shifting their headquarters to Sriharikota and compete with ISRO for the maximum number of “launches” in a 5-year period.
Udhay Stalin has his priorities sorted, and defined, unlike any other opposition leader currently
While the political discussion was heating up around the borderline genocidal statement given by Udhay Stalin, I sat down thinking, “Actually, that is a leader who knows what he wants”. There is no ambiguity about his goals. He wants to eradicate ‘Sanatan Dharma’. He has decided what problems it causes, according to him. He has decided that solving those so-called problems is his priority and has set himself a clear goal. This is something that none, none of the other leaders in the I.N.D.I.A. group have done.
Rahul Gandhi is a chef today, a philosopher tomorrow, a Forrest Gump one day, and a bike rider the next day. In the last few months, he has tried to become the human form of the famous song by Lenka that became the catch tune for Microsoft’s Windows 8. “Everything at once”.
As sly as a fox
As strong as an ox …… you get the drift.
So, the bottom line is, Rahul Gandhi can swim in the sea, kickbox, cook, walk, philosophize the sh*t out of non-coherent ideas, and ride a fancy bike to Ladakh. But we might as well elect the next winner of MTV Roadies as the PM of the country, no? The things that Rahul Gandhi wants everyone to know he can do, can be done by every 30-something guy with a decent amount of money facing an early midlife crisis. Not as impressive as Congress believes it to be. This liftoff is again going to fail, not NAARMAL at all.
Mamata, Nitish, Lalu, none of them can be a suitable rival to Modi
Mamata Banerjee can be a formidable politician on her home turf, but there is simply no reason why any other state will accept her as a PM face. Nothing in her political behavior so far suggests she has a clear national vision. Nobody takes Nitish Kumar seriously at the national level and NCP has yet to sort its domestic affairs. The patriarch himself seems to be divided over whether to accept the inevitable accent of the nephew or still try to back his daughter and create further rifts within the party.
I.N.D.I.A. bloc faces a very weird dilemma. Everyone knows that Congress will try and project only Rahul Gandhi, they are hotwired to do so. They cannot help it no matter how much they try. Everyone knows that Mamata Banerjee has been trying for years and years to become the leader of a united alliance. She tried to do that before the 2019 general elections too, without success and she is trying again.
There have been multiple visits to Delhi, Mumbai, and even Bhubaneswar. But her attempts to get another strong regional leader to support her openly has not yielded much.
So far, there seems to be a strange reluctance, even aversion, if one observes carefully, among her own so-called “allies” to back her candidature as the leader of the united opposition front against Modi.
A lot of media attention is being diverted to Lalu Prasad Yadav, highlighting his (questionable) ability to crack jokes that used to be funny for old uncles in the 1980s. But let’s face the reality, Lalu Yadav is not happening. 2023 Indians are not going to fall for THAT. Asking ‘laadla betas’ why they are not married yet is not funny and it definitely is not going to get votes. Such jokes don’t even get likes on Instagram these days.
So amid all the dreariness comes Udhay Stalin, with a proper hero’s entry like a Tamil movie, setting the headlines rolling, social media abuzz, and debates blaring, about how he thinks the 65% of the nation’s population, or as per slightly more politically correct words, their belief system and way of life, is equivalent to “dengue and malaria”.
Udhay Stalin has defined clear, sharp goals. In corporate language, he has highlighted achievables with proper bullet points. “Sanatan Dharma is a disease, it needs to be uprooted, and eradicated, like any disease has to be.” He has also said in very clear terms that uprooting the Sanatan Dharma is the humane thing to do, because, as per him, it perpetuates the suffering and oppression of the marginalized. Jinnah would have been proud, as far as clear goals are concerned.
I never called for the genocide of people who are following Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion. Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality.
— Udhay (@Udhaystalin) September 2, 2023
I stand firmly by every word I have spoken. I spoke… https://t.co/Q31uVNdZVb
Another sharp contrast Udhay has displayed in comparison to other Opposition leaders is that despite hue and cry over his remarks, he has stood firm, unperturbed, and has claimed that he is going to stand by his statement. There is no “ka ka chhii chhii,” no “Chandrayaan took people to the Moon” level nonsense, no stammering and neverending explanations after a verbal faux pass that is so common for all the above-discussed leaders.
In Udhay Stalin, there will be a sharp distinction, a clarity, an X or Y choice for Indian voters to choose from. Whether they want Sanatan Dharma eradicated and stand under ‘One God, One Clan’, or they want Modi 3.0. Clear, no obfuscation, and no dishonesty. Clarity is severely lacking in the political scenario today and Udhay comes with a clear set of goals.
After several meetings and several million gigabytes of wasted internet data, all the I.N.D.I.A. bloc has managed so far is a lazy acronym and a committee that includes Priyanka Chaturvedi. At this rate, they won’t be able to sort their chai samosa bills till May 2024 and the BJP might as well again walk with a thumping majority.
Hence, they should be working fervently to elect a leader and hurry to rally behind him. Building the ‘face’ is slow work and will take months of campaign. Udhay Stalin has already done half the work for them, They just need to declare him as the King In The South and follow his banners.
