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Defeated, Cong takes comfort in karma theory: The Indian Express
New Delhi, Dec 07: While the BJP temporarily shed Hindutva in the recent round of Assembly elections for the sake of victory, the Congress seems to have discovered ancient Hindu philosophy in defeat.
New Delhi, Dec 07: While the BJP temporarily shed Hindutva in the recent round of Assembly elections for the sake of victory, the Congress seems to have discovered ancient Hindu philosophy in defeat.
To a volley of questions on what the Congress leadership planned to do in the face of the severe setback it has received, Reddy replied — a la Krishna to Arjun on the battlefield — ‘‘A political party should not run into raptures when it succeeds nor should it get depressed when it faces setbacks. All these things need to be taken in its stride.’’
Would heads roll? Was Sonia Gandhi’s leadership going to be questioned? Will the CWC which meets on Sunday pinpoint where the rot lay? No answer, no acknowledgement even that anything was seriously amiss. A phlegmatic Reddy only repeated: ‘‘Every setback has to be taken in the right spirit in order to be a stepping stone of success.’’
And why exactly was the Congress so confident that this was just a passing phase? Well, its all karma, you know — what goes up must come down; victory follows defeat follows victory.
Reddy insisted yesterday that it was just a result of the usual ‘‘anti-incumbency’’. Since 1967, barring West Bengal and Bihar, the law of anti-incumbency had almost invariably prevailed in all the states. ‘‘There is a cyclical character about these results,’’ said Reddy, as though he were expounding on the illusory world of maya and the unrelenting karmic cycle of life and death. ‘‘The BJP lost the Assembly polls in all these four states in 1998 but won the same states in the general elections in 1999. We have lost in 2003, and so we will win in 2004.’’ So, it seems, all the Congress has to do is wait for the cycle to turn, as it inevitably will.
Given the Congress’ new penchant for karmic faith, will the eminent members of the CWC decide to emulate Digivijay Singh and take sanyas? If they do, they will only be fulfilling Mahatma’s advice to dissolve the party — almost six decades after it was given, and many setbacks later.
Would heads roll? Was Sonia Gandhi’s leadership going to be questioned? Will the CWC which meets on Sunday pinpoint where the rot lay? No answer, no acknowledgement even that anything was seriously amiss. A phlegmatic Reddy only repeated: ‘‘Every setback has to be taken in the right spirit in order to be a stepping stone of success.’’
And why exactly was the Congress so confident that this was just a passing phase? Well, its all karma, you know — what goes up must come down; victory follows defeat follows victory.
Reddy insisted yesterday that it was just a result of the usual ‘‘anti-incumbency’’. Since 1967, barring West Bengal and Bihar, the law of anti-incumbency had almost invariably prevailed in all the states. ‘‘There is a cyclical character about these results,’’ said Reddy, as though he were expounding on the illusory world of maya and the unrelenting karmic cycle of life and death. ‘‘The BJP lost the Assembly polls in all these four states in 1998 but won the same states in the general elections in 1999. We have lost in 2003, and so we will win in 2004.’’ So, it seems, all the Congress has to do is wait for the cycle to turn, as it inevitably will.
Given the Congress’ new penchant for karmic faith, will the eminent members of the CWC decide to emulate Digivijay Singh and take sanyas? If they do, they will only be fulfilling Mahatma’s advice to dissolve the party — almost six decades after it was given, and many setbacks later.