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Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 3:50:16 pm

Victim Card

There is something almost literary about the Congress’s reaction to Sonia Gandhi’s memoir not being published in India by Penguin Random House. The episode follows a familiar script. Each time something happens where the facts are inconvenient for the Congress and its controlling dynasty, the party brass discovers a villain in Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP. Sonia Gandhi’s Belonging: A Journey of Love is scheduled for international release next month through Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of...

Victim Card

There is something almost literary about the Congress’s reaction to Sonia Gandhi’s memoir not being published in India by Penguin Random House. The episode follows a familiar script. Each time something happens where the facts are inconvenient for the Congress and its controlling dynasty, the party brass discovers a villain in Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP. Sonia Gandhi’s Belonging: A Journey of Love is scheduled for international release next month through Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Penguin Random House India, however, has clarified that it is not the Indian publisher of the memoir. It has also explained that its fact-checking and editorial recommendations were part of the ordinary publishing process that kept them from publishing the memoir. It has further clarified by stating that it remained “willing and keen” to publish the book. Instead of ending the drama, the clarification has become an invitation to manufacture one. Congress leaders, and elements in their media ecosystem, lost no time in insinuating that Penguin was pressured by the BJP either to abandon the book or demand changes. This leap on part of the Congress, from editorial scrutiny to political intimidation, is breathtaking indeed. It requires the public to believe that fact-checking is suspicious when it involves Sonia Gandhi, but presumably respectable when it involves everyone else. Publishing houses fact-check manuscripts and protect themselves, their authors and, not least, their credibility. That is how the process operates. Indeed, Penguin has said precisely the opposite of what the Congress alleges, that it was interested in publishing the memoir. The disagreement, as described by the publisher, concerned the fact-checking process and recommendations made to the author. Yet the Congress appears constitutionally incapable of resisting the seduction of persecution. It seems perpetuating a political culture that transforms disagreement into a sinister conspiracy and a legitimate institutional process into an assault on democracy. There is an irony here that should not be lost. A memoir, by definition, is an intensely personal reconstruction of political life. It is also a historical document, especially when its author has occupied the centre of recent Indian political power for some time now. Such a book deserves rigorous scrutiny precisely because its claims will enter the public record. If the Congress believes Penguin has suppressed the memoir under government pressure, it should produce evidence. If it cannot, then this episode is less about censorship than about something the party has perfected over the years: the politics of permanent victimhood. The curious thing is that Sonia Gandhi’s memoir has hardly been ‘silenced.’ It is still coming out under a no less prestigious imprimatur. The only thing that appears to have been cancelled is the Congress’s opportunity to resist turning itself into the victim.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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