Caste and religion based politics has hurt this system for long now. Lack of long term vision and populist statesmanship is the biggest problem Indian politics faces today. Even if for a while, we admit that communal politics is the unfortunate reality of India, our present government has proved that not only are they bad administrators, but equally stupid politicians- even when it comes to petty politics!
Our ruling party is notorious for acting on wrong advice – like opening the doors of Babri Masjid which had been locked by Sardar Patel. Who asked them to pass the retrograde Muslim Women’s Bill against the Supreme Court’s wise decision in favour of alimony for Shah Bano? Similarly, the reason behind Afzal Guru’s delay in sentence for 8 years is something we will never understand. Pragmatically speaking, we know that the reasons were barely legal, and greatly political. In the larger picture, it has to be understood that instead of celebrating the hanging of 2 hired assassins, we should be more worried about the prevalence of masterminds and institutions which are out there creating more such man-machines, who are capable of pulling gruesome acts in the name of religion.
But even an amateur who understands how politics works can say that Congress is an epic failure, even at such petty communal politics. For long, the fear that hanging Guru would cost Muslim votes restrained the Congress. Soon, the fear that not hanging him would cost more Hindu votes took over, as the general elections loomed. The Congress will now lose Muslim votes and not win Hindu votes. One day they try to please Muslims, the next day they try to please Hindus – and end up displeasing them all. The BJP already has a powerful grip on Hindutva emotions – thanks to Modi’s PR and Shinde’s foolishness. I do not claim that BJP’s governance would be any better than this, but purely going by politics, Congress really has an albatross hung around its neck.
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 
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