And so of the coalition United Progressive Alliance as the
Congress party is the largest one! Anything done by the Congress party reflects
in the overall imagery of the alliance.
MANMOHAN SINGH: From a reformist prime minister to an underachiever
It has been hara-kiri, an utter failure. From being seen
as a master economist and a reformist prime minister, Manmohan Singh is now
seen as the man who is not only failing the country, but has also lost his
personal integrity.
‘Weak’ and ‘Underachiever’ are the epithets now being
associated with his name and legacy.
RAHUL GANDHI: From the politician with a difference to the reluctant
heir of the dynasty politics
From the unorthodox politician with a difference, Rahul is
increasingly being seen as yet another Indian politician exploiting the riches
of a powerful political family. Electoral losses, silence and selective
opinionating have given him labels like ‘the reluctant prince of the Indian
politics’.
THE GANDHI FAMILY: From the first family of India
to the most powerful political family of India
Being the first family was always the biggest asset of the
Nehru-Gandhi family. The family remained so in public perception even during
the period when no one from the family was governing the country. Bofors was
the beginning and the need was to get rid of it. Instead, what followed has
been a downward spiral. But the present government has brought it much faster. Sycophancy
to the Gandhi family leaves us only in bad taste.
Assets of the trusts and foundations related to people of
Nehru-Gandhi family are enormous and the control of the Gandhi family over them
has always been a shadowy point giving rise to criticisms and controversies. Bofors
taint is still strong. But the dent that the brazen cover-up in the
land-misappropriation allegations on Robert Vadra has done in is bound to go
deeper and the Congress party is bound to see its repercussions.
UNITED PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: From a feasible, working alliance
to a corrupt, opportunist congregation
The Alliance
that gave five years of stable governance to the country is now a sinking ship.
The present government in office, by any measure, is the most corrupt
government in the history of independent India. India is in an age of coalition
politics and a strong political coalition with an image of governance
efficiency is the best bet to score a major political victory like winning a
parliamentary election.
But this coalition has lost the steam. Even the prime
minister has blamed the ‘coalition compulsions’ for the plague of corruption
that his government has become riddled with.
The only survival point for the coalition is a weak,
divided and distracted opposition that has not been able to exploit the
opportunities it gets to topple the UPA government. But that is certainly not enough
to sail the electoral battle.