I am no great Rahul fan. And
consciously I could never endorse Narendra Modi’s policies. Yet the ongoing
debate on the Feku versus Pappu hash tags on social media has left me amused. I
want to join the debate with some of the arguments like if there was indeed a
choice between a Feku and a Pappu and they happen to be the only available
options, who would be then considered best for my nation and which side will I
be.
First the Pappu…. My husband’s
pet name is Pappu. In India almost every mohalla will have someone named Pappu
or else identified as Pappu. Pappu is a pet name for an innocent, sweet child
who was not into any crafty business. Pappu
is a dumb kid, would be ignorant of things, can be fooled easily but he is
harmless. He might not have great achievements in life but he could be
reliable, consistent and devoted.
Indeed it has been true that in
India people make fun of the Pappus only because they were naïve and could not
make their way up by any means.
If Rahul Gandhi symbolizes the
Pappus of India, he could be the one representing many young Indians who have
consistently worked all their lives and got nothing much in return. So when
Rahul made friends with painter Girish in a train journey to Mumbai couple of
years back I can understand his willingness to befriend another Pappu of the
country.
I am particularly impressed when
this emerging Pappu the leader, talks about India being a bee hive. I as a
young student during early school days have written essays on the bee hive and
how does it depict a great world in itself. The queen bee is the mother bee,
identified for laying eggs and giving birth to the progeny even as the workers
take care for rearing and advancing the community. The drones that happen to be
the male bees die just after fertilizing the mother bee. And the rest of the
community labors hard to collect the honey for the younger community to grow
and prosper. What an amazing story of life and inclusive growth.
I identify with the hundreds of the
worker community who would strive and toil for development growth and life of
their own world. And most of we Indians have lived like them, happen to be
them. So when the Pappu who is hoping to lead the ‘Pappuland’ talks about the
beehive India his dream land, I see myself in it, my role in it.
Not that I would ever want to
work and strive just like another worker bee but that where is the option. It
is my world and it is the way I have lived all through.
Pappu talked of me, like me. Naïve
with may be no great magic wand to undo things and only hopes of a refreshed
new beehive. When he says that he is not a politician and wants to work as an
ordinary worker, somehow I get a feeling that he is no queen bee but the
ordinary worker bee just leading the swarm of bees towards finding honey. Or even
if he was the queen bee, he could do little to change the bee hive. The hive
grows big with collective effort and not just by one queen bee syndrome.
Now the Feku. I have known the
Feku for some years now. He talks business, I am told. With his magic wand he
took away the great Tata’s Nano project from West Bengal the sick, outdated,
dying state to ‘Vibrant Gujrat’. Look at the ‘Gujrat Model’ people say. Roads
are great, ports have potential, people are entrepreneurs and the air has vibrancy
and enthusiasm. All big investors are moving there, investing….developing.
Feku advises people of moving ahead and not looking back to the gory past. People are prosperous, happy and positive. Feku talks of ‘Gujrat ki Asmita’ and any criticism to his era of golden rule is seen as a blow to the self respect of six crore people of Gujrati self respect.
Feku gives examples of the ‘Gujrat
model’ of prosperity where everyone is an entrepreneur and a business woman
innovated pizza with her add on desi recipe some two decades ago beacuse of the magic of Gujrat of today. How people have
moved to Gujrat leaving other places for business and livelihood! I am
amused..awestruck and wonder about the dream land and dream world.
Actually the word Feku means ‘The
Exaggerator’. As kids we would listen to ‘Feku’ frien ds and tell them ‘to give
away more so that we could wrap around’. (fakiye fakiye hum lapette hain). I
was just wondering how our ‘Feku’ friend can give away stories with such
efficacy to make the concept of dreamland look so real.
At least he does whatever he
says, says one. Don’t you know what changes he has brought in these years of
his tenure in Gujrat. ‘You can’t just keep living in the past of 2002’. “He has
really changed Gujrat”. Have’nt you heard the stories of development?
I have…..I have heard so many
stories of prosperity, development, vibrancy, investment, enthusiasm and
advancement. I have heard of the ‘Gujrat model’ and have heard tales of self
proclaimed ‘Vikas Purush’, and his so called ‘hard decisions’. Oh...I have
heard tales of development as to how big investors patted the government and
how investors find scope of development in the developed state.
Oh I keep hearing ….I kept
hearing the tales from the Feku and keep wondering if these were fairy tales. Which
government has been criticized vociferously by any investor ever? Were they not
bestowing accolades, when the new government came to power out staging the
communist rule in Bengal after thirty five years? Investors have to look up to
the government for infrastructural support and politics free governance for
smooth functioning of business. And they would do the same whether in Bengal or in Gujrat.
I know Feku keeps telling that
people had voted him for three consecutive term. But people had done that to so
many governments before and are doing that to so many governments now. People had voted the communists in Bengal for seven
consecutive terms before voting them out. The Congress had ruled the country for five terms before the emergency. But how does just ruling consecutive terms in a state make anyone eligible to rule the country. The question is do people know that the
Feku wanted to make voting mandatory in his state through a bill or else
prosecute people if they did not. Underlining, if there was a scope of also
prosecuting people if they did not vote the Feku or ever dared question his
concept of dreamland.
Feku’s regime is known to be
mastering the art of fake encounters. I wonder if that was the origin of the name ‘ Feku’. Or were they the tales from the Fekuland that went to
the making of the ‘Feku’. Nowhere in India has ever seen senior police officers
of the rank of DGP facing prosecution for fake encounters. How can this be attributed
as the signs of prosperity?
Let’s not forget the Nano car
showcased as greatest achievement of Feku regime was because the people of Singur
did not give their farmland in exchange for cars. Let’s us also not forget that
Feku wants people to forget that 2002 ever happened in his kingdom but
never reaffirms that it will never be repeated. He has never expressed apology for failing to save his own people who also contribute to the six crore gujrati asmita.
Feku talks of giving reservations
to women political participation at grassroots panchayats forgetting the fact
that the one bill that is still pending in his state has been implemented in
many other states of this country and is a successful model. Feku forgets that
women are not mere mothers, wives or daughters but equal citizens of the
country. Women’s reservation in politics is actually inclusive politics and mere
proposals do not make an achievement story.
Feku talks of the five crore
Gujrati’s self respect and how he enjoys their support. Is it true that even
sixty percent of the total vote of Gujrat were actually in his favour. Feku
is on Facebook, on twitter but does he actually know how many people have
access to Facebook or Twitter in his own state. Does he have a count as to how
many people still are in refugee camps in his state? Does he have a figure as
to how many people have been prosecuted and convicted for human rights
violation in his prosperous state? Does he also have a figure that how many
people in his own state did not go out during the day of elections and where do
they live or which community they come from?
Feku does not include me in his
vision. I don’t figure in his success story. I am not included in the self
respect account of the six crore Gujratis.
Where do then I figure in his
tales? If the success story of six crore (mere hearsay) people showcase the
life of one twenty one crore, it is a real fake assessment.
I will not be for Feku as his estimation to attend to 1.27 billion Indians only through what he has done for much less than even the six crore people of his state is nothing less than just an over statement.
