Saturday, September 16, 2006
Reflection time for Congress
27 February, 1997
The Editor
The Afternoon
Mumbai
Sir,
Samajwadi Party’s strong showing in the recent Mumbai Municipal Corporation election sends out several messages to political parties. For Congress, it is a message not to take people for granted. Its acts of omission and commission have robbed it of the support of a wide spectrum of constituencies. One by one, it lost touch with its supporters, nay its own ethos and petty-minded so-called leaders, in their individual obsession for power grab, have rendered Congress a sorry skeleton of its majestic past. It will be missed, but none of the present leadership deserves any sympathy. On the contrary they deserve their banishment into oblivion.
For Shiv-Sena/BJP, the election is a message that but for the disarray in the opposition, they could not have overcome their absolute non-performance. On all counts, Maharashtra had been slipping. The state that is supposed to be the power-house of the nation is gradually losing all its advantages. As if it is being run by local Shakha Parmukhs, who are interested only what is coming to them. Shiv-Sena will have to pull itself up with its boot strips and work for people. Food, housing, roads, agriculture, industry, power sector, infrastructure--- the list is long and forbidding and there is no time to lose in back-slapping. Maharashtra should go on war footing, if Shiv-Sena’s rule is not to be remembered as a flying visit of Nadir Shah.
For Samajwadi Party, the message is clear that they have to hold their horses and forge better understanding with their alliance partners. They are the legitimate leaders of the underprivileged and unless they inspire a sense of fairness and magnanimity in their dealings with their comrades, they cannot build on their current success.
The Editor
The Afternoon
Mumbai
Sir,
Samajwadi Party’s strong showing in the recent Mumbai Municipal Corporation election sends out several messages to political parties. For Congress, it is a message not to take people for granted. Its acts of omission and commission have robbed it of the support of a wide spectrum of constituencies. One by one, it lost touch with its supporters, nay its own ethos and petty-minded so-called leaders, in their individual obsession for power grab, have rendered Congress a sorry skeleton of its majestic past. It will be missed, but none of the present leadership deserves any sympathy. On the contrary they deserve their banishment into oblivion.
For Shiv-Sena/BJP, the election is a message that but for the disarray in the opposition, they could not have overcome their absolute non-performance. On all counts, Maharashtra had been slipping. The state that is supposed to be the power-house of the nation is gradually losing all its advantages. As if it is being run by local Shakha Parmukhs, who are interested only what is coming to them. Shiv-Sena will have to pull itself up with its boot strips and work for people. Food, housing, roads, agriculture, industry, power sector, infrastructure--- the list is long and forbidding and there is no time to lose in back-slapping. Maharashtra should go on war footing, if Shiv-Sena’s rule is not to be remembered as a flying visit of Nadir Shah.
For Samajwadi Party, the message is clear that they have to hold their horses and forge better understanding with their alliance partners. They are the legitimate leaders of the underprivileged and unless they inspire a sense of fairness and magnanimity in their dealings with their comrades, they cannot build on their current success.
