Is Muslim League a dead horse?

By John Cheeran

There is little in common between Jawaharlal Nehru and Ramesh Chennithala. The former is India’s most celebrated statesman-prime minister, the latter a khadi-clad Peter Pan in Kerala.

Last week Chennithala, president, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, tried to emulate Nehru when he said the rump of Muslim League in Kerala (what is variously described as Indian Union Muslim League Kerala committee, Muslim League, etc) has become a liability for Congress.

It was Nehru who dismissed Muslim League as a dead horse in the post-independence euphoria in 1957. (It is another matter that, two years later, he keeled over and the state unit of Congress struck an alliance with the League in Kerala). Now the dead horse is galloping faster than Congress in Kerala, threatening almost to wreck the United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition.

Will the high command in New Delhi agree about what Nehru said in 1957?

Why do Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi flog the dead horse? The Gandhis can hardly displease the rump of Muslim League in Kerala, for the Oommen Chandy-led UDF ministry leads a precarious existence even with the support of the League. So they will acquiesce, and League will continue to press their arguments.

It is important to realise who flogged Nehru’s dead horse into life.

With a 25% Muslim population in the state, both the UDF and CPM-led LDF are wary of alienating Muslim voters. But one cannot understand the need for a Muslim League, in Kerala’s cultural and social context, in electoral arena. Both Congress and CPM are quite accommodative of Muslim aspirations, so why strike a divisive note on the basis of religion? The answer should come from the Muslim community. League, however, has realized that only thing that matters in a first-past-post democracy is numbers in a given geographical area.

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Rahul Gandhi meets Madam Poverty

By John Cheeran
It indeed was a historic moment the other day at Amethi.
Much like Siddhartha, and quite strikingly that is, another Rahul was looking for meanings.
The Prince of India, and son of Amethi, left his New Delhi abode and went into the wilderness in search of what I’m being told, the meaning of poverty.
It is a pity that after 37 or so years of living as an Indian, Rahul Gandhi, had to visit a hut in Amethi to know all about poverty.
And this is after his grandma abolished the said phenomenon with the magic words of “Garibi Hatao” in 1970s.
Reports in the Indian media say that Rahul Gandhi asked a Dalit girl named Sunita the meaning of being poor during a fly-by-night revival of the political behemoth, the Congress Party.
Let me a quote from a newspaper report.
” Sunita’s reply that poverty to her meant spending the day working to ensure that there was diner at night moved the youth leader. He visited her kitchen and insisted that he would share their dinner. He sat on the floor of the kitchen and shared the meal the family had prepared for themselves.”
It is important to note that if all goes well, at a certain point in time, Rahul Gandhi is bound to shoulder the burden of ruling the nation. He is already representing Amethi constituency in the Parliament.
So whatever the Prince of India does, it matters.
But it should be better Rahul gets his enlightenment from the managers of his party rather than indulging in such gimmicks. Does Rahul admit that he became an MP without knowing anything about the living conditions of his voters in Amethi?
If Rahul was willing to see, he could have met Madam Poverty and her brood in New Delhi itself.
There is more to India than 10, Janpath, Mr Gandhi.