What a scene? Nothing short of a spectacle. The Hindu carried a photo of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi leading 100 members of Parliament belonging to all opposition parties. The prominent leaders seen in her company are Sharad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, Ghulam Nabi Azad, D. Raja et al. They staged a march from Parliament House to Rashtrapathi Bhavan to highlight their opposition to the Land Bill.
This is the second march in the last few days undertaken by Soniaji. The first one is to express solidarity to Manmohan Singhji and see that he is not depressed. This second one can be said to be a real political one. What strikes one is the stalwarts of non-congress parties in the group that marched to Rashtrapathi Bhavan, are not new to rigours of political life and are accustomed to live in and adapt to adverse conditions. But Soniaji is a novice in this regard. All along she ruled as an empress and accustomed to command and order and get things done her way. In the process did not care about public opinion.
The end result is seen in last elections. Now it fell on her shoulders the task of restoring the credibility of her party.
Rahul applied for leave as any ordinary wage earner does. We do not know whether the Congress leaders have any " leave rules" just as we have in our Staff Regulations. The present period is excellently suited for him to finish his apprenticeship. Soniaji must have taken him along in her march.
Is this an indication of reshuffling of the pack of cards? Will it lead to a new alignment of political forces? We have to wait and see. But it is doubtful if this would be approved by the mandarins of orthodox stalinist left .
A wonderful diversion for all of us whose peaceful life is disturbed by adjournment after adjournment by the Court. It is not simple wage earners like us that are staging marches. Even the high and mighty are forced to undertake them. That is quite interesting. But that is the turbulence unleashed by neo-liberalism.
B. Ganga Raju, Hyderabad