People always call Congress the Grand Old Party. Now, tell me how many of us stay with our grandparents in the village, or how many of us (grown-up children) stay with our parents? The compulsion of leaving your parents or grandparents could be anything, reason is not important. Sometimes it's unpleasant when aged parents are left at an old age home. Sometimes children get settled in abroad leaving back their parents at home. If it can happen in a family with your parents and grandparents why is it so surprising that certain leaders are leaving Congress? We are changing jobs for greener pastures. Some change their religions. Some even change their life partners. The government also changes. So changes are only constant and permanent. Changes are the essence of life.
As I have already said changes will come whether we like or do not like them. I remember a few lines of a Hindi song from the movie Daddy…
Aaina mujhse meri pehli si surat mange
Mere apne meri hone ki nishani mange
Mera fan phir muje bajar mein ley aaya hain
Yeh woh jagah key jahan mero wafa bikate hain
Bap bikate hain aur lakhte jigar bikate hain
Kookh bikati hain dil bikate hain sar bikate hain
Iss badalti huyi duniya kaa khuda koyi nahi
Saste damo peh yaha roj khuda bikate hain
Har kharidar ko bajar mein bikata paya
Ham kya payenge kisi ne yaha kya paya.
English translation…
My mirror asks for my former presence,
my beloveds want an evidence of my existence.
My skill has pushed me into the market again,
it’s the place where love and loyalty are sold.
Fathers are sold and the apple of their eye are sold,
wombs, hearts and, minds are also sold.
This ever-changing world has no belief,
gods are sold at a bargain here,
with conceit.
All buyers are on sale here,
What to look forward to,
when nothing is there.
I believe this song will tell you everything you want to hear and give all your answers. Your value keeps on changing. And when your value changes your belongings and association also change. The Congress is the same. Sonia and Rahul have been in the lead for the last 27 years. But these people started leaving Congress only after UPA lost power as they were not seeing hope for Congress’s revival. People would remember in 2020 big numbers of TMC leaders stood in the queue to join BJP. Because they were anticipating TMC’s defeat in the 2021 Bengal election. But most of them again stood in the queue to join back TMC. TMC was the same and Mamata was the same, with no change in her policy or no change in her attitude.
Sonia and Rahul are wrong because Congress is not in power. But if Congress comes back to power tomorrow then the same Sonia and Rahul would be right. Modi is right till such time he is in power. Today nobody talks about Advani because he is not in power. And if Congress doesn’t come back to power then Sonia and Rahul would be bad for always. Rejection may not always be on the right ground and under the right kind of evaluation or assessment even if such evaluations are done by experts or so-called experts. Amitabh Bachchan was rejected as his voice was not found suitable. It sounds like a fairy tale, but it was an unbelievable twist of fate that Bachchan was unable to get a job at the All India Radio (AIR). Lata Mangeshkar was rejected by a few music directors initially as they found her voice light.
Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star in 1919 because, his editor said, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Michael Bloomberg was let go when he was working as a partner at Salomon Brothers, an investment bank. after the company was bought out by the company that eventually became Citigroup. Eventually, Bloomberg has become one of the richest men in the world. Madonna was rejected by music producer, Jimmy Ienner.
J.K. Rowling was rejected by about 12 different publishers. After just one performance, Elvis Presley was fired by Jimmy Denny, the manager at the Grand Ole Opry. Steve Jobs was fired by the company he created. Marilyn Monroe was told she should become a secretary instead of a model. Steven Spielberg was rejected by the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film, and Television. Thrice. Vincent Van Gogh's paintings were rejected throughout his lifetime, with only one sold. Oprah Winfrey was fired from her job as a television reporter because she was "unfit for TV."
No, I am not comparing Rahul with any of them. But what I wanted to say is that all the above-mentioned biggies were rejected by the so-called experts from the same profession. So rejections need to be the criteria to judge someone. Nor the rejection be final.
Losing charm and glory is a natural phenomenon. It happens to people and it happens to organizations. Whatsoever may be the reasons, but it happens. The life span of Fortune 500 companies has come down to just 18 years. In that sense, the INC Indian National Congress or Congress (I) or Indira Congress has been there for 53 years since its inception by Indira Gandhi in 1969. Janata Party is no longer there, Bharatiya Jana Sangh is no longer there, and Congress O (original) is no longer there. Strong leaders like Morarji Desai couldn’t save his government or his party. Would you say Desai was a weak leader? So if INC dies tomorrow there is nothing to be surprised about. A class nine pass Tejashwi Yadav has been able to revive RJD.
Do you know why these biggies I mentioned above were rejected initially? Because there were being assessed on the basis of prevailing measuring standards and scales. Those evaluators or so-called experts failed to see the change coming or the change these people were to bring. Let me give an example. Till the eighties, people could never think that the Ambassador cars would go off the road. Ambassador cars were the king of Indian roads, strong, sturdy, regal class look was a status symbol. But you know what defeated the three-box Ambassador - by the unseemingly two-box weak body, ordinary look Maruti 800. The ambassador was not defeated by another strong body class-looking car. I am sure that Hindustan Motor could never think that Maruti will ever give them competition or that Ambassador will be defeated by Maruti. The rough Indian road was any day more suitable for Ambassador. Every single parameter was in favour of Ambassador including the service center, spare parts, and mechanic availability. Fuel prices were also low, so that was also not the consideration to go for Maruti. Possibly the only factor that went against the Ambassador car was the long waiting period.
Today the political pundits are expecting somebody like Modi to replace him. Their benchmarks are like that of the Ambassador cars. Hindustan Motors also changed its model from Mark 1 to Mark 4. BJP will also change from Modi, Amit Shah, or Yogi. But the parameters are all the same. Hindustan Motor also changed to a Japanese engine, and bucket seat design to compete with Maruti, but didn’t work. However, Maruti didn’t compete with Hindustan Motor. They put up a completely different platform that Ambassador can not compete with it, in fact, there was no comparison. But HM got defeated and evicted from the market. The strongest was defeated by the weakest player.
Whoever wants to defeat BJP or Modi, the benchmark or the platform has to be totally different. You can not defeat Modi Ji in his style. Europian Hockey found it impossible to defeat India on grass, so they brought AstroTurf the artificial surface which is more suitable for speed games. Skill was no longer the most dominating factor to win a game. If you use the benchmark of Modi Ji possibly Rahul stands nowhere. That is possibly the reason Lata Ji was initially not found acceptable by a few music directors as they were looking for a heavy voice as per the prevailing trend then. But she changed the trend itself and created a new trend, She didn’t compete with the oldies. Arijit Singh also has set a new trend, he didn’t compete with the then-established male voices. People are finding Rahul wrong because he is being seen through Modi’s lens. Maruti would have never passed if it was evaluated at par with the Ambassador car.
Rahul will never be able to defeat Modi in his style of game. If Maruti had designed another Ambassador-type car possibly it would have never defeated Hindustan Motor. Rahul needs to change his packaging totally. Sometimes your weakness could be your strength. And sometimes your strength could be your weakness. So the essence is that you have to change for survival, or else you will perish. Not having an ecosystem is not a worry. If people are leaving, good. Blood donation is good. It rejuvenates the system and helps in creating new blood cells.
Maruti created its own ecosystem. It didn’t appoint HM dealers as its dealers. It appointed bigger dealers than HM dealers. It created a totally new chain. Incidentally, Maruti was brought by a Gandhi only. To date, it is the most successful car maker in India. HM built cars that suited the then-Indian road conditions. But look at Maruti, it made the government to change the road conditions. We started making new roads and better roads
I Hope Congress takes my clue seriously. The need of the hours is to think out of the box and change the focus point.
Let me tell the story of French football player Michel Platini to explain how to change the focus and create room. He is regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984, and 1985, and came seventh in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. Platini was his country's record goalscorer until 2007 and held the record for most goals (9) scored in the European Championship until being surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021. Do you know what was his specialty as a player? He is rated to be the most intelligent modern football player for his undisputed supremacy in without-ball playing. Unlike other great players, Platini would seldom make a big run with the ball. In fact, he was known for bare minimum ball possession. Platini would be there where the ball would reach, he would position himself perfectly in the scoring position. Most of his run in the opposition box would be without the ball. He would put tremendous psychological pressure on the opposition defender. They stand confused and divided on whether to focus on the player carrying the ball or on Platini. A player of Platini’s class would require 2 to 3 defenders to stop him even when he is not carrying the ball. Stopping a player without the ball is one of the most difficult tasks. And Platini’s presence in the box or around the box itself is intimidating enough. This gives a lot of room for the player with the ball to move. The ball will come to Platini at the end moment when he is perfectly positioned to score.
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