When Even a Routine Landing Scares a Nation
When Even a Routine Landing Scares a Nation
Yesterday, when news broke that
Rahul Gandhi's plane had trouble landing in Lucknow, many of us grew nervous.
The flight could not land on its first attempt because of gusty winds,
performed a go-around, and landed safely on the second attempt. There is no
evidence of anything sinister. But that is not the point. India still remembers
the plane crash that killed Ajit Pawar earlier this year, and when an aviation
scare involves the Leader of the Opposition, people worry. In today's India,
perhaps the saddest part is that distrust has become so deep that people's
minds can travel much faster than an aircraft.
Rahul is no longer the
"Pappu" the BJP spent years advertising to India. That product
appears to have expired. The man who was supposed to be politically finished is
now Leader of the Opposition, drawing enthusiastic crowds and asking questions
that keep following Modi and Shah around. The BJP spent years teaching India to
laugh at Rahul; somewhere along the way, people stopped laughing at Rahul and
started listening.
Modi now appears eager to
rediscover the magic of cheering young crowds. Hence the reels, the outreach
and the attempts to connect with Gen Z. Unfortunately, Gen Z grew up with
social media and probably knows the difference between a reel and reality better
than the people producing one for them. Students worried about examinations,
paper leaks, education and jobs are unlikely to wake up the next morning and
say, "Never mind our future, what a wonderful reel."
Then there are the crowds. Modi
may want the kind of reception Rahul increasingly receives, but there is a
small inconvenience: enthusiasm is much easier when people actually want to
cheer. Friendly audiences can always be found, organized and presented beautifully
on television. Parliament is harder. There sits Rahul Gandhi with those
irritating things called questions.
The student protests made those
questions even harder to escape. When allegations emerged about violence
against protesters and people claiming political protection, the obvious
response should have been investigation and transparency. Instead, the controversy
was allowed to grow while Rahul kept pushing it. Apparently, ignoring Rahul was
supposed to make Rahul disappear. That strategy seems to be working about as
well as the "Pappu" strategy.
Now Kiren Rijiju says Amit Shah
is prepared to answer Rahul's questions. Wonderful. Better late than never. But
after keeping the country waiting, Shah may discover that putting extra sugar
on an answer does not necessarily make people swallow it. If the allegations
are false, come to Parliament with the evidence and destroy Rahul's argument.
The Home Minister, after all, should not need weeks of preparation to answer
questions he says have perfectly innocent answers.
The same problem confronts the
Election Commission. Serious allegations about electoral manipulation cannot be
answered indefinitely with "trust us." Trust is not an EVM button
that somebody can press on behalf of the voter. It has to be earned through
transparency, evidence and institutions willing to answer uncomfortable
questions.
That brings us back to Rahul's
plane. Nothing sinister needed to happen in Lucknow for the episode to expose
something troubling. The landing may have been routine; the fear it produced
was not. When citizens become so distrustful of those governing them that even
an aviation scare involving the Leader of the Opposition makes them nervous,
perhaps another reel is not the solution. Perhaps rebuilding trust is.
The BJP spent years convincing
India that Rahul Gandhi was "Pappu." Today that same Pappu has become
one of its biggest political headaches. Modi can look for friendlier crowds,
Shah can prepare his answers, and the BJP can always invent another nickname,
but Rahul will still be standing across the aisle with another question.
The BJP wanted India to laugh at
Pappu. The joke seems to have taken an unexpected turn: Pappu is asking the
questions, while Modi and Shah are being asked to find the answers.
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