If its such a dumb idea, why bother?

BY darius| IN Opinion | 09/04/2006

Why do leader writers write on non-topics when there are so many better ones around? 

You don`t say!

Darius Nakhoonwala 

Last week was one of those when leader writers fox me. Every one of them worth his salt (and his editor) said it was a bad idea, a desperate move, a pointless exercise and so on.  Yet they all wrote about it. I wonder why.

I am referring to L K Advani`s Yatra II which started on April 6. Mr Advani is hoping to do a repeat of 1990 when he managed to stir up enough Hindus to vote for the BJP merely because it said Hindus were good and others were bad.    

None of the papers explained, even in passing, why it was writing on the subject, that is, why it thought the yatra was important. Instead they all tried to explain why Mr Advani was going on a yatra and why it was a dumb idea.  

You may well ask why I am writing about it. The answer is that this is the topic on which most papers wrote.

The Telegraph said "Mr Advani`s political career has been on a tricky slope... His decision to embark on a second rath yatra to protest against "minorityism and appeasement`` is an obvious attempt to revive his own political fortune and the flagging ideological morale of BJP workers."

But, it said, it is as futile as shouting on a storm. After all, "none of Mr Advani`s erstwhile trusted lieutenants has offered to join him. One man on a chariot may not quite be enough to rejuvenate Hindutva`s flagging zeal."

The Hindu said that although the Congress has been in a "succession of scams, a bitter controversy that led the party chief to resign from important posts, and a none-too-happy prognosis for the Assembly elections... the premier national opposition party has gained nothing from its adversary`s series of blunders."

Then it gloated a bit over the BJP`s current mess. "Internal differences are reflected in the opposition to Mr Advani`s Bharat Suraksha yatra, which was flagged off on Thursday." Then it contradicted itself, as it often does these days. "The upping of the sectarian ante signals growing frustration within the BJP, which has no worthwhile non-sectarian issue to raise with voters."

But it made a nice point as well. "The news from Uttar Pradesh — where a `Tamil Nadisation` of politics seems to have occurred — is that the party has been edged out of the race by the big two, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party."

The Hindustan Times resorted to an old chestnut. "History repeats itself the first time as a tragedy and the second time as a farce."

It was left to the Pioneer to defend the faith, which it did rather poorly. "What is unique about the Bharat Suraksha Yatra is the fact that this is the first time that a major political entity has initiated the process of informing the masses about the threats to our internal security which are mounting by the day."

It then railed against the government and how it was endangering national security and concluded, rather lamely if you ask me, by saying "if Mr Advani and Mr Singh are able to alert the people about the very real threats they - and consequently the nation - face, if they are able to create awareness where none exists beyond meaningless rhetoric, and, if they are able to prod the masses into asking some tough questions, they will have rendered an immeasurable service to the nation. That, and not the size of the crowds that greet them, will be their litmus test."

The Deccan Herald was the only one to recognize that nothing needed to be said. So it did not write on the subject. Well done.