Niccolò Machiavelli’s 16th century seminal treatise, The Prince, could offer some advice to Rahul Gandhi after the G-23 rebellion and Ahmed Patel’s death.
Defeat of MVA in the council polls would convince Rahul Gandhi even more that he was right and Ahmed Patel wrong about Congress joining hands with Shiv Sena.
BJP's insistence on having its own nominee for assembly speaker and a replacement for Nitish Kumar's 'Laxman', Sushil Modi, indicate it wants to keep the CM under leash from Day One.
Jayaprakash Narayan’s followers learnt to lead movements but have struggled to respond to the aspirational class. They haven't gone beyond bijli-paani-sadak.
PM Modi understood Kashmir’s disenchantment with mainstream politicians. But his expectation of a new crop of leaders replacing the old isn’t materialising.
BJP's image among Dalits has suffered a dent due to Adityanath's Thakurwaadi image while Congress has failed to go beyond tokenism. This could help Mayawati, but for Azad's rise.
BJP is not ruling out Chirag Paswan’s return to NDA after Bihar election result. When was BJP so forgiving towards a leader hell-bent on damaging its electoral prospects?
Assam CM can’t celebrate that the Congress drew a blank in the Bodoland Territorial Council polls in 2010 as well as 2015, and bagged only one in 2020.
SEBI probe concluded that purported loans and fund transfers were paid back in full and did not amount to deceptive market practices or unreported related party transactions.
The 2018 contract with Russia for 5 S-400 systems had a follow-on clause for 5 more. S-400 was described as a 'game-changer' for shooting down 5 Pakistan fighter jets during Op Sindoor.
What Munir has achieved with Trump is a return to normal, ironing out the post-Abbottabad crease. The White House picture gives us insight into how Pakistan survives, occasionally thrives and thinks.
You sir, say read read and read! Fine, but who will read, Rahul. Forget it, does he have the strength to do that. In fact will he understand reading The Prince. Why waste words on someone who doesn’t understand the difference between chalk and cheese. .
That’s right. Read Machiavelli. Read and read and then try to implement it. But don’t try and use common sense, don’t work for people’s benefit, don’t even try to, take your vacations when regular people are under a lock down or suffering from Covid. Just act on whatever foolish ideas pop in your head. There will always be Machiavelli’s philosophy and teachings to bring you around and win people’s hearts. Meanwhile, Congress can hope and pray that their leader reads the book and understands it but they will not find a new president for themselves. They will go down with the dynasts in the hope that one day…. one day at long last this prince will rise to the occasion only by reading Machiavelli. What a royal waste of time.
Aptly said. But all your sarcasm will be lost on the sycophants in CONGRESS and in THE PRINT
Perfect comment Bro!
Other than Shekar Gupta rest are bunch are leftist liberals pushing crap on this site. What business does news site have in pushing an agenda or propping up a party. So much for fresh take on journalism, same old crap you see in other places,
In India it is plain and simple caste war. Congress has lost both caste and religion backing. Hence Rahul and Priyanka can only wait for opportune time when contradictions within support base of present ruling dispensation surfaces.
It would be a mistake to say that caste is the only issue that’s plaguing India. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who was instrumental in the abolition of the practice of Sati, was also resolving a social ill. In reality, the problems that plague India society, social, political, etc are part of a multi variate problem. Each issue, including Caste system, is responsible for the current social fabric structure of India. Abhorrent as it may be, Indian society is in inertia where people see the problems, know the solution, but are so dependent and accepting of the status quo, including those who claim to be “woke”, its hard to make changes without tearing that fabric because it changes the way a society interacts. As Newton stated in his third law of motion, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The goal should be to overcome that reaction, not with violence, anger, and an echo chamber but through a force of compassion, respect for a fellow human being which would be the bedrock for an honest and hard conversation. The goal of such a dialogue should be the equitable resolution of current conflicts where parties who join the dialogue must understand that the end goal requires an intent to address all past and present societal issues. The need for and the ability to have a hard conversation is required. Adding strategic depth for an argument by writing PhDs and pursuing ideological purity in a world which is imperfect would only result in a world where people talk at each other instead of with each other. Mr. Rahul Gandhi is a symptom of a larger problem. Their initial pursuit, after independence, of a full powered, unanswerable majority, which breaks state level governments for defying its diktats and questioning the federal government is well known and well documented. That has created this thirst in other political parties to seek political domination instead of coexistence. It has come a full circle with the BJP in power, seeking to wipeout Congress from India, a Congress free India. Pursuing ideological purity is the bane of this world, not only India. Pursuit of religious ideological purity leads to misguided, uneducated, sheeple (people who behave like sheep) killing others in the name of God, you can have your pick of them. Pursuit of a political ideological purity leads to fascism if it concerns hard right wing politics and communism if its the hard left. Worst is when the pursuit of religious and political ideological purity mixes and creates a different beast like Hindutva and Political Islam. It destroys any chance to find common ground as the ideological purity itself would be the first barrier to building mutual trust and the ability to cooperate and recognize that in the pursuit of an ideology, you destroy the nation towards whom loyalties should be in the first place.
Crispy and Good advice. But wasted since you yourself implied Rahul Gandhi has the intellect of the third class. A new Congress president or more hardships for average Indians.
It is the slothfulness in the society which is trying to prop up the reluctant politician in RG.
It is the reluctance of the media to not call faults of gargantuan proportions of the govt and instead bemoan state of affairs in congress which is out of power.
Somewhere you want RG to fight your battles, but you don’t stop fighting him 🙂 …
1. Why are you giving lesson to Rahul Gandhi? Has he asked you for lesson? 2. Do you think that Rahul Gandhi has time to read your essay? 3. If you seriously want to say something to Rahul Gandhi why don’t you write to him personally.
You are wasting time of readers.
Mr. Donkey, these pieces may seem to be written as lesson to someone but these are important to understand the politics. These are not advises/lessons to Rahul Gandhi but to the readers to understand the polity. Democracy are governed by both ruling and opposition party, hence it is important to understand the dynamics of each. These articles are for readers to understand the polity of opposition parties/leaders.
Shri Rahul Gandhi may well be right that India may still call him. After all he is still not 50 and BJP may not win forever beyond Shri Modi and Shri Shah’s time. But then, there is always a Prince Charles!
RG is reluctant now … After Modi and shah are done and india will be behind nigeria or namibia, do you think prince will be eager to come and take you out of the rut.
The Prince. The best book for politics. No, Rahul is not made of that stuff. Nehru was 24×7. It is because of him that Congress ruled till 2014. Just like because of Akbar the Mughal empire lasted till Aurangzeb.
An excellent article. Perhaps, the greatest handicap that Rahul suffers from (as if all the above was not bad enough) is that he firmly believes that mere ridicule, cheap jibes, childish acronyms and mockery, (some of it so personal as to betray his hatred) all aimed at Modi day in and day out, without either substance or sense is sufficient to convince the voters to make him, Rahul, PM immediately. He never learns ANYTHING from any electoral reverse, despite there being TOO MANY of them to count. Salvation is impossible.
Why Congress leaders win elections on their own instead of depending on Gandhis
They should stand on their own challenge Gandhis. Unfortunately, BJP still depends on
Modi only Modi. The way Civic election campaign was carried out, there was no chance non TRS parties except the one under Muslim BJP
Another typical left liberal piece of advice obsessed with RaGa. Why him, why not someone else as an alternative ?? Why try to elevate a prideful, entitled brat as a serious politician ??
If the author is analysing American or politics of any foreign country, it would have been more pleasing. In India’s case it is pathetic. We are the pawns in the hands of politicians and we thoroughly enjoy when they play us.
Ahmed Patel making a Sonia Gandhi and she became a leader? I agree with the author but how pathetic is it? A national leader comes this way and we justify that. We want another leader to come up this way and we call that masterstroke? Every politician in India is cheating people one way or another. Simple lying (openly) is something we accept and welcome. India is the only country where this is tolerated.
We can see droves of politicians changing parties like people changing jobs. They are CTC (Cost to Country) and that is enormous. It is sad that we accept it as it is.
1st lesson for RG: A for Apple, B for Ball.
2nd lesson: 1+1 =2
3rd lesson: brush your teeth before you go to bed
4th lesson: respect your elders
5th lesson: don’t interrupt when elders are talking
You sir, say read read and read! Fine, but who will read, Rahul. Forget it, does he have the strength to do that. In fact will he understand reading The Prince. Why waste words on someone who doesn’t understand the difference between chalk and cheese. .
That’s right. Read Machiavelli. Read and read and then try to implement it. But don’t try and use common sense, don’t work for people’s benefit, don’t even try to, take your vacations when regular people are under a lock down or suffering from Covid. Just act on whatever foolish ideas pop in your head. There will always be Machiavelli’s philosophy and teachings to bring you around and win people’s hearts. Meanwhile, Congress can hope and pray that their leader reads the book and understands it but they will not find a new president for themselves. They will go down with the dynasts in the hope that one day…. one day at long last this prince will rise to the occasion only by reading Machiavelli. What a royal waste of time.
Aptly said. But all your sarcasm will be lost on the sycophants in CONGRESS and in THE PRINT
Perfect comment Bro!
Other than Shekar Gupta rest are bunch are leftist liberals pushing crap on this site. What business does news site have in pushing an agenda or propping up a party. So much for fresh take on journalism, same old crap you see in other places,
In India it is plain and simple caste war. Congress has lost both caste and religion backing. Hence Rahul and Priyanka can only wait for opportune time when contradictions within support base of present ruling dispensation surfaces.
It would be a mistake to say that caste is the only issue that’s plaguing India. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who was instrumental in the abolition of the practice of Sati, was also resolving a social ill. In reality, the problems that plague India society, social, political, etc are part of a multi variate problem. Each issue, including Caste system, is responsible for the current social fabric structure of India. Abhorrent as it may be, Indian society is in inertia where people see the problems, know the solution, but are so dependent and accepting of the status quo, including those who claim to be “woke”, its hard to make changes without tearing that fabric because it changes the way a society interacts. As Newton stated in his third law of motion, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The goal should be to overcome that reaction, not with violence, anger, and an echo chamber but through a force of compassion, respect for a fellow human being which would be the bedrock for an honest and hard conversation. The goal of such a dialogue should be the equitable resolution of current conflicts where parties who join the dialogue must understand that the end goal requires an intent to address all past and present societal issues. The need for and the ability to have a hard conversation is required. Adding strategic depth for an argument by writing PhDs and pursuing ideological purity in a world which is imperfect would only result in a world where people talk at each other instead of with each other. Mr. Rahul Gandhi is a symptom of a larger problem. Their initial pursuit, after independence, of a full powered, unanswerable majority, which breaks state level governments for defying its diktats and questioning the federal government is well known and well documented. That has created this thirst in other political parties to seek political domination instead of coexistence. It has come a full circle with the BJP in power, seeking to wipeout Congress from India, a Congress free India. Pursuing ideological purity is the bane of this world, not only India. Pursuit of religious ideological purity leads to misguided, uneducated, sheeple (people who behave like sheep) killing others in the name of God, you can have your pick of them. Pursuit of a political ideological purity leads to fascism if it concerns hard right wing politics and communism if its the hard left. Worst is when the pursuit of religious and political ideological purity mixes and creates a different beast like Hindutva and Political Islam. It destroys any chance to find common ground as the ideological purity itself would be the first barrier to building mutual trust and the ability to cooperate and recognize that in the pursuit of an ideology, you destroy the nation towards whom loyalties should be in the first place.
Crispy and Good advice. But wasted since you yourself implied Rahul Gandhi has the intellect of the third class. A new Congress president or more hardships for average Indians.
It is the slothfulness in the society which is trying to prop up the reluctant politician in RG.
It is the reluctance of the media to not call faults of gargantuan proportions of the govt and instead bemoan state of affairs in congress which is out of power.
Somewhere you want RG to fight your battles, but you don’t stop fighting him 🙂 …
Instead of asking Rahul to find another AP, Congress needs to find another president.
A strong opposition is imperative for strong democracy.
1. Why are you giving lesson to Rahul Gandhi? Has he asked you for lesson? 2. Do you think that Rahul Gandhi has time to read your essay? 3. If you seriously want to say something to Rahul Gandhi why don’t you write to him personally.
You are wasting time of readers.
Mr. Donkey, these pieces may seem to be written as lesson to someone but these are important to understand the politics. These are not advises/lessons to Rahul Gandhi but to the readers to understand the polity. Democracy are governed by both ruling and opposition party, hence it is important to understand the dynamics of each. These articles are for readers to understand the polity of opposition parties/leaders.
Excellent piece ?
Honest analysis
An excellent piece.
Duffer Gandhi has become clickbait for The Print.
Shri Rahul Gandhi may well be right that India may still call him. After all he is still not 50 and BJP may not win forever beyond Shri Modi and Shri Shah’s time. But then, there is always a Prince Charles!
RG is reluctant now … After Modi and shah are done and india will be behind nigeria or namibia, do you think prince will be eager to come and take you out of the rut.
The Prince. The best book for politics. No, Rahul is not made of that stuff. Nehru was 24×7. It is because of him that Congress ruled till 2014. Just like because of Akbar the Mughal empire lasted till Aurangzeb.
An excellent article. Perhaps, the greatest handicap that Rahul suffers from (as if all the above was not bad enough) is that he firmly believes that mere ridicule, cheap jibes, childish acronyms and mockery, (some of it so personal as to betray his hatred) all aimed at Modi day in and day out, without either substance or sense is sufficient to convince the voters to make him, Rahul, PM immediately. He never learns ANYTHING from any electoral reverse, despite there being TOO MANY of them to count. Salvation is impossible.
Why Congress leaders win elections on their own instead of depending on Gandhis
They should stand on their own challenge Gandhis. Unfortunately, BJP still depends on
Modi only Modi. The way Civic election campaign was carried out, there was no chance non TRS parties except the one under Muslim BJP
No matter how much a piece of glass is cut and polished, it cannot become a diamond.
Another typical left liberal piece of advice obsessed with RaGa. Why him, why not someone else as an alternative ?? Why try to elevate a prideful, entitled brat as a serious politician ??
If the author is analysing American or politics of any foreign country, it would have been more pleasing. In India’s case it is pathetic. We are the pawns in the hands of politicians and we thoroughly enjoy when they play us.
Ahmed Patel making a Sonia Gandhi and she became a leader? I agree with the author but how pathetic is it? A national leader comes this way and we justify that. We want another leader to come up this way and we call that masterstroke? Every politician in India is cheating people one way or another. Simple lying (openly) is something we accept and welcome. India is the only country where this is tolerated.
We can see droves of politicians changing parties like people changing jobs. They are CTC (Cost to Country) and that is enormous. It is sad that we accept it as it is.
1st lesson for RG: A for Apple, B for Ball.
2nd lesson: 1+1 =2
3rd lesson: brush your teeth before you go to bed
4th lesson: respect your elders
5th lesson: don’t interrupt when elders are talking
Dear Ahmed, you mean to say, he is so duffer that he will have to go back to basics? OMG.