In a job interview, the hiring manager decided to put the candidate at ease with small talk. He asked the candidate, what’s your favourite fruit? Considering it is the season of mangoes, surely you like mangoes?
Instead of giving a simple answer, the candidate replied, “I do Vipassana”. The manager was flummoxed. What’s Vipassana got to do with any fruit?
The candidate went on to explain, “The mind constructs the flavour of the fruit. You can like or dislike any fruit you want. You can choose to like mango, you can choose to hate it.”
That was bizarre, felt the manager. How could you choose to like or hate mangoes at will? The candidate explained further, “You can choose to like poor people, you can choose to hate them.”
Also read: Congress is dying. Here’s what could replace it
Where, how and why did poor people come into a question about his favourite fruit! The manager kept a straight face and let the candidate explain further.
“You construct everything in your mind,” the candidate said. “The mind decides everything. I might start off hating someone, but after a bit of interaction, I’ll see things through their eyes, and be like: Actually, I like him; he’s great’.”
By this time the candidate looked like he was lost in his own make-believe world where the mind runs amok without fear and the head is held a bit too high. Just then, the candidate returned to the question and said: “But to answer your question: I like mangoes, I like bananas, I never used to like carrots, but now I do. I never used to like asparagus, but I do now.”
Do you think the manager hired the candidate after this interaction? Surely not. If a candidate speaks so much nonsense in a job interview, how will anyone get any work done from him?
The conversation is real, except this was not a job interview. This was Rahul Gandhi speaking to India Today magazine a few weeks ago.
India rejects Rahul
The 2019 Lok Sabha election result has been decisive. Voters have not just voted Modi back to power, they have resoundingly rejected Rahul Gandhi. Modi clearly benefited from making the election a presidential contest against Gandhi.
Many expected the Congress to at least double its seats, increase its vote-share a bit, if not cross 100. Correspondingly, the BJP was widely expected to shed at least a few seats. Such a result would have given us a sense of incremental progress in the Congress party’s fortunes. The Congress likes to think its eventual return to power is almost inevitable. Incremental progress would have bolstered the case.
Instead, the Congress has remained almost where it was in 2014. In fact, it has actually lost seats and vote-share in the Hindi heartland. Rahul Gandhi lost his own family seat of Amethi.
The Congress vote share increased from 19.3 per cent to just 19.5 per cent. Its seats increased from 44 to just 52. The writing on the wall is unambiguous — India has rejected Rahul Gandhi.
The dislike for Rahul Gandhi is so strong that people prefer Modi even if can’t create jobs. The revulsion is not so much for the Congress but for Gandhi. It comes from Rahul Gandhi often not making sense in his utterances, like talking about the mind, Vipassana and poor people when asked about fruits.
Also read: The Gujarat model: Why Amit Shah was always going to be Modi’s pick for home minister
When will Rahul Gandhi retire?
Whether or not Rahul Gandhi remains the president of the Congress party, he will continue to be its public face, its de facto prime ministerial candidate. His ageing mother or obedient sister won’t come in the way. There’s hardly any mass leader of consequence left to rebel.
So, how long will Rahul be around? There is no retirement age in Indian politics, but people tend to be around till 80. Manmohan Singh was 81 when he left the PM’s office. Vajpayee was 80 in 2004.
Rahul Gandhi is 48, will turn 49 this month and probably celebrate his birthday somewhere in Europe as he usually does. It is safe to assume that he will be leading his family business, the Congress party, with or without ceremonial titles for the next 30 years or so. With a warped thought process that makes him talk about Vipassana and poor people when asked about fruits and flavours, Rahul Gandhi will make sure the BJP keeps winning election after election.
If this seems unimaginable, think of Gujarat. The Congress has not won an election there since 1995, staying out of power for 24 years.
The Gujarat model has now been adopted by the country at large. Even when people are deeply unhappy with the BJP, as they were in Gujarat in 2017, they will still vote the BJP to power because the Congress just doesn’t look like an option.
Similarly, Rahul Gandhi will make sure the Congress never looks like an option in national politics. People will continue to fear handing over the nation’s keys to a man who can’t tell his mangoes from his Vipassana.
See you in 2049
There will be challenges from regional leaders and local politics, but at the national level, the BJP will continue to override anti-incumbency with the persona of Narendra Modi, who is only 68. All that Modi has to do to win elections is ask people if they would prefer Rahul Gandhi over him as PM.
Modi will be 78 in 2029. By that time, he would have served three terms as the prime minister. He might then pass on the job of saving India from Rahul Gandhi to his successor, Amit Shah. Currently the home minister, Shah is only 54. Come 2029 and Shah will be a ‘ripe young’ 64, and could easily serve another three terms as prime minister until the summer of 2044. Rahul Gandhi will be 73 then and still eligible to be a PM. That should make it easy for Yogi Adityanath, who is two years younger than Gandhi.
Also read: Three reasons why Amit Shah as home minister is a big setback for the BJP
Don’t blame Vipassana
In these 30 years, there will be a lot of churning in Indian politics but, just like in Gujarat, the Congress party’s captive vote-share won’t let this churning add up to much. Just like anti-Congressism failed before Indira Gandhi, anti-BJPism will fail for want of a uniting national force against Modi-Shah.
In the BJP-Congress binary states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, a third force has often tried to come up and replace the Congress. While the Congress is too weak to defeat the BJP, it is too strong to give way to another force. This is what Yogendra Yadav means when he calls the Congress an “obstacle”. The Congress is more interested in retaining the opposition space than occupying treasury benches.
The Congress party’s slow decline will likely mirror what happened to the Liberal Party in UK, which was a major political force from 1850s till World War I but started declining thereafter. It didn’t, however, die immediately. It dissolved as late as 1988, its remnants merging with the Social Democrats to form what is today known as the Lib Dems.
It is only when Rahul Gandhi leaves the stage, and the Congress party concedes defeat and starts merging with the regional parties, that a new counter-politics to the BJP will emerge. Until then, India is likely to see uninterrupted, opposition-free, single-party rule by the BJP.
In the unlikely event that Rahul Gandhi decides to change his career and become a full-time spiritual guru, Modi-Shah will instantly start losing public support and elections. It won’t matter who the opposition figure is. It just has to be someone who has the ability to give a straight answer to a simple question like ‘What’s your favourite fruit?’
Views are personal.
I honestly believe that BJP and NDA will rule the country forever….not just for 20,30or 40 years but permanently….because there is no dearth of grassroots karyakarta in BJP and RSS from whom they can choose honest, corruption free leaders…BJP is not a family driven enterprise…It’s gets its leaders from grassroots…And one more thing that people will not forget is that..what happened when a loosely stacked coalition of 35 to 40 regional parties were ruling the centre during the time of United Front in 1996…Remember those times….We had 2 prime minister’s in the span of 2 years…Deve Gowda in the first year and Inder Kumar Gujral in the second year…Does this country deserve such instability at the centre….No we don’t…We have seen enough of them….BJP and NDA is the answer…We should never change a good party and remove it from power…
What an observation, nothing is very clear in politics ever everything is ambiguous and fluid and talkin’about 2049 is indeed a far fetched thing.Indian political parties are like the little Mercury the element which when exposed to a surface keeps attaching detaching constantly on the move for an alliance to suit personal or other gains.
Yes, who knows who gets first.
Looks like RG pissed this guy off a lot. The author is negatively obsssed with him! ?
This article is obviously the product of an insane mind. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything as foolish. Please don’t publish such articles.
Congress lost because people like you kept them in a bubble. There is nothing wrong with the answer, it is a great answer.
Real reason is Modi has demonstrated record of good governance and he has shown commitment to the poor and needy. Whether his schemes failed or succeeded, no one in Rahul’s dynasty told a poor woman defecating on the side of the road and standing every time a vehicle passes that she deserves a toilet; and when she is struggling to cook for the family in rain with wet coals or wet woods, and even those are getting increasingly difficult to procure that they deserve a gas cylinder, that they deserve a bank account, that they deserve electricity. Pulwama was game changer, till now CRPF soldiers were treated like dispensable cannon fodder, for the first time we have a leader who is willing to sacrifice his reputation and political career for their sake.
Rahul has done nothing and proved nothing. I will advise him to start from a local level, focus on his constituency and do some extraordinary work. The days of identity politics are over.
Pulwama ? What about Pulwama ? It changed the game, sure. Modi made full use of it.
But……that still does not change the fact that the Balakot strike was a labouriously articulated lie !
I remember the days when police resorted to firing on BJP led mob to demolish disputed structure leading to death & injuries. There was widespread chaos in several parts of country. These type of bullshit writers forecasted the end of political career of then CM Mulayam Singh Yadav… What happened later on in U.P. , Samajwadi Party led Government came to power.
So much of twisting and distortion. All sprung out from hate and fear. Typical fence sitter will always ridicule the person who has lost while fighting fairly. By this article one would think that this last election was on level playing field? With institutions and media unbiased? Non sense and senseless rant born out of hatred for one person. Please do not write again or people will stop reading for next 30 years. Hopefully you will retire by then.
If the prediction come true end of women empowerment.
so, pappu is the saviour of women? Reeeember Triple Talaq?
Well said
People cast their vote in the favour of BJP not because BJP have any special or Amit Shah is chanakya but the reason is there is lack of strong political environment in the country. The extensive dependency of the public of the country on the congress party never has got to built a positive political environment. Slowly congress went to weak and corrupted because he understood himself the fortune of the country. If Amit Shah has any special thing can he make BJP won without modi or any other party. Can he prepare the successor of modi? Modi is modi only till then there is no choise before the public. I will challenge the modi.
The context is missing from the crucial interview argument (and the question is distorted – just click the link to verify).
Context: even going with Mr. Vij’s construction, we need to be told for what job the guy is being interviewed – for a teacher of philosophy or ghost writer for a spiritualist, i would give the job to the interviewee. Ditto for opposer-in-chief to the merchant of hate.
post-truth: the question was not an opener and was not as stated. the question was posed at the end and was in a context: “Since Narendra Modi told Akshay Kumar he liked mangoes, we have to ask which flavour or fruit do you like?” Rahul refuses to be dragged into mango v/s banana type of argument and replies as stated by Mr. Vij.
I am still with Rahul in preferring Love over Hate. And you?
Didn’t know Shivam can write rubbish stuff. The Print, grow up.
Shivam Vij has gone berserk since the election results were declared.
First he contended that BJP should have won all ghe seats. Now he says BJP will rule for next 30 years (why only 30?).
Either way poor sarcasm.
Absolutely stupid article, to put it very mildly. The author’s fixation with Rahul Gandhi is nauseating. Nothing more to write about the article, except that it should be dumped right away.
The Print and India Today should clarify if the above exchange involving Rahul Gandhi really happened. If it did it’s a big thing because it means all the PR Congress and media have been doing over the last 1 year about how Rahul has matured and won people’s hearts is false.
Yes – entire argument rests on this truth as mentioned in your first sentence.
अगर मोदी में हिम्मत है तो पेपर बैलट से जीत कर दिखाए. और #प्रिंट आप भी दलालों की श्रेणी में शरीक हो गए…….
Thoda padh likh bhi lete
30 years? I don’t think so, it will rule India for the rest of India’s existence. Even if the entire Indian subcontinent actively opposed BJP and everyone votes for other party BJP will only win. As long as it’s in power, the election commission is BJPs pocket no different than Indian army is “modi ka sena”. Every bhakt knows that BJP is more corrupt than congress–almost all the big scams happened during BJP time. On top of that Modi made promises to give 15 lakhs per account or clean India or made a gazillion other promises and failed to deliver yet they are blind to that. You cannot convince idiots that they are idiots more than you can tell a dead person that they are dead, which is why BJP is been smart to target low literacy states mainly. Places with high literacy are harder for them because the likeliness of playing with EVMs or VVPAT machines are less likely but it’s only a matter of time even that happens as there are idiots everywhere–even in places with high literacy. Eventually, the country will go to the dogs… which it already has considering the increasing fuel prices, unemployment, death of several markets such as cash-economy markets, real estate, transport sector, etc. but the thing is it will get much worse as long as they exist. BJP will continue investing in other countries such as thailand where they’re building a trilateral highway for them free of cost at indian tax payers expense, or let chinese phones sell in Indian markets, or US sell their bikes, or give business to the japs by getting bullet trains, or france by buying overpriced rockets so these countries will have high regard for India because of this and the bhakts will be happy that other countries respect us despite it being because BJP has provided loads of business to them at Indians expense. So yeah, they will be here forever, until India becomes ashes.
There’s lots ofsubstance in what you’ve written. Language could have been humane but I guess it gets overidden by strong emotions. That’s OK.
Huh, I bow to you my friend. You are actually typing comments even when no payments are expected. You are a true Pappu Fan
Congress and entire oppn lost because of 3 fundamental mistakes and they will keep covering them because it can be politically costly ….1).un reasonable and blind anti Modi stance on even cases like JNU , National Anthem and Questioning surgical and airstrikes which BJP could easily turn into anti national and anti India…
2) overplaying minority or secular card by giving too much ear to Left …India doesn’t hate it’s minority but when the aggressive secular brigade starts abusing the 5000+ year s culture India will reject. Left needs to downplay our culture to survive and they will use minority resentment as a straw to be relevant …they used to be class driven before but in India left played to caste and religious minority fears for survival ….it is evident that from 2009 India wanted left sidelined MMS is instrumental in bring about this thought through nuclear deal …Congress giving undue importance to Left made it look a rich man’s left .
3) ostrich mentality of the oppn …they did not see the work RSS is doing to win masses to its side….RSS is no more hated or mis understood by India now ….when the best Congress and oppn can quote is the leaders of the freedom movement …while they were fooled by Nehruvians and left to cut off the whole civilizational strength of India which Gandhi used for freedom fight. Rahul and Left along with others are compelled by their earlier leaders stances to limit India to a history of 70 years whole RSS Could easily point out 5000 + years history including the mughal rule and British rule and also own who ever they wanted to their pantheon by simply owning India’s culture as a whole and bring in a narrative of their convenience……what Congress got wrong is to believe left and stop talking to India ….RSS conversed with India …left conversed among themselves ………they cannot correct these mistakes as they become irrelevant then …but Congress can …but they will never do ….BJP will win more and more
Gosh! That was some rant. You need to take break.
You are talking nonsense. By cheating evm with ec any dog also win an election. Not the heart and mind of the people. Come with ballot paper and prove if you have guts. Otherwise another godse will be born and finish the devils and evil .
Haan,toh Chhattisgarh,MP, Rajasthan ke elections hue tab evm thik the,bas LS 2019 mein kharab hue hai?Waah Congress logic,Aur EVM 2004 se use ho Rahe Hain,toh kya 2004 aur 2009 ke bhi results galat the?Aapne vote Nahi Diya ,iska matlab ye Nahi ki baakiyon ne bhi Nahi diya
Excellent writing style, Shivam ji.
Are you sure that the election results were infallible ? Democracy cannot be decided by election results. There are thousands of election related cases are pending before several court. So by one election do not judge the future of the country. It seems like the writer wants to appease some one for hidden agenda.
How can such non-sense pass off as journalism these days? Have our standards fallen so low? The author has the acumen of a potato.
I hope RAGA gives this Shivam guy a hug out of love. Shivam is badly in need of a hug.
No doubt the article is loop sided. But more interesting is to read comments rather than main article. Most are leaning to either side. If we look at it unbiased what could happen? Do the people of this country are so dumb like its politicians? Do there is dearth of good leaders in India? We forget one thing that absolute majority brings in absolutes faults. At the most till Modi is leading the fault lines will be hidden but what next? These fault lines gather the critical mass slowly and in absence of sensible leader it will explode. So though today the BJP under Modi is obvious choice, not necessary that it will remain so for decades together. One thing is true in the article Rahul has no hopes in politics now. He has never shouldered the responsibility willingly, obviously his actions would remain superficial and won’t help party to stand again, UNLESS SOMETHING NOTICEABLE HAPPENS.
Let’s never under estimate Modi + Shah combo. Carefully study their entire history of their 20 years of unhindered rise in Gujrat despite setbacks. To get to the truth – study their history from many different sources. Then you will realise that their’s is a frightful combo. And best part is that they quickly learn from their mistakes and keep correcting not only their own actions but actions of all their party men including those of related organisations & RSS.
Poor Shivam, he is so angry, he has written a sarcastic piece. I feel the same way when Virat Kohli makes a zero in a crucial match- I feel like blasting him to space.. The pain of your team losing is too much to bear
Ha, ha…as a footnote to your lovely comment, would like to add that if India needs to grow, it is merit like Rohit Sharma that should get always given preference over entitled incompetence. We all know the biggest example of the latter.
Absolutely nonsense story by Print .BJP voters can’t be labeled as haters, We voted for trust in Modi and we want him to complete many tasks ,that only he can do, but if he doesn’t do ,he will be shown his way out, but if he keeps completing he keeps ruling but I don’t have any trust on Amit Shah still now
The win of bjp is mainly due to the pulwama attack… Nothing related to RG… Also the link to the interview of India Today if the author has got time to go through it has quite sensible answers than what he has projected here as mangoes and favorite fruit…. Its the PM who has never had any proper interview …… The core issues like farmer suicides… Failing economy (even with changes in GDP calculation and changing the GDP values 3 times it has failed to reach IPA levels)… Unemployment have always taken backseat and never been addressed……
DIL KE BEHLANE KO YEH KHAYAL ACHA HAI.
Shivam Vij come to senses after a long duration and losing all his credentials.India had never allowed dynasty rule fro long.Although time took its toll but like Mughal and British Congress also destined to be liquidated from India.When #CongressMuktBharat slogan was raised by MODI JI all laughed on him as they never thought that a party which has roots deep in earth lived 135 years of life will die so easily.But it is matter of pride for him that he has nothing to work for total liquidation of Congress India.Congress party itself made it easier for a Congress Mukt Bharat for supporting a IDIOT FOOL MORON MEGALOMANIAC KID as President of INC and also echoed all his absurdities all over country thinking that it is India of 1947 .In last 70 years of Congress govt People has been tortured by its one man show.Be that JLN ,IG RG SG and Rahul Gandhi but they were never comfortable with their antics.AS there was no Option for voters to change congress govt they voted Congress and also a deep rooted conspiracy by Congress Muslim Christians to keep divided Hindus on caste creed race and enjoy power for long.But IN the UPA govt period Sonia Gandhi’s Pro-Muslim,Pro-Christians and Anti-Hindu works made Hindu polarized United Consolidated and voted out a enemy of Hindus govt party from power.BJP secured majority of its own after 1984 when Rajeev Gandhi secured 400s eats by murder of IG on sympathy wave.Now in 2019 same thing happened and in the congress party the policy remain unchanged.Their use and throw policy back fired.They used Hindu gods for vote and throw them to dustbin once results are out.
BJP is going to rule for 100 years as there is a party backup and workers backup.The President of Party is replaceable.The PM is replaceable.and In that sequence MODI till 2029,Amit Shah till 2044 and then Yogi will take over by a Hindu renaissance upsurge and backlash.Now time for all others to adjust themselves with Hindus and live happily peacefully else they will have to go out.INDIA WILL BE HINDU RASHTRA BY 1975 AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION IS NULLIFIED BY SC AS ILLEGAL AND ULTRAVIRES.
VERY GOOD ANALYSIS AND MODI WILL BJP WILL RULE INDIA FOR EVER, WITH SAB KA SAATH SAB KA VIKAS AND SAB KA VISHWAS