She heard the full narration in her lighter moment in 1973 that a government officer from Punjab would immediately ask, after receiving Rs. fifty thousand as a bribe, when is your next assignment, Sir? But the officer with provincial origins in Gujarat or Rajasthan would immediately resign to set up his independent venture from next day. Maharastrian would also resign immediately and start looking for a Gujarati to set up joint venture with him as sleeping partner. Malayali from Kerala would land in your office next week, seeking job for his cousin. A Tamil man would reach you in year end to demand diary and new calendar. A man from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar would keep on assuring the job will be done though he will do nothing except chewing his pan. A man from Bengal would neatly slide the currency notes wad in his pocket and will not move even his finger to oblige but he will deliver a lecture to you as to how your corruption is damaging the national governance.

Indira Gandhi asked suddenly “but what about reactions of a man from Assam or Odisha? The answer was no man from Assam can reach that high in government and Oriya would faint on seeing the wad. In fifty years since this episode life and responses have undergone changes but not the basic traits of provincial mentalities. Value of Rs. fifty thousand is now without weight and is insignificant as play is now in millions.

In five decades since then the character and purpose have undergone several changes but more deformed is the utility of power since then. It is no more an instrument of seeking the mass welfare but became a weapon for seeking personal betterment. The drastic change is of purpose and utilization of politics as instrument. Even structures of various political parties also had to undergo transformation. The cadre in each party including in only two multistate parties lean to make efforts heavily to gain political post as additional weight to their visiting cards. More heavy post ascribed in the visiting card, provides more influence in dealing with the men in the administration. It is sought not to serve masses better but for welfare of the self and family. The greed converted the hundred year old Party the Congress into a serfdom of the Gandhi family. Even the BJP cadre had become selfish. The BJP cadre was more articulate in covering up its self interests than the Congress men. Their leader in the highest seat provides them with a rare opportunity to exploit the system. They had to wait for four decades to have the prospects to walk towards them.

Sonia Gandhi was installed as the Congress party chief in October 1998 even though nothing was known of her political ability, economic understanding or comprehension of Indian society, the social construct or cultural exposition. She belonged to the Indira Gandhi family was only consideration for the party to tolerate her as the chief for two decades longest ever occupant in 130 years. Her first election yielded only 113 seats in the Lok Sabha reflecting on her ability to understand Indian voters, their aspirations or their needs. The lack of her understanding of power politics was in public view for ten years after she got the opportunity in 2004 as her party became the lead party to head the ruling coalition. She nominated the man who would depend on her support and would not question he was given impossible assignment to rule without power transfer to him. Their approach and agenda for two humiliating electoral defeats prove their misreading of the Indian voters.

The Indian poor began to realize with rapid expansion of visual media channels that brought the world inside their huts and hovels, the importance of education for dignity of life. They launched on efforts to ensure their child in schools instead of in the child labour camp. The sudden but perceptible drop in the national birth rate in last three decades also indicates acceptance of the small family norm by poor also. The mother Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi Carried on their politics based on advices of fossilized men to hang on the old but failed electoral strategies of enticing poor with promises of charity on huge scale in the last two elections. Their main opponent Narendra Modi specifically said not to expect charity in his regime but be prepared for hard labour to improve their economic ability. His electoral approach reduced the party that was leading the coalition rule for a decade to be a mere pulp. Sonia Gandhi had in 2014 a number that she could count on her finger tips. Despite the embarrassing outcome, her son Rahul adopted similar electoral approach of enticing the Indian poor to vote on promise of huge charity. Poor voter taught him and his party a sane lesson that they may be poor but want dignity of life and not charity to fill their bellies. The Congress could not again get numbers even to qualify as the recognized opposition. The party that had defeated the powerful Empire and ruled India for five of seven post independence era was out of public recognition.

In 1971, Indian voters with 45.5 per cent literacy rate and 45 per cent of them in abyss of social, economic deprivation had defeated the Rightist combine. In 2014, 53 years later with literacy rate above 83 per cent and proportion of population below poverty line existence reduced to less than 20 per cent. Poor Indians voted to tell the world, they were not, they are not, and will never be beggars to sell votes. They rejected then in 1971 and now in 2014 everyone who wanted to project them to be so. They rejected the similar projection in 2019 also to vote NaMo even though his ledger after a full term had no entry on credit side though the debit side was filled with entries of his several failures.

The hardcore section in the ruling establishment is now more eager to replace NaMo with successor its choice. The section is not wrong in its assessment that emergence of NaMo did more damage to the BJP than all others. NaMo emergence did demolish the strong regional political entity in Uttar Pradesh but not in Bihar as NaMo ensured domination by Nitish Kumar and NaMo politics could not make inroads in four of five Southern states or in Odisha. But he had not projected the BJP as his party. Instead he sought and obtained the verdict for formation of his own rule. He stood in the path of many measures the Sangh was eager to and strived for implementation. It cannot get them through. The idea began to play in many minds with political scenario that allows no political party to stand on its strength as the BJP. They don’t credit to Indian voters and their inherent courage to innovate. Provincial mentalities may differ but the mentality is uniform for poor voters all over India.