oppn parties Identifying The Leader With The Nation Is Dangerous Sycophancy

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
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  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
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  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Identifying The Leader With The Nation Is Dangerous Sycophancy

By Sunil Garodia

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Second or third rung politicians in India have sycophancy in their blood irrespective of the political colour they represent. So is the habit of hailing one's leader as Supreme and by that token, to be the only one to be identified with or as the Nation itself. Any criticism of the leader was and is, per se, criticism of the Nation according to such leaders. Hence, when Congress leader D K Barooah had said that "India is Indira and Indira is India" he was just taking such sycophancy to its peak. People were not surprised at that time but took it as a 'devotional' chant from a sycophant.

Times have not changed. When Union minister Jitendra Singh says that those who criticize US President Donald Trump for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi "Father of India" and are not proud of the fact that Modi is indeed the 'Father' of India are not Indians, he is showing the same devotion as shown by the likes of D K Barooah. Once again, the Supreme leader is being identified with the Nation and it is being said that any criticism of the leader is a criticism of the Nation. It is being said that those who do not recognize the Supreme leader as the only one to be identified with or as the Nation are 'traitors' and do not deserve to be its citizens. The Father of the Nation is Mahatma Gandhi and no other leader can aspire to match his stature. Obviously, the Nation cannot have two Fathers. Perhaps Jitendra Singh wants to believe Trump and replace Mahatma Gandhi.

This was, and still is, a dangerous theory. Just months after the devotional chant from Barooah, the Supreme leader in Indira Gandhi was so filled with her own importance that she declared a national emergency when faced with rising opposition to her dictatorial policies and incarcerated almost everyone who was not a Congressman or held a view that Indira was not India. If now sycophants in the BJP keep on egging Narendra Modi, who knows what will befall the nation? Already, the likes of Sakshi Maharaj have said that there will be no elections in India in 2024 as Modi, after winning in 2019, will continue to rule for as long as he wishes or lives.

Despite Modi himself being humble and calling himself the Pradhan Sevak of the nation, the people around him are just fawning sycophants. The Prime Minister must tell them not to cross the line. Praise must be showered in moderation. No leader is Supreme. He is supreme till the time people think he is and vote for him. In any case, no leader can be compared to or identified with or as the Nation. India is much bigger than Indira or Modi. They are just sevaks who come to manage the affairs of the Nation on the bidding of the people. Hence, people in the BJP must not discredit Indians who do not think what Trump said was right. 

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