IF I CALL HIM 'PAPPU', TODAY, IT SHOWS WHO I AM

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.

Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul

be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

- Helen Keller

Let me clarify my position right at the start, here: I am not writing this Post as a supporter of Congress Party or its President, Mr. Rahul Gandhi. As I have told many times before, I keep party politics and hardcore religion at bay. Particularly, if my writing is going to poison the minds around me… If it is going to divide and polarize.

I have been observing Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s political growth just as any of you would – reading about him, watching videos of his speeches and interviews, listening to people debate about him And, what had shocked me, always, was how systematically and relentlessly he was made to look like a joker, an idiot… a ‘Pappu’… and so on. What is even more shocking was this: most of my friends around me would think and believe so… would label him so… share the videos demeaning him and his mother Mrs. Sonia Gandhi… And, these friends of mine were some of the intelligent and well-brought up men and women. But, when it came to Congress, and particularly Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and her son Mr. Rahul Gandhi… they have been really mean…

I always thought it was unfair and being stupid to do so.

I wrote great pieces praising our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi when he shot up on the national space in 2014. To me, he was a valiant… He had done the unthinkable… He deserved all the adulation… I really admired him for his charisma and the power he wielded by sheer merit, almost singlehandedly…

But, I do not hold him as my idol anymore… In less than five years, I am disillusioned, hugely. I am not going into the details as to why… It’s there for all of us to see, if we are honest and untilted… 

John Maxwell said, “Power really is a test of character. In the hands of a person of integrity, it is of tremendous benefit; in the hands of a tyrant, it causes terrible destruction.”

When Mr. Arvind Kejriwal rose on the Delhi scene, particularly, with a landslide against all odds, I rose to give him a standing ovation… Yes, I wrote beautiful things about him. He was an underdog… An ‘aam admi’, with no stings to pull. He galvanized millions of young men and women around him, sold them his vision and reached the place where he is now… But, slowly, my opinion has undergone a sea change over these years…

It’s difficult to be the same man once you were – an ‘aam admi’ - once you assume power. You need tremendous strength of your character not to get polluted by the power. Yes, I do not hold him as my icon, anymore, too…

And, Mr. Rahul Gandhi – the ‘Pappu’ his opponents made him out to be… Yes, is he my icon, my hero?

Just as I had risen to give a standing ovation to our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, when he got his place in the Sun, and just as I had risen to salute Mr. Arvind Kejriwal when he shot up to glory… yes, just as that, today, I rise to honour Mr. Rahul Gandhi. And, let me tell you why I do so…

He believed in himself… When the whole world, including the social-media cells of your opponents and the biased media your opponents have patronized, relentlessly portrays you and make the world believe, that you are an outright idiot, a headless and useless fellow, to remain unruffled and focused... keep your belief in yourself unmoved… Oh yes, it’s the marks of of character…

And, imagine this: the your opponents succeed in their game and hard-sell you as a ‘Pappu’ to the world – little boys and girls, young men and women and the elderly – yes, in spite of this, when you are able to keep your folks, all across the nation, together, keep their belief in you unmoved… Yes, this, too, takes the strength of your character…

When, your opponents spill hate and poison, when they are hell-bent in destroying you – make the nation ‘mukth’ of  you and the party you lead… and, when they paint your family, particularity your mother, as traitors and anti-nationals, yes, in the thick of this hatred, to keep your heart free from venom, not to stoop down to the same level as of your detractors… to say that ‘I want my nation to be an ‘inclusive’ nation… Yes, it takes fine upbringing and culture…

When you know you do not know… that, you have no answer to a question, to admit it openly, takes monumental courage, too…

To wait with colossal patience and hope, to bear your personal losses with grace and dignity, to learn from not only your own mistakes, but also from your detractors’… and, to confess it openly, that your opponents have taught you ‘what mistakes not to commit’… Yes, it takes not only great humility, but it also takes great character…

So, today, I stand up for Mr. Rahul Gandhi for some of these things… To me, he was never a ‘Pappu’… nor I admired him ever as my idol. But, just as I had felt very strongly about Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, when they earned their respective spots in the Sun, today, I feel very strongly so about Mr. Rahul Gandhi, too…

And, I would feel so even if you call me a ‘Pappu’…

For, I am not…

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: GangSlangs.com