If the Gandhis step down now from Congress leadership and Modi wins in 2024, The Wire thinks the Indian Union will cease to exist by 2029. What explains this paranoid meltdown?

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

The meltdown and paranoia in the editorial rooms of The Wire is so high that they now have gone to the extent of predicting that the Indian Union will even cease to exist by 2029, if Modi wins again in 2024! Am sure your blood also boils at reading such hyperbole, but the author very calmly tells us that “This is not an alarmist prediction.” Of course, it’s not alarming for folks at The Wire because it’s just another run-of-the-mill, another-day-in-office for them!  This pipe dream of wanting to disintegrate India is however not new. This gang has been trying to somehow achieve this goal right from 2014 but the people of India have slapped them again and again. But wait, these people don’t even realise that they are getting slapped again and again. Because the author strongly believes that all those who voted back Modi in 2019 are foolish and ignorant people!

According to the author – “In 2014, the youth of northern India voted overwhelmingly for the BJP because they believed Narendra Modi offered them hope of a better, more secure future. He failed to deliver it, but in 2019 they still voted for him”. You would be wondering why a large block as huge as “the youth of northern India” be foolish enough to vote back someone who failed to deliver on promises. To which the author enlightens us that they did this “because the opposition had offered no alternative vision of the future either.”

This pattern of insulting of the voter for choosing someone that the Delhi elite scorns upon is nothing new. The Wire’s elder cousin, The Hindu had already tied itself in knots trying to espouse a similar argument recently. However, The Wire took this to an entirely different level by claiming that India itself will cease to exist because of these choices. The Wire has been on the forefront of creating this imaginary North-South divide from the year 2018 itself. In the 2019 elections, the North-East had voted overwhelmingly in favour of Modi; Karnataka voted overwhelmingly in favour of Modi; very very significant gains were made in states like Telangana, Odisha, and West Bengal. Yet, The Wire is continuing to stick with this phony argument that the BJP doesn’t exist beyond North India.

But why does The Wire think India will cease to exist by 2029? Because the Planning Commission was disbanded; because the National Development Council was disbanded; because Article 370 was removed but Article 371 continues to exist; because of delimitation of seats planned in 2026; and because Prime Minister Modi supported The Kashmir Files. And the rant just goes on and on. Nearly 1800 words out a total of 2800 words in the article are dedicated to telling us how evil Modi is; how cunning Modi is and how pathetic the Indian voter is. Now, you would be assuming that the article is about the BJP. You would also be wondering why this sudden escalation to “India will cease to exist” by merely citing their age-old rants.

Here is where The Wire stumps you. Nearly 1800 words out of a 2800 worded article that is titled “‘Out With the Gandhis’ a Cry of Despair; With No Obvious Replacement, Cure May Be Worse than Disease”, are dedicated to merely repeat ad-nauseam rants!  Instead of focusing on why the Gandhis should continue to be at the helm of Congress despite defeats in 39 out of the 49 elections since 2014, The Wire is focusing on ranting about Narendra Modi! With the latest defeat in 4 out of the 5 states, the English media is abuzz with articles on how Congress should get rid of the Gandhi family siblings. However, this is also the season where the believers of the Gandhi family, in the English media, get yet another chance to exhibit their unparalleled loyalty to Sonia Gandhi and her children.

What better way to show your loyalty to the Gandhi family by criticizing Modi and predicting doomsday scenarios? You’d think that if 1800 words have been dedicated for Modi, what is the essence of the remaining 1000 words? Most of the remaining 1000 words are dedicated to understanding “Why the Congress footprint shrank”. You’d think that the shrinking began somewhere in late 80s but the article traces this back to 1967! Because we are now enlightened that “By 1967, this degeneration had alienated a vast section of the urban elite and civil society”. I can never understand the fascination for “urban elite” and especially the term “civil society”. Does this mean that those who still voted for Congress in 1967 are uncivil? The bubble of elitism has been burst long back but these authors/editors still seem hell-bent on creating another bubble to give themselves self-importance of an unparalleled level.

We are then told that revival of the Congress must be through alliances with regional parties in every state – “the way ahead clearly lies not in creating an entirely new grassroots organisation but in partnering with regional parties and relying on their cadre to spread the coalition’s message.”  What The Wire doesn’t tell us is that there are very few regional parties that want to even ally with the Congress! Powerful regional entities like the YSRCP, TRS, TMC, BJD, SAD refuse to even be seen close to the Congress party! Other powerful regional parties such as AAP, DMK etc will merely go in the way the wind is blowing and wouldn’t care about allying with only the Congress for long periods of time! Even the Karnataka example that the author so proudly cites (and credits Rahul Gandhi) has resulted in a massive failure, with the people of Karnataka flatly rejecting that arrangement.

We are also told that there is no alternative to the Gandhi’s, merely because there is a no replacement in sight. There-in lies the fundamental problem for the Congress – and it’s really baffling how any sane analyst cannot see this problem. As long as the Congress is guided by veteran journalists like Prem Shankar Jha; as long as the congress party is patronized by folks at The Wire; as long as the Gandhis believe that they are the owners of the Congress party, then we can safely predict that it is the Congress party that will cease to exist by 2029. On the other hand, the Indian Union will emerge even stronger than before.