Chaps who run big enterprises like empires, mega corporations and religions truly believe in their own greatness. The misquoted declaration of the French king, Louis IV, ‘Après moi, le déluge’—translated as ‘After me, the flood’—to his friend and mistress Madame de Pompadour, was interpreted by British lexicographer Ebenezer Cobham Brewer as “Go to be ruined, if you like, when we are dead and gone.”
Myths of divine floods destroying civilisation exist in many cultures, such as the Hindu manvantara-sandhya, Greek stories of Deucalion and Pyrrha and the Bible. The ongoing political flood in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and a few more expected states can be summed up best by Opposition leaders as ‘Pendant moi le déluge’—‘the flood is happening when I’m around’.
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are determined that the BJP get a majority in both Houses of Parliament this time, a mission that’s been alive since 2014. The BJP is the Ark, and Modi is Noah who never says “No ah!” Their ship is taking new passengers not because the BJP needs them; in its ruthless election calculus, every MP is a bonus. Hence the panic about Kamal Nath joining the BJP so that Chhindwara becomes a saffron bastion. In Jharkhand, Geeta Koda, the only Congress MP after the saffron flood of 2019, has crossed over to the BJP.
Last month, Milind Deora, more of a guitar player than a politician, was nominated by the saffron monolith to the Rajya Sabha. Ashok Chavan of Adarsh scam fame painted himself saffron and got into the Upper House. In Assam, Himanta Biswas Sharma, who was humiliated by the Gandhis and joined the BJP, has cleaned out the Congress in the state even as Rahul keeps sacking popular and experienced leaders. Punjab, where the Congress had a good chance of winning in 2023 under Amarinder Singh, lost both the election and the Captain, who went to the BJP; Rahul’s Punjabi Svengali and election spoiler Navjot Singh Sidhu may be joining the BJP soon. Deserters have become vanilla news, and the Rajya Sabha elections are good weathercocks.
Seven MLAs from Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party cross-voted last week, after which five went off to meet Yogi Adityanath. It was a bad week for Yadav: his party’s chief whip Manoj Kumar Pandey quit, and could soon be seen chanting “Jai Shri Ram!” Many Congress MLAs in Himachal Pradesh cross-voted for BJP, and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is a lost cause. The party doesn’t even seem serious about winning; a wag smirked that the RS candidate for the single Himachal Pradesh seat Abhishek Manu Singhvi didn’t leave Delhi to canvass support with MLAs to avoid losing his daily hefty legal fees. His opponent Harsh Mahajan, a former three-time Congress MLA and minister, had joined the BJP in 2022. Cross-voting and floor-crossing go hand in hand since power is the only candy in the shop: the tedium was broken when a BJP MLA from Karnataka crossed over to Congress!
Getting back to Louis IV, his ‘Après moi, le déluge’ remark made in 1757 was actually an expression of despondency than arrogance because the Prussians thumped his army at the Battle of Rossbach and the king was almost assassinated. By ‘déluge’ Louis meant Halley’s Comet, which was predicted to reappear in 1757; the Christians then attributed the Genesis flood to the comet and believed a new flood will occur when the comet is back. There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Right now for the leading men in the Opposition, their careers resemble the comet’s tail end.
Ravi Shankar
ravi@newindianexpress.com