SBIOAK - decline from the sublime to ridiculous.

I am writing this as a member of SBIOAK, not as a member of SEWA. I am writing this with anguish and anxiety. I am concerned at the ugly developments. SBIOAK has traversed a difficult path and withered many a challenges during its journey to the present. It could wither many a challenges quite successfuly because the challenges were from the outside. But the current turmoil it is in, is a self-inflicted one brought upon itself by selfseeking and egotistic personalities. This is more dangerous because one can always fight and overcome an outside enemy but difficult to fight an enemy with in.

I contemplated for quite long whether to write this blog or not. I was in a dilemma. Whether my writing this blog will bring the unpleasant thing to public domain when they are supposed to be discussed and sorted out in private. Since they are washing their dirty linen in the public, I no more face any dilemma and hence this blog.

Now that the cat is out of the bag and everything is water under the bridge, there is no point in ruminating over the past. Whoever has done whatever wrong has got his comeuppance and has paid the price. No doubt the revelations are shocking, most shameful and unimaginable that a person occupying an important position in SBIOAK can stoop to such a low level. It is simply unthinkable. It has brought enormous disrepute to the the organization and has done irreparable damage to the credibility of SBIOAK. And it pains me.

The need of the hour is to exhibit extraordinary maturity on the part of the remaining office bearers to deal with the most difficult times SBIOAK is passing through. I advise them not to resort to groupism and align on the personality lines. They should have the interest of the members uppermost in their minds. Now that the black sheep is
quarantined, you have got to work cohesively and unitedly lest you should be quarantined by the members very soon. They have to move heaven and earth to regain the confidence of the members. Presently SBIOAK is suffering from huge trust deficit.

The most unfortunate takeaway of this sordid drama is - since it is happening at the nose of the headquarters of the Federation, it is a loud and clear message about the utter failure of the leadership of the Federation.

Perhaps a part of the blame for this crisis may convincingly be transferred to the doorsteps of the tall leaders who held the reins till the last day without bothering to nurture/groom the second line. All of a sudden the persons who succeeded these leaders were left in the lurch not knowing what to do. There is a feeling, belief and suspicion that these retired leaders are still calling the tunes and not a single step/action of the present leadership happens without their wink and nod.

While I have no qualms for this, my only concern was why these people didn't forsee the possible leadership vacuum once they depart from the scene. And they should have done this (what they are doing from their homes now) while holding the post. They could have done some handholding. This could have done immense good to the organization. With due respects to what all they did to develop SBIOAK from the scratch, they cannot escape the blame for this  omission. After all SBIOAK is their baby.

Karnataka has the distinction of producing leaders of trade union at the national level for the entire banking industry. It is abhoring to imagine the abysmal level they have fallen.

Hoping that good sense prevails.

K.N.Krishnan.

The Uttar Pradesh Story.

When Narendra Modi coined the word "Congress mukt Bharat" for the first time, nobody took his words seriously. Many considered his words as mere electoral rhetoric. The recent election results in five states has made one to take these words rather seriously. The outcome of the elections has made every body to sit up and take notice of his words.

The energy he has put into the election campaign is simply amazing. The whirlwind tour he made across five election bound states almost forgetting that he has a responsibility of office of Prime Minister goes to show the determination and resolve to win at any cost. There is a saying - Well begun is done. He wrote the preface for victory with introduction of demonetisation. This surgical strike of demonetisation purportedly to curb black money has successfully achieved the alleged unstated and hidden agenda of deflating the opposition in the wake of elections. How far it is successful in bringing out black money is debatable and the silence of RBI and the government regarding the figures of black money gives credence to the to the theories that it has not. Be that as it may, one thing was sure, it did deliver a body blow to the opposition and took the steam off from them. Because cash (black money) was the king in the election. With the opposition weakened, he took them head on.

He connected to the masses with his gifted oratorial skills, extempore speeches often sprinkled with histrionics. He is adept and mastered the art of adapting the narrative to suit that moment and to connect to that audience he is addressing. No other opposition party has the advantage of having a leader like him. And to supplement this, he was ably assisted by that maverick Amit Shah, the party president. He organized and galvanized the cadres. He stratagised to the last minute and the last mile. His organizing and networking prowess combined with superlative speaking abilities of Modi decimated the opposition. This heady cocktail of Modi and Shah proved too much for the opposition.

Congress, with Sonia Gandhi fighting illness and Rahul Gandhi being no match for Modi is now rudderless and clueless. The unprecedented number of seats won by BJP has almost written obituary for Congress. Slowly and steadily BJP is inching to pan India and once pan India Congress is losing ground.

Congress lost its game long ago when it sent its tallest and most acceptable leader Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to Raisina hills. He was sent to Rashtrapathi Bhavan to project Rahul Gandhi for the future leadership of Congress. This is the blunder committed by Congress and proved too costly. Only Pranab Mukherjee in the Congress could have given the run for the money to Modi.  Unfortunately for Congress there is no future as long as Rahul Gandhi is at the helm. It has got to rediscover itself, reinvent itself. It has got to metamorphosize. It is a very tall order. Presently it is all at sea.

K.N.Krishnan,
Vice-president, SEWA.