THE SEARCH FOR CHAKRAYYA
Rahul Gandhi’s relinquishing of his high and historic position 15 years later was from the hollow of
defeat. It carried the ethical grammage of principle. It was applauded by Democrats across the country. But the ideationally null and valuationally empty in the Grand Old Party were atremble. They feared that their entries in the Gandhi-Nehru family’s ledgers of loyalty would go up in the air. They resisted the idea. Tacticians of power play in the party also were unsure, to the point of panic, about who or what could replace ‘the family’ as the Congress’s sellingpoint. These individuals may not be judged too hastily, for they have never known their party without Nehru Gandhi. True, as Congress President, K. Kamaraj’s was a selfpowering position. But even then, the fact of Indira Gandhi being Prime Minister made the party (as Kamaraj himself soon realized) as much her field of action as it was that of the party chief and his Working Committee. So, barring the atypical interlude when P.V. Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister and when the quizzical Sitaram Kesri headed it, the Congress has been dependent on descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru. Four generations of them have done the thinking, planning, strategizing, campaigning, defending, leading for them. They have been at the party, the party them. And it has to be said, not just in fairness to the Gandhi Nehrus but in fairness to modern Indian history, that they have played this role through the most trying periods in the party’s history, facing the fusillades of India’s growing disenchantment with dynastic politics. They have done this from the loneliness and vulnerability that is the lot of any pinnacle.
Relinquishing(verb) : त्यागना
Meaning: voluntarily cease to keep or claim; give up
Synonym: renounce, give up
Antonym: keep retain
Atremble(adjective) : सिहरन
Meaning:trembling.
Synonym: shaking, quavery
Antonym: stable, steady
Barring(preposition) : को छोड़कर
Meaning: except for; if not for
Synonym: excluding, bar
Antonym: admit, accept
Atypical(adjective) : अनियमित
Meaning: not representative of a type, group, or class.
Synonym: unusual, untypical,
Antonym: typical
Interlude(noun) : अन्तराल
Meaning: an intervening period of time; an interval.
Synonym: stoppage, hiatus,
Antonym: continuity
Fusillades(noun) : गोलीकांड
Meaning: a series of shots fired or missiles thrown all at the same time or in quick succession.
Synonym: salvo, volley
Antonym: drip, trickle
Disenchantment(noun) : मोहभंग
Meaning: a feeling of disappointment about someone or something you previously respected or admired; disillusionment.
Synonym: disillusionment, disappointment,
Antonym: enchanted, encourage
Vulnerability(noun) : भेद्यता
Meaning: the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.
Synonym: burden, debt
Antonym: help, aid
Vocabulary of The Day- 28 October
