I will definitely contest, if the people so desire: Robert Vadra

In the Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield, when a cartdriver wants to marry the hero’s mother’s maid Peggotty, he asks young David to convey the message that “Barkis is willing”.

Marriage proposals can be articulated in many ways but it does seem odd when the son-in-law of the Congress supremo is quoted as saying, “I will definitely contest ( elections) if the people so desire... I have come to share and take Rahul’s message to villages and every corner and you will definitely see a change.”

A certain Barack Obama had hit the campaign trail in the summer of 2008 with the exhortation of “Be the change you want to see”.

Vadra’s comment of the messenger bringing about a change also reminds one of the oft-quoted phrase, “The medium is the message” — meaning that the medium influences how the message is perceived — taken from Marshall McLuhan’s seminal work, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.

It does seem a trifle presumptuous for Vadra to be quoted as saying that he will respond positively to any desire expressed by the people that he contest elections.

The people already have to contend with a Rahul who is reluctant to be PM and a Priyanka who makes a graceful public appearance only when elections are being held, and who comes across as someone who does not suffer from any delusions of grandeur.

The loyal wife that she is, Priyanka did try to explain away her hubby’s comments by stating later that the media (the eternal messenger) must have asked him a twisted question and misinterpreted the answer and that Robertji must have actually said that he was happy doing his business (which was not politics)! McLuhan’s oft-quoted phrase could even be changed by India’s political elite to “The media is the distorting messenger”!