This election was the last chance for the opposition to come together to defeat the BJP. The Congress Party finds itself in the wilderness and the opposition unity against the BJP is “a pie in the sky”.
If there is anybody who is not surprised by the results of the elections to these five states then he is either unconcerned about the elections or he must be brilliant in understanding the mood of the people. Yes, I mean it. As for me I was surprised by the results. When Amit Shah said that BJP is going to win the elections in all five states, I thought he lives a fools’ paradise. But was right minus one.
How did BJP win the elections? There were great and mighty issues before the people. There is a large scale of unemployment in the country and especially in Uttar Pradesh; the fuel prices have shot up to the sky; inflation is very high; the covid deaths, the delta virus had resulted in massive miseries to the people. There was shortage of Oxygen; there was huge crowding of corpses in the crematoriums. The dead bodies were floating in the ma Ganga. The people were unhappy with the Prime minister Modi; and were vowing not to vote for his party.
In spite of the so long farmers’ agitation; the home minster’s son driving over the farmers’ procession and killing the farmers, the people voted for BJP! Did the farmers’ agitation have no impact on the elections? Narendra Modi did feel that the farm laws he had promulgated would spell disaster for BJP. With this fear he repealed the farm laws. But this repeal did not bring much cheer to the farmers.
This reminds me of the elections prior to this. Demonetization had a massive impact on the economy and the livelihood of the people involved in informal sector. It looks like even if Modi causes the Himalayan Mountain fall on the heads of the people, they will still vote for Modi and BJP.
I would like to analyse these several aspects of the victory of Modi and BJP briefly. I would divide my illustration into two parts. Part one, all the non-BJP parties which are called opposition parties and their politics. Why I prefer calling them non-BJP parties is because they are not opposition parties. For one, they have no character of opposition parties; they are what has been called as BJP B parties. I will give a little more explanation to it later on.
Did farmers’ agitation not play a role in the elections? First and foremost, the farmers’ agitation was independent of all political parties. Unlike Anna Hazare’s agitation, which was hijacked by BJP, the farmers’ agitation did not entertain any political parties to enter the agitation. Farmers believed that their cause will not be served by any political party. If it comes to the Congress and the rest of non-BJP parties, they would have brought about farm laws which would have the same character and impact on the farmers. Though UPA legislated the landmark Land Acquisition Law, it only spoke of fair compensation to be given to the farmers rather than bringing the farmers’ fortune on par with the fortunes of the industrialists.
The congress Party in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular have been raising right questions and pointing out at the right issues. These are the problems of the people. Unemployment, price rise, petrol and diesel prices, Indo China boarder issue, the handling of the Corona infections, Hatras killing of a Dalit girl, Kheri massacre of the farmers, the farm laws and the farmers’ plight etc. None in the opposition parties were as vocal as the Congress party. Even Akhilesh Yadav had not opened his mouth on these issues. He came out only during the election campaign. I do not find congress lacking in raising right issues and campaigning in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and even
In Punjab.
In Punjab, I must say quite clearly that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka went horribly wrong. It was absolutely absurd on part of these people to bring in Navjot Singh Sidhu as a president of Punjab congress party. Even a child could have said that Navjot Singh Sidhu was absolutely a wrong person for this post. In all his body language, he showed himself to be pompous and totally immature. There was a fear that he would join Aam Admi Party and that would make the chances of the Congress bleak. If he had joined the Aam Admi Party he would have brought bad luck to that party. After he was made the president of Punjab congress he functioned as an enemy of the Congress Party. There was no need for anyone to campaign against the Congress party. Navjot Sidhu was far excellent in destroying the chances of the Congress Party in Punjab.
All the senior and seasoned politicians of the Congress Party in Punjab were not drawn into the discussion over the issues of leadership of the Punjab Pradesh Congress party and planning for the election campaign. Sunil Jakhar, Manish Tiwari, Ashwini Kumar and many others were far more experienced and they knew the ground situation better. Drawing people as star campaigners was decided more by the personal equation Rahul had with people than by the competence of the person. Sunil Jakhar claimed that Ravat who was made in charge of Punjab congress party had his own agenda in Punjab.
Anand Sharma, Sachin Pilot, Sahshi Taroor, Gulam Nabi Azad, Manish Tiwari, and many members of group 23 are long standing and committed congress members. They have worked hard for the party. But they do not find themselves in the coterie of Rahul Gandhi. This has a reason. I guess Rahul Gandhi is not confident about these senior and tall congressmen. His position in the party is not strong as he does not have a mandate of the wider members of the party.
My suggestion to the Congress party would be that when there is a situation of election preparation all the stalwarts of the congress party should hold a conclave and discuss the strategies for fighting election. Even in other situation when the party faces a challenge all the big heads of the party should come together to face these challenges. I would go further to suggest that every two years the party should organize national level meetings to revitalize the party.
A word about Rahul Gandhi: Rahul Gandhi is a very hardworking person when he is at his job. The opposition parties, principally the BJP, have maligned his name. BJP was afraid that Rahul could make the fight of BJP difficult. Therefore, they were always targeting him and the Congress Party. Within the Congress party there are many who may not approve Rahul Gandhi’s method of operation. Rahul Gandhi should venture into interacting with all the members of the party and try to get their cooperation. He should keep his friends closer but he should keep his detractors even closer and work with all and get their suggestions.
It seems BJP is able to win the elections after elections even without delivering on any front. Narendra Modi appears to be a factor behind the success of BJP. Is this the only reality of BJP? Of course not. BJP has changed the dynamics of fighting elections.
He has created an image about himself as a supreme pontiff of the Hindutva. He was the chief priest and Poojary in laying the foundation stone of Ram temple. He was the chief priest when it came to opening up of the Kashi Mathura corridor. He is accepted as an unparallel leader who can defend Hindu religion. He has converted the BJP into a religious organization. All Hindus are made to look up to him to ensure the salvation (Moksha) of all the Hindus.
But the practice of the religious organization is devoid of any spirituality or religion. He has divided the society into Hindus and Muslims. He has revived the old mantra of treating the Muslims as the enemy number one of the Hindus. Even the British who rules India were not considered as enemy number one. Golwalkar called the Muslims as the old and bitterest enemies. He writes, “We have allowed ourselves to be duped into believing our foes to be our friends” (M. S. Golwalkar, We or our Nationhood Defined, Nagpur, 1939). The hate campaign against the Muslims and the people of other minority community was the most effective instrument BJP and the Sangh Parivar used to divide the nation and make Hindus live in fear. Their strategy consisted in spread fear among the Hindus that if they are not careful the population of Muslims will overtake the population of Hindus and then the Hindus will become slaves of the Muslims. There is not factual evidence to show this development. But this is a convenient strategy to wing the Hindu votes. Golwalkar attacked the nationalists for “hugging to our bosom our most inveterate enemies (Muslims) thus endangering our very existence”. The Sangh Parivar had adopted the position of Golwalkar in letter and spirit. With this sort of campaign BJP has succeeded in capturing the imagination of the majority Hindus and gaining their support. It is using religion to capture the political power.
The other very important factor responsible for the victory of BJP is the lack of unity among the opposition parties. Akhilesh Yadav recently said that this is the last chance for the prajatantra. He pointed out that the BJP is trying to steal the mandate by robbing the voting machines. Akhilesh should have realized this before the elections were to commence. He ruled out point blank any understanding with the other major opposition parties. He was afraid that if he had collaborated with the Congress then Congress will grow in UP. He missed the point that the greater danger was not in allowing Congress a foothold in UP but letting BJP have a second term and consolidate itself and allow the opposition to be paralyzed.
Mamata Banerjee also played a spoiler game by trying to eat away into Congress Party’s hold in Tripura, Goa and Punjab. She declared that the Congress Party as incapable of defeating the BJP. Therefore, she went out to destroy the Congress party. In Goa the Congress Party had put up a spirited fight against the BJP. But the Trinamool Congress party and Aam Admi party succeeded dividing the anti BJP votes and gave a cakewalk to the BJP.
This election was the last chance for the opposition to come together to defeat the BJP. The Congress Party finds itself in the wilderness and the opposition unity against the BJP is “a pie in the sky”.
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