Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party won 224 Assembly seats in the just concluded polls to UP assembly and in the process shattered both the so called national parties, the Congress and the BJP to obscurity.There is a lesson to be learnt for these parties.Unless there is a strong regional leader with grass root support,it is difficult to guide these parties to electoral wins,in states.Regional aspirations have to be appreciated by these parties .There is no way a party can be run by bosses sitting at the party high command. Ignoring local sentiments,pride and aspirations have cost these parties irreparable losses at the polls.Imposing leaders from the top and ignoring regional sentiments have resulted in congress losing many states,over the years. In fact the growth and success of regional parties lies in the fact that people want their regional leaders to grow in stature.It appears in UP,like TamilNadu ,it is going to be either BSP or SP and never Congress or BJP .It must be remembered both Mulyam and Mayawati are local heavy weights and there are no one in Congress or BJP to match them. In national parties like Congress and BJP due to manifold dissident groups, each group tries to push down leaders who grow in stature by pulling strings at the party high command.
Wherever there was a strong leader at the regional level,national parties have fared better .Narendra Modi is a strong man par excellence for the BJP and that gave him the strength to deliver and he had won consecutive elections in Gujarat for the BJP.Late YSR was a popular congress leader of AP.On his strengths the party romped to power in AP.It remains to be seen the fate of AP congress in future elections sans YSR . TDP & TRP are going to give a tough fight to congress in AP and it won't be a surprise if congress losses its stronghold in this southern state also . It must be borne in mind TDP & TRP are parties born out of regional aspirations and regional pride.Their leaders are still popular among the public in AP.After the demise of Kamaraj,Congress is yet to see a towering leader from Tamilnadu.The void is not filled up because the state unit is dictated by congress's high command .It is no surprise congress could not unseat the Dravidian parties from power since 1967.Congress may fail again if it pursues the same policy of ignoring local sentiments and pride. The Punjab victory for BJP is because of its strong local ally Shiromani Akali Dal .Congress retaining Manipur or BJP wresting Goa from Congress is insignificant as long as the national parties did not make any headway in important states like UP and Punjab .
The only good fall out of regional parties becoming stronger is that the union government has become truly federal,since neither of the two so called national parties can get absolute majority of its own in any of the future elections to the parliament. Already the leftists have strong bastions in Kerala,West Bengal and Tripura.Congress making big inroads in these states would be a wishful thinking.Even if leftists fail in West Bengal,it would only be advantage Mamta,another firebrand regional leader,whom congress finds it difficult to contain.Down South Jayalalitha would be another strong leader eroding Congress chances in next parliamentary elections .At this rate,if these two parties don't mend their ways they would soon lose their national party status and become a party with stronghold in few regional pockets,which is also diminishing at a faster pace.
Wherever there was a strong leader at the regional level,national parties have fared better .Narendra Modi is a strong man par excellence for the BJP and that gave him the strength to deliver and he had won consecutive elections in Gujarat for the BJP.Late YSR was a popular congress leader of AP.On his strengths the party romped to power in AP.It remains to be seen the fate of AP congress in future elections sans YSR . TDP & TRP are going to give a tough fight to congress in AP and it won't be a surprise if congress losses its stronghold in this southern state also . It must be borne in mind TDP & TRP are parties born out of regional aspirations and regional pride.Their leaders are still popular among the public in AP.After the demise of Kamaraj,Congress is yet to see a towering leader from Tamilnadu.The void is not filled up because the state unit is dictated by congress's high command .It is no surprise congress could not unseat the Dravidian parties from power since 1967.Congress may fail again if it pursues the same policy of ignoring local sentiments and pride. The Punjab victory for BJP is because of its strong local ally Shiromani Akali Dal .Congress retaining Manipur or BJP wresting Goa from Congress is insignificant as long as the national parties did not make any headway in important states like UP and Punjab .
The only good fall out of regional parties becoming stronger is that the union government has become truly federal,since neither of the two so called national parties can get absolute majority of its own in any of the future elections to the parliament. Already the leftists have strong bastions in Kerala,West Bengal and Tripura.Congress making big inroads in these states would be a wishful thinking.Even if leftists fail in West Bengal,it would only be advantage Mamta,another firebrand regional leader,whom congress finds it difficult to contain.Down South Jayalalitha would be another strong leader eroding Congress chances in next parliamentary elections .At this rate,if these two parties don't mend their ways they would soon lose their national party status and become a party with stronghold in few regional pockets,which is also diminishing at a faster pace.
At this rate Congress BJP would be reduced to parties like CPM wih presence in few states.This is neither good for the parties and the nation . These parties ,especially congress, is wary of regional leaders growing in stature,because of the insecure feeling of the party top brass, which is guided by dynastic politics.From 1967 onwards there has been a continuous erosion of the congress party's political base in the country.Thanks to Jayaprakash Narain for uniting the opposition to form the erstwhile Janata party .Factional politics led to fragmentation of the Janata party and finally metamorphosed to the present BJP.Though BJP led government came to power twice,it still does not have a truly national presence.Despite continuous failures in crucial elections,these two parties have not addressed to the maladies
ReplyDeletein their parties .Both parties have lost considerable ground, and it would be difficult to regain the lost grounds.
This is an addendum to my previous comments.Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik are also regional heavy weights of Bihar and Rajasthan .States having leaders with grassroot support and who perfom do not loose polls so easily. Congress and BJP should develop strong local leaders to fight future elections .But leaders are not made overnight.Leaders can not spring from nowhere.These election results would prove to be an eye opener for congress and BJP.Even in the case of TamilNadu after Kamaraj,there was a brief period of assertion by Moopanar when he parted ways with Narasimha Rao and floated TMC.Again regional aspirations of people played a crucial part and TMC became a force to reckon with.But unfortunately,Moopanar merged his party with the congress and joined the national mainstream.This move of Moopanar once again pushed him to obscurity and he was soon in oblivion.Congressmen,be sensitive to local sentiments !.
ReplyDeleteNavin patnaik is from Orissa and not Rajasthan.
ReplyDelete