An anatomy of poll results 2013

The Indian electorates have proved once again they are sagacious .They have given a mandate that is acutely insightful and wise .People don't  tolerate parties that look at scams,price rise,corruption and nepotism with disdain .Electorates want a clean corruption free government . Congress,the only party  with a genuine nation wide presence is evidently on the decline and needs to do lot of  introspection. Now it is too late for any corrective action from congress before the ensuing polls in 2014 .

I feel there is a lesson from these election results to parties like BJP and AAP too .They can not take people for granted. Public are fed up with the huge scams that had rocked the nation,inflation,haughtiness and arrogance of politicians .Electorates are more watchful of the conduct and performance of the government . They should be wary of this .More than that it should reflect and manifest in their conduct and performance .But unfortunately  politicians world over always aim at something beyond political life .They aim at  power,glory,fame and felicity . The downfall for politicians start here. Political parties think the general public is credulous and can be  kept in line with populist schemes . Unlike yesteryears, the nation has a comparatively young educated and knowledgeable  electorate .Another threat for political parties could be  increased media coverge and sting operations .Any misdeed by the party or by a politician has  higher chances to get exposed visually . Added to this is the power and reach of social network sites .Our demography says we have the  highest number of youngest voters and all of them are tech savvy .

AAP became a favourite party for Delhites,because it raised many local issues . Along with that, their party wanted to cleanse politics.To clean politics they have entered politics . Practice is always better than percept  .As I said earlier they were more transparent in their dealings .They did what they wanted other parties to do . But more sterner tests await  AAP and Kejriwal. One hopes at least Kejriwal  will live up to his reputation and prove he belongs to a different stock.I say he is from a different stock because when all political parties were opposed to RTI for political parties he fought against it . AAP's huge sucess on debut is nothing new .New parties that promised cleaner politics and corruption free government  have had impressive debuts earlier also .MGR's newly floated party AIADMK promising a clean givernment trounced DMK on debut . DMK could not regain power as long as he was alive . Perhaps the AIADMK of MGR's time was the only exception .After his demise AIADMK also became a run of the mill political party.

But  for all other new entrants the initial euphoria  was all short lived since they were not special or different in any way .NTR started with a bang whipping up Telugu pride and gradually became unpopular with his antics .Vaiko promised clean and decent politics on debut,and there was great expectations. But his subsequent reversal of stands on alliances made him unpopular,though personally he is still Mr.Clean .Vijayakant raised great hopes on debut as a viable alternative for DMK and AIADMK .But it can not be denied there has been a steady decline in his popularity as a politician.Similarly  younger generation thought  AAP could be a viable alternative to Congress and BJP. Besides it could utilise  a nation wide fervent momentum created by Anna Hazare's movement .Since  Anna Hazare was not interested in jumping in to the political bandwagon,it was advantage Kejriwal. More over it is in line with the present national trend .For all practical purposes AAP could be compared to a regional party in this election . Championing local causes and local sentiments many regional parties have sidelined national parties in many states . Similarly AAP is akin to a regional party in this election .But AAP could end up with national ambitions .But  AAP has to be wary of few things.

AAP could be eulogised  and forced to test waters at a national level in the ensuing 2014 elections . This could be a tricky call for AAP and Kejriwal.AAP has to be  wary before venturing in to the national scene with great ambitions .That could prove to be its pitfall. It's popularity could nose dive and become short lived, if  AAP enters the national scene so early . This is because there are lots of greedy politicians, for whom politics is a career waiting to join AAP nation wide to cash in on AAP's popularity . AAP should bear in mind politics is still the last resort for many scoundrels . 

BJP could get voted back to power in states where they were holding fort . So it was pro incumbency in their case. But absolute power intoxicates .BJP should be wary of this . For the first time BJP has a nice opportunity to make its presence felt in southern states and become truly national in the ensuing 2014 elections.Be it Modi magic or otherwise BJP having accused congress of policy paralysis and lack of leadership for all  the mess ,has a point to prove . BJP should bear in mind ,if it manages to win hands down and form a national government in 2014 it is only because it is the only viable national alternative  to congress . 

Finally it is the Indian National Congress . True to its name ,still congress is the only political party in India with a national presence . But it is also an undeniable fact that congress is losing ground in state after state and its national presence is getting confined to limited pockets and completely wiped out in some states .Many regional parties have come to power in many states at the expense of congress . The list of states going out of the control of congress is on the increase.More importantly congress could never regain those states that it lost to regional parties for the last so many years .Now congress is in a critical juncture and is in the danger of getting wiped out in many more states .But because of its strong national presence until the last elections congress managed to become the single largest party at the national level. But this is no longer the situation . Congress is losing its remaining bastions at a faster pace than expected because of its poor governance,corruption,scams ,inflation,dynastic politics,snubbing local regional leaders,not respecting local regional sentiments ,lack of leadership running party from high command and by stifling voices of tall regional leaders of their own party .Congress high command has gone out of the ways to suppress the growth of their own tall party leaders . Despite drubbing by regional parties election after election congress has failed to learn its lessons . Congress thought it could perennially piggy ride on the back of strong regional parties . To ensure this, congress stooped to the level of intimidating regional alliance partners,using CBI to make unrelenting partners to tow congress ,waived and dismissed charges against regional party leaders through CBI to woo their support.

Now congress is likely to be wiped out nationally . But it is a pity that congress has still not learnt from its mistakes . How could a party be so insensitive to issues that invited nation wide criticism like coal scam and answer so irresponsibly about missing files,stage-manage a JPC probe,fail to control inflation.

 Why is the congress high command inimical to local leaders of their own party growing in stature ? .Where ever regional parties are strong there is no congress leader to match their stature .Unless there is a strong regional leader with grass root support,it is difficult to  guide  congress back to victory in states where they have lost power .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 congress irreparable losses.Even during the Nehru era, when there were no opponents worth their name to congress ,congress had tall local leaders in states . Now there are strong opposition to congress in many states from regional parties .But there are no leader worth the name in congress in any of these states .Wherever there was a strong leader at the regional level,national parties have fared better .A strong local leader could develop in to a national leader .Narendra Modi is a good example. for BJP. Perhaps the dynasty politics of congress does not permit this luxury for congress  Because the party is stifling local leaders there is a paucity of second line leaders in congress .With the level of sycophancy in congress it is no wonder Rahul is promoted as the PM nominee for the ensuing 2014 poll . Even if there is a late realisation in congress ,five months is too short a period for congress to make amends and be a force to reckon with in the ensuing elections.

Let us wait and see what surprises the sagacious Indian voters would give us in the ensuing 2014 parliament elections .