Election 2014- India votes for a change

Indian voters have emphatically voted for a change . The corrupt and the inefficient have been voted out . The congress has been decimated . It is an unprecedented rout for the congress .Congress has drawn a blank in Delhi and Tamil Nadu . As expected in the combined AP (Seemandra and Telengana)it is almost a rout for the congress,securing just one seat. As expected states like TN,WB and Odisha were not much affected by the Modi wave . Regional leaders in these states were effective foils to BJP and Modi. These three local stalwarts winning 89 (37,34,18)seats between them is an impressive tally by any standards .Congress may not even get the opposition party status ,since its tally falls below the mandatory 10 % of the total seats to claim the opposition party status . It is good to see Rahul and Sonia owning up responsibility for the massive defeat of congress .This should pave way for examining their conduct in the last 10 years and take restorative measures to bring the party back to limelight .India badly needs congress as a strong and viable alternative in future elections.It is up to Congress to enumerate its deficiencies and overcome them .

For a party that ruled the nation for the last 10 years it is surely a dismal performance . Out of the 48 seats congress has managed to win, 21 seats (12 & 9) have come for 2 southern states of Kerala and Karnataka ,where congress is the ruling party. This means from the rest of the country,congress could get a meagre 27 seats . In another congress ruled state Maharashtra the BJP has almost trounced  the congress.In Maharashtra congress has managed to get just 1 seat ,a drab performance . In  J&K also Congress and Farooq Abdulla's NC have drawn a blank .It is no surprise that the DMK had to face the 'Modi and Lady' brunt .The AAP making a foray  in to the national scene too early, has also learnt the political turf at the national level is very different . In fact in one of my earlier posts when AAP made a dramatic debut in Delhi assembly elections ,I had stated this could happen if AAP enters the national scene too ealry.

Most importantlyBJP winning 73 out of the 80  seats in UP , 31 out of 40 in Bihar and 42 out of 48 in Maharashtra is impressive . In Chattisgarh, Goa, Rajasthan and Gujarat it was a clean sweep by BJP. BJP front has opened account in TN and WB securing 2 each in these states,two states mostly unaffected by the Modi wave . The only aberration for BJP could be the defeat of Arun Jaitely in Punjab . However Jaitely is a Rajya Sabha member and could be inducted in to the cabinet .

The most important fall out of this election is, after 1984 elections a national party has secured a clear majority to form the government . This is good for the nation .The clear majority will ensure there is no 'governance paralysis' .But regional parties like AIADMK,TMC,BJD,TDP and TRS have emerged stronger and can not be written off .The communists continued their downward slide .

Congress has to do lots of introspection . Turning a blind eye to all round corruption,Administrative inefficiency,not lending ear to regional leaders ,snubbing regional leaders of their own party and that of allies, disregarding regional sentiments with contempt and dynastic politics have derailed the congress government.Will congress learn a lesson ?.Every state wants their regional leader to be all powerful . It is a regional pride. whether it is a national party or a regional party,the local leader should have a say in national politics .A local leader of a regional party becomes popular when his clout becomes indispensable at national level . Similarly in the case of a national party ,there should be a strong and charismatic regional leader to combat the regional parties . Jayalalitha ,Mamta and Navin Patnaik have proved they are strong regional leaders .In the absence of such charismatic leaders in national parties in each state ,it would be difficult to sustain the party as a force to reckon with at the regional level. Congress has time and again failed to learn this lesson despite severe drubbing at the hands of strong regional parties . Even during the Nehru era ,perhaps the only period during which congress had a truly national presence ,there were strong charismatic leaders at state levels . The present day congress leadership is wary of strong state leaders and systemically stymies state leaders .This could be a fall out of the dynastic politics . In fact it should be the other way .Congress should promote strong regional leaders .At this juncture Congress needs articulate leaders at all levels through out the nation to build the party again at grass root levels . Perhaps they may have to reinvent the wheel . The classic example of a strong regional leader upstaging at the national level could be none other than Modi .

BJP should live up to the expectations of the people of India . They should ensure a corruption free ,transparent ,efficient ,matter of fact government that is development oriented fair and equitable to all sections of the people . The general public also expects the elected representatives to be humility personified and shun arrogant superiority to disdain the views of others as unworthy. I hope on 24 th May when the baton change hands, the new set of sprinters would take the nation forward .Congress along with other parties should play the role of a constructive opposition and try to rebuild its lost glory.

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 .