Election 2022:
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur
and Goa.
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 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 un
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 cursing the
Prime minister Modi vowing not to vote for his party.
The farmers’ agitation was so strong and long. The home
minster’s son driving over the farmers’ procession and killing the farmers. In
spite of these issues people voted by BJP!
Did the farmers’ agitation had 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 With this fear he repealed the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. Demonitization had a massive impact on the
economy and the livelihood of the people involved in informal sector.
It looks like even if Modi makes 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.
1.
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. On the contrary, the
farmers’ agitation did not entertain any political parties to enter the
agitation. Farmers believed that their cause
will 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.
2. The Congress Party: 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 dalith girl, Kheri massacre of the
farmers, the farm laws and the farmers’ plight etc. Non 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.
3. 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 to for anyone to campaign
against the Congress party. Navjot Sidhu
was far excellent in destroying the chances of the Congress Party in Punjab.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. My suggestion to the Congress party
would be 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.
7. A word about Rahul Gandhi: Rahul Gandhi is a very hardworking person
when he is at his job. He has been
maligned by the opposition parties, principally the BJP. BJP was afraid that Rahul could make the
fight of BJP difficult. Therefore, they
were always targeting him and the Congress Party. Withing 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.
Victory
of BJP:
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:
1. 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.
2. 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 succeed in capturing the imagination
of the majority Hindus and gaining their support. It is using religion to capture the political
power.
3. 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 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.
4. 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 cake walk 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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