The Rebirth of the National Party

Happiness and more than that relief is what I feel after the election results of yesterday. This election has witnessed the resurgence of the Congress and how! From being a no-hoper that was stuck at a 114 seats in 1998, the Congress led alliance has scripted a memorable turnaround by winning 258 seats in General Elections No. 15. For the past 2 decades India was plagued by politics of caste, religion and division. The BJP rose to power riding on the Ram Mandir wave, The SP, BSP, RJD et al. exploited caste divisions to come to power, The Shiv Sena’s rise was largely due to its vitriol spewing against Muslims and North Indians. In all this, the one truly middle of the path, pan India nationalistic party was left out in the loop. Defeat after defeat decimated the party’s structure. Opportunistic satraps like Sharad Pawar saw the writing on the wall and left to form their own parties. Across a vast swathe of Northern India, the Congress ceased to even exist. While 2004 revived it to some extent, it was still absent from a huge section of the heartland. Not any more. The reasons for this are not hard to seek.

First and foremost was the politics of development that Manmohan Singh represented. And development not only for the Urban rich, the favoured sons of the BJP, but inclusive progress. The NREGA is by far the best experiment in social welfare ever attempted in India. For 400 million Indians, the  NREGA symbolises the promise of work and the means to achieve their dreams. No wonder Rural India voted for the Congress with its feet. Other beneficiaries of the development card include Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh and Modi in Gujarat.

Secondly, the Congress was enormously helped by the negative campaign that BJP ran. Its constant harping on the weak PM line only served to diminish Advani’s stature. It had no coherent plan for India and no arguments to counter the Congress’ development claim. Its advertisements were disgusting at their best and repulsive at their worst. Advani’s hardline reputation too did not go down well with large sections of the population. Varun Gandhi’s discourse in communal hate, while seeing him through, ensured that the Muslims came back to the Congress, the one party that they believed could defeat the BJP. The fact that Muslims can decisively sway some 150 seats obviously helped the Congress. The shit that BJP threw on Manmohan and Sonia only ended up making them smell like roses. On one side you had a person like Manmohan with a squeaky clean record and in contrast you had the Rath-Yatri-cum-Hate-Monger-cum-Terrorist-escorter. The choice appears pretty clear. This was what swung Urban India too in Congress’ favour.

Ultimately the Indian voter has gone back to the Nehru model and voted for a party that promises stability, moderation and inclusive growth. Comrade Karat realised this too late for his own good! The Congress’ strategic alliances too paid off big time and for the very first time since 1957 we have had a pro-incumbency vote. Bad luck, Mr Advani! But the curse of the 10,000 people you killed for your selfish ends had to strike sooner or later. Your career has ended, and you have failed. Badly. A shame.

~ by abdaal on May 17, 2009.