The other side of the semi-final tag : Questions over pan-India appeal
- Sangai Express Editorial :: December 10 , 2013 -

“We won all these four States (Delhi, MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh) in 1998, 1999. Lok Sabha results were an eye opener for us.”

This is Congress leader Mr Shakeel Ahmed and general secretary in charge of Delhi, one day before the vote counts began in the said four States.

If one takes this statement at face value then the ‘semi-final’ tag given to the results of the four States with the 2014 Lok Sabha election touted as the final may turn out to be a misnomer. However the Congress cannot take comfort in this.

At best it could be just a reminder of what happened more than ten years back and certainly the political dynamics across the country have considerably changed since then, from the days of the BJP led NDA Government to the two consecutive terms of the Congress led UPA Government at the Centre.

On the other hand, it is also a reminder that what happens at the State or at the local level need not necessarily translate itself at the National level.

It stands that this has not been plucked from thin air, but from past experiences, but as noted, the political dynamics across the country have changed considerably in the last more than a decade and a half.

Clever use of words, that is what the Congress has resorted to, to shift the focus of the people from the election to the said four States to the upcoming Parliamentary election. v How successful will the tactics of resorting to clever use of words work for the Congress is something only time will tell, but the fact remains that it has been trounced in three of the four States, for which results have been declared, with the exception of Chhattisgarh where it gave a good fight to the BJP.

Perhaps, the only words of substance and sincerity that have come from the Congress are the admissions of Rahul Gandhi that the party needs to be more people oriented, a lesson learnt from the showing of the Aam Aadmi Party at Delhi and the candid confession of Shiela Dikshit that Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP has proven to be the more clever person than her.

Whatever the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, the fact stands that the Congress has been steamrolled convincingly by the BJP and the AAP in the four States and it is time for the oldest political party to pull up its socks and study where it went wrong and how it can undo the past mistakes.

Despite the euphoria within the BJP, it may just be a little premature to say that the NaMo wave has taken over the imagination of the people.

Sure, the Chief Minister of Gujarat has managed to infuse a fresh dose of energy and verve in the BJP and he has been the rallying point for the partymen but there still hangs a question over his pan-India appeal.

Will the NaMo factor be able to make significant inroads into Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and the seven North East States, is a question worth pondering over. Politics can be a funny game.

What may work to the disadvantage of the BJP, that is the question over the pan-India appeal of Narendra Modi, may also prove the same over the fixation with the name Gandhi in the Congress party.

Sure the name Gandhi has a pan-India appeal, dating back to the days of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and now Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi but this may just turn out to be a drawback, if the last two terms of the Congress led UPA Government is any indication.

It is not for nothing that there is all the pervading perception that the office of the Prime Minister functions under the office of the All India Congress Committee.

There is a reason for the call from some section of the people to the Prime Minister to stop being the Prime Minister of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and be the Prime Minister of India.

Hard hitting it may be, but such observations certainly have its merits.

And it goes without saying that the totally immature public statements that have come forth from the mouth of the Congress scion have not exactly put the party in good stead.

The people expect more from the party which gave Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Tilak, Gokhale, Sardar Patel to name a few to the country and herein hangs a tale.