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| Success and defeat | | | K.V. SEETHARAMAIAH | 12/13/2018 11:52:04 PM |
| "Politics is war without bloodshed and war is politics with bloodshed", says Mao. But present-day elections (and politics) are also war with bloodshed. War without bloodshed was in the war between Bahubali and Bharat. Hardly any election is conducted without deaths and injuries to political activists. Election Commission deserves to be complemented for conducting these elections smoothly. Fortunately, no report of deaths and large-scale violence come in the election held for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarg, Telangana and Mizoram. Success and defeat are two sides of a coin. So, success is success and defeat is defeat. Defeat should be gracefully conceded. There is no party that has not suffered the taste of defeat. BJP and Congress are no exceptions. This is lesson for all too. BJP has not done as badly as feared and Congress has not performed as well as expected. Exit polls predictions that BJP loses Rajasthan have come true. Neck-to-neck race in Madhya Pradesh was also on line of expectations. BJP lost Chhattisgarh miserably. It is no heinous defeat for BJP in Rajasthan. North-east became Congress-free. The Chief Minister of Mizoram Lal Thanhawla lost seats from both the Constituencies he contested. Thanhawla has admitted that he underestimated the strength of opposition. In Rajasthan, Congress has just got magic figure and it has failed to get magic figure in MP. Mayawati had declared that she would maintain distance from the Congress. Now she has offered to support the Congress in the formation of government in Madhya Pradesh. If she has offered support to the Congress it is no news. It would have been news if she had stuck to her stand not to support the Congress party. Therefore what Mayawati says can never be taken on par value.
Now, MNF is all set to form the government in Mizoram. Zoramthanga, MNF chief is poised to be the Chief Minister of Mizoram. He has vowed to give top-priority to enforce total liquor prohibition. It is very good move. But it is just easier said than done. "Wait and watch" is only the option open for people. Even if he succeeds in implementing his promise, the liquor lobby may not keep quiet. Even though his government cannot be destabilized for the present, it may have its telling effect on MNF at least in the next election. In the present political scenario, it is the good deeds rather than bad deeds that cause resentment among people. Telangana fell into the hands of TRS led by K. Chandrashekhara Rao. Congress was basking under the hope of winning Telangana since Congress was instrumental in carving out a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh for people of Telangana region. People of Telangana considered the sustained efforts of Chandrashekhar Rao in successfully getting approval for carving out a separate state. After parting with the company of NDA, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu had a tie-up with Congress. People of Telangana have shown door to both Congress and TDP of Naidu. Instead of conceding the defeat gracefully, Telangana Congress President Kumar Reddy has blamed EVM for its poor performance. Even after the voters brought Congress in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has suspected on the performance of EVM. Perhaps this statement has emanated from him to avoid the embarrassment at the hands of people that he viewed the EVM not functioning properly when Congress suffered defeats and that he viewed the performance of EVM without any complaint now when Congress has emerged victorious in the three Hindi heartland states. If Rahul heartily believes that the EVMs malfunctioned or believes strongly that the EVMs were tampered, then his party is not morally bound to form the government in the three states. Now will they insist for reelection using ballot papers?
It may be recalled that Rahul Gandhi had provoked the Supreme Court by saying that the RSS killed Mahatma Gandhi. For this, the Supreme Court asked him to tender unconditional apology. Still he was adamant to tell that he would rather face the trial than to tender apology. Verdict in the five states may not be a trend-setter or a referendum to the coming Lok Sabha elections. Local issues concerning the states dominate in the Assembly elections. National issues dictate terms to the people in the Lok Sabha elections. The verdict of these five states is wake-up call to BJP. Loss of three states in particular is likely to be mitigated by increased vote share and increased number of seats for BJP from Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya though the compensated vote share and seats may not leave very significant mark in the general election. BJP has made some inroads in Kerala and West Bengal also. Odisha Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik sees change in nation's mood. It is wrong to come to the conclusion that the nation's mood is reflected in the verdict of just 5 states out of 29 states and 7 Union Territories. True mood of the nation is reflected only in the Lok Sabha election when people across the nation are involved in electing the government at centre. The verdict of these five states makes it amply clear that the electorate cannot be taken for granted. It is wrong to conclude that the charisma of Modi is on wane. The true test of Modi's popularity takes place in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Demonetization of the notes has been demonized by the Congress and its allies. GST is the brainchild of UPA. NDA has taken forward the idea of GST which Congress could not do. But Congress unleashed and has been unleashing malicious propaganda on issues of demonetization and GST. Time alone can tell how far this malicious propaganda is going to influence in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. After suffering defeats after defeats, Congress in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular has reason to be jubilant from its victory in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. But Rahul Gandhi has termed the victory as expression of unhappiness of people at the national level. In the same logic, he must admit that people were not satisfied with the performance of UPA-2. As such UPA-2 was voted out in 2014. Gandhi says that people are not happy with the Modi government. If people cannot be happy with the Modi government, how can the people be happy with a party that had fathered too many scams accounting for Rs. 8031005000000 (Rupees Eight lakh three thousand one hundred fifty core) since independence? Can the people be happy for two-nation theory of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in his greed to become the Prime Minister? Can the people be happy for declaring emergency by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for saving her chair after the Allahabad High Court indicted her on corruption charges? Can it be forgotten that emergency excesses were perpetrated on Opposition party leaders? Many opposition party leaders were jailed for speaking against the dictatorial rule of Indira Gandhi. Democracy was throttled. But the same opposition parties are joining hands with Congress. Can people be happy for 26/11 Mumbai attack by terrorists in which 160 people were killed during the regime of UPA-2? Are the people happy for the Bofors kickbacks received by the Congress? In 2014 Lok Sabha election, Congress was decimated. The party could not bag the number of seats required for considering it for LoP status. It stands to reason if it is said that the people were not happy at the performance of the Congress-led UPA-2. Because the mood of the nation is reflected in the Lok Sabha election. People were so angry at Congress that the party which had once secured more than 400 seats could hardly get 10 per cent of it in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
Even a layman knows that Dr. Manmohan Singh was puppet in the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. There were many well-experienced stalwarts to head the government after the death of Rajiv Gandhi. They were all slighted. Dr. Singh was chosen to head the government for the only reason that he can meekly submit to the dictates of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Dr. Singh may be good economist but not a good administrator. Sonia Gandhi was de facto Prime Minister and Dr. Singh was de jure Prime Minister. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi enjoyed authority without responsibility whereas Dr. Singh was shouldered with responsibility without authority. Modi can act with authority and responsibility. He loves the nation. He puts the wealth of the nation to nation's use. The only thing is that Modi and his comrades must reach out to the people explaining their achievements during their tenure. Negative campaign sometimes pays off and sometimes does not. In the Assembly elections of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, negative campaign paid off to Congress party and it did not cut ice with the people in the case of Modi. People expect freebies even if the nation falls in debt-trap. They are least bothered about GDP or dollar. Populist measures pay more dividend than the steps taken for ensuring long lasting benefits to the nation in the long run. |
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