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13 May 2004
All the nation loves a wronged one
My, my! What a scintillating thriller the fourteenth Lok Sabha elections have turned out to be. In the beginning, it was thought by many (I for one) that the NDA would romp home for another five year term, riding on the back of a "surging" economy. There could not have been a clearer labelling of underdogs as far as the Congress was concerned. And to boot, the campaign was one of the nastiest and polarising in recent times -- what with the Gujarat riots, Sonia Gandhi's Italian origins and Vajpayee himself. Having read countlessly many nascent analyses of what went wrong for the BJP, I find the irony of it all hard to let pass. In the last three years, the ruling coalition embraced policies more attuned to the Republican party in the United States -- free-market economic policies ranging from rapid public sector disinvestment to major sops and tax breaks for the tech sector, a re-alignment with Israel and the United States to claim the moral high ground of a common people afflicted by terrorism. The prime minister led a determined one-man effort to eke out of a stalemate and steer relations with Pakistan towards a better future with respect to Kashmir. So, what had gone wrong?In the most bitter twist of irony that surely will not be lost on the NDA, this was sadly not the United States and the opposition turned the ingenious India Shining campaign against the NDA claiming that they were just pandering to a rather blasé, self-serving miniscule fraction. And did it work brilliantly. As one of the early articles pointed out, while in the United States, the government's overtures to industry and the affluent are returned in due measure come November every four years, India's most dedicated vote-base is an overwhelming majority residing far from the cackle and hoopla of India Shining, in villages and small towns where who gets one's vote is determined on rather mundane and quotidian affairs like drinking water, irrigation, government prices for food crops and electricity. What puzzles and amuses me is how any organisation the size and stature of the BJP never managed to recognise this? The gamble to call for early elections was on the major victories the BJP had achieved in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. How could one presume to gauge the pulse of an entire country based on poll victories in a marginal segment of the biased Hindi-belt sector? Interestingly, Rajasthan, MP and Chattisgarh have a significant portion of industry in addition to agriculture dominating their economies.
It also brings to question a rather more significant issue which hitherto has often been ignored -- the role of the media. India Shining would never have assumed the gargantuan proportions it did were it not for the amount of pagespread it received in tabloid, scum-of-the-earth print media like the Times of India and its presumptuous sibling, the Economic Times and even the slightly more respected Hindu or the Indian Express. One thing is for sure, opinion polls, NDTV and Rediff are in and so is live reporting on the Net. Most news sites were groaning under the huge traffic last evening. Indian politics has been successfully "cricketised".
On the other hand, one cannot ignore the groundswell in respect and lost adoration Sonia Gandhi and the entire Nehru-Gandhi clan has succeeded in extracting yet again. Welcome dynastic politics, unabashed sycophancy and open-faced nepotism. Thy name is Congress. Quo Vadis? As much as I have been distrustful of their machinations and communal politicking, the Congress must surely realise that this electoral result comes as a godsend breath of fresh life and the party would do well to shed itself of its old labels. On the bright side, as everyone has noted, the so-called economic reforms package that the Congress has cried so hoarsely to stake its claim on, will in its essential nature not be mangled and more importantly will cease to be so lopsided. Gujarat shall not be a farce any longer, not with the Left beginning to wield a larger influence in Delhi. Who knows? We might even get to see more of Rahul Gandhi's Colombian girlfriend. Cut to thirty years from now and guess who will be a top contender for prime minister? Lok Sabha will be much more fun with Sidhu present though cricket is much the poorer for this (whatever became of the murder case?). The average age of ministers in the cabinet should definitely come down. Vinay Katiyar and Praveen Togadia shall be put in their places. Tehelka and 'Coffingate' will out. Manmohan Singh, Shankar Acharya, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and P Chidambaram are back. Amongst the things I am least inclined to look forward to -- Govinda might be a Union minister. Mulayam Singh might either be deputy prime minister or defence minister. Sharad Pawar might either be deputy prime minister or defence minister. Sitaram Yechury or Harkishan Singh Surjeet might be commerce ministers or industry ministers. Kamal Nath, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and Jagdish Tytler are back. To better times ahead.
