The only recourse left for the Congress
As BJP's Narendra Modi who has always taken pride in calling himself a Hindu Nationalist wins big securing his second consecutive term today, Congress stands humiliated once again bagging only 52 of the 543 seats. It is very clear that right wing populism is on the rise in our country because, despite laugh-worthy policy mistakes in the last five years, rising unemployment and spewing hate during election campaigns, BJP has won massively. While the opposition has no clue of what went wrong, some people spin conspiracy theories around EVM malfunctioning, others believe Pulwama did the trick for Modi, and yet others blame it on the lacking persona of Rahul Gandhi. There are also people who feel BJP has bought all the journalists. I don't believe any of these to be true/right. The problem lies deeper. In Rushdie's words, reality moves phantom-wise beneath visible fiction subverting all its meanings.
The real reason for Congress's defeat is their failure to understand the mind of Indian voters. For instance, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh which voted BJP out in the state elections last December have voted in favour of BJP in the Lok Sabha election. What has gone wrong all of a sudden? And why has AAP not been able to win a single seat in Delhi despite all the reforms in education? Does it not leave us with a hint that there is something wrong with the way the voters behave between the state and the center?
Rahul Gandhi has certainly become a better politician over the last 10 years. Although BJP supporters would love to call him Pappu for eternity, he - for a fact - has grown out of his clownish nature of the past. People have seen Rahul Gandhi campaign in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh last December and they did vote for him. If he were really worthless like how they describe him in the memes or if majority of the population had really been bigoted, Congress would have lost all the state elections. So clearly not all voters are fanatics, and Rahul Gandhi certainly holds some value, albeit little, but only when he is pitted against Modi, he loses flat, this time even Amethi. People do not consider him as a match for Modi. Even if Modi comes up with a hundred cloudy statements or more, the voters would still believe Modi is better than Rahul. Such is the naivety of the Indian psyche. People here go to any extent in blind worship of their supreme leaders.
There were also a few tactical errors that failed the Congress. Seeing Modi and Shah staging personal attacks on the Gandhi family, they decided to go the same way and started attacking them in return although not as venomous as the fifty six incher and his plumper friend would do. But the more they attacked Modi, the more they appeared elitist that cemented disconnect with the voters. Shashi Tharoor wrote a book titled, Why I am a Hindu. Except for saving his seat - which I think would have happened even otherwise, it did no good for the party. In Madhya Pradesh, Congress workers were trying so hard to prove to the people that they were better Hindus than the BJP. Backfired again.
It is true, only with the death of Congress, will the nation find the right alternative. But until then, we need the Congress to maintain the democratic balance so things don't get worse. Until then, we also need the Gandhi family so the party doesn't break into fragments causing more worries. The party needs to realise that it cannot win by just copying BJP's moves. If Modi releases a movie, you don't have to feel the pressure to think of releasing one or even reviewing his movie. If Modi releases a comic book about himself, you don't even have to consider it worthy of a reaction. What you need now is a new strategy and you need to spend every second of the next five years breathing life into it.
25% of India is Dalit, and there are 131 seats reserved for SC's and ST's. This can be easily tapped because the Hindutva ideology does not resonate with almost all the dalit communities, and with some meticulous effort they could all be taken away from the BJP fold. All that the Congress party has to do is to raise 131 or more solid young Dalit men and women who are influential speakers and give them important party positions. They should be groomed in such a way that they voice out for the justice of every Indian person, not limiting themselves only to Dalit welfare. The party right now has no ideological backbone, they should use this league of bright Dalit youth to pen the new ideology for their future. Before 2023, Congress must successfully transform itself into a party that has the golden blend of both Ambedkar and Nehru. You don't have to spend all your energy to collect Muslim/Christian votes, those votes would come to you by themselves with the help of Sangh Parivar arrogance. Help will also come from the South, because Kerala and Tamil Nadu would rather prefer to stand with the Congress than bending their knees in front of communal forces.
Until 2024, in Nitin Gadkari's words - 'The opposition should fulfill their role of safeguarding the democracy!'
Rahul Gandhi has certainly become a better politician over the last 10 years. Although BJP supporters would love to call him Pappu for eternity, he - for a fact - has grown out of his clownish nature of the past. People have seen Rahul Gandhi campaign in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh last December and they did vote for him. If he were really worthless like how they describe him in the memes or if majority of the population had really been bigoted, Congress would have lost all the state elections. So clearly not all voters are fanatics, and Rahul Gandhi certainly holds some value, albeit little, but only when he is pitted against Modi, he loses flat, this time even Amethi. People do not consider him as a match for Modi. Even if Modi comes up with a hundred cloudy statements or more, the voters would still believe Modi is better than Rahul. Such is the naivety of the Indian psyche. People here go to any extent in blind worship of their supreme leaders.
There were also a few tactical errors that failed the Congress. Seeing Modi and Shah staging personal attacks on the Gandhi family, they decided to go the same way and started attacking them in return although not as venomous as the fifty six incher and his plumper friend would do. But the more they attacked Modi, the more they appeared elitist that cemented disconnect with the voters. Shashi Tharoor wrote a book titled, Why I am a Hindu. Except for saving his seat - which I think would have happened even otherwise, it did no good for the party. In Madhya Pradesh, Congress workers were trying so hard to prove to the people that they were better Hindus than the BJP. Backfired again.
It is true, only with the death of Congress, will the nation find the right alternative. But until then, we need the Congress to maintain the democratic balance so things don't get worse. Until then, we also need the Gandhi family so the party doesn't break into fragments causing more worries. The party needs to realise that it cannot win by just copying BJP's moves. If Modi releases a movie, you don't have to feel the pressure to think of releasing one or even reviewing his movie. If Modi releases a comic book about himself, you don't even have to consider it worthy of a reaction. What you need now is a new strategy and you need to spend every second of the next five years breathing life into it.
25% of India is Dalit, and there are 131 seats reserved for SC's and ST's. This can be easily tapped because the Hindutva ideology does not resonate with almost all the dalit communities, and with some meticulous effort they could all be taken away from the BJP fold. All that the Congress party has to do is to raise 131 or more solid young Dalit men and women who are influential speakers and give them important party positions. They should be groomed in such a way that they voice out for the justice of every Indian person, not limiting themselves only to Dalit welfare. The party right now has no ideological backbone, they should use this league of bright Dalit youth to pen the new ideology for their future. Before 2023, Congress must successfully transform itself into a party that has the golden blend of both Ambedkar and Nehru. You don't have to spend all your energy to collect Muslim/Christian votes, those votes would come to you by themselves with the help of Sangh Parivar arrogance. Help will also come from the South, because Kerala and Tamil Nadu would rather prefer to stand with the Congress than bending their knees in front of communal forces.
Until 2024, in Nitin Gadkari's words - 'The opposition should fulfill their role of safeguarding the democracy!'
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