The Resurgent Congress

The defeat of BJP and the Congress’s remarkable rebound in the assembly elections in Hindi heart land of Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh indicates the mood of the people of India ahead of general elections due in next five months. All the three states were strongholds of the BJP over the years. But the Tuesday’s reverses has given a cause to secular and anti communal forces to rejoice and rejoin that the ultra Hindu nationalist party which bases its power on hate and communalism is not invincible. BJP is already sitting on loose sand in yet another Hindi heartland biggie Utter Pradesh where it won 71 out of 80 parliamentary seats in the last parliamentary elections. The party has lost the parliamentary seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur of chief minister Adityanath Yogi and deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya in the by election last year. This all point towards the fact that the BJP is unlikely to repeat its 2014 performance in now-approaching general elections. In Bihar, the other major Hindi heartland state, the BJP-Nitesh Kumar combine’s falling fortunes became known in March this year when RJD won the by-polls for Ariara LS seat and Jahanabad assembly seat. The RJD won the election in absence of the party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is serving jail for conviction in fodder scam. It was his son Tajshwi Yadav who led his father’s party fight against BJP-JD (U) combine in the by-polls. Many political scientists had written off RJD after conviction of Lalu Prasad. Cases of corruption were slapped against other members of his family Tejishwi, who served as deputy chief minister during RJD-JD (U) rule. CBI conducted raids on their private properties and assets. Few had given them any chance in the elections. But the RJD’s win showed that Lalu’s traditional support-base the Muslim-Yadav-combine is intact. The latest defeat in the assembly elections appears to be a continuation of its dwindling popularity ahead of general elections. The Congress’s return to power in Hindi heartland has also established the fact that it is only only party that can challenge the BJP nationally. Incidentaly, the Congress victory over the BJP comes exactly a year after Rahul Gandhi took over the reings of the party as national president from his mother Sonia Gandhi. It appears that BJP not only underrated Rahul Gandhi but also committed the folly of overrating itself. It is ultimately the man in the streets who decides. But the BJP undermined the authority of the common man as well and let herself ravishing in her own estimation and imagination. The BJP leaders including the Prime Minister took pleasure in mocking at Rahul Gandhi with names like Pappu. But in the end, the Pappu na sirf pass ho gaya but also turned out, in the words of a Congress leader, baap.

Few would dispute with the fact that the fall of the BJP began with its complete failure in governance. BJP had risen to power with some reasonable slogans besides its communal and anti Pakistan agenda. The slogans like development for all and corruption-free India had takers outside the ideological frame work of the BJP. Performance is a critical factor, whose place cannot be taken by hype or eloquent oratory. Anti-incumbency doesn’t arise out of nowhere, it has its origin in declining standards of governance. BJP could not keep any of its promises it made to the voters during election campaign. Bringing back black money, curtailing corruption in the government, depositing rupees 15 lakh in each citizen’s bank account and all other promises it made proved brute lies. The party instead let loose lampoons and ruffians to rule the streets. In the name of protecting cow they unleashed a murderous campaign against the Muslims and Dalits. There is no rule of law. The so called BJP Bakhts are law unto themselves. The cold blooded murder of a policeman in UP, last week, by the cow protectors is a case in point. The mental retardation of the UP chief minister Adityanath Yogi, who is a face of BJP’s Hindutwa mission, could be understood from his assertions wherein he called the murder of the police officer as ‘accident’ and killing of a cow as ‘crime’. The BJP has ultimately to pay for such heinous crimes and its election defeat could be termed as a price the party had to pay for its follies.