Verdict2014: The Election that rewrote India’s political narratives.

Pratim Ranjan Bose

Having occupied the hot seat for 10 years, Manmohan Singh left the Prime Minister’s Office with a heavy heart. His party is faced with its worst ever defeat in the history of the democracy.

Emphatic win

With 44 MPs, the Indian National Congress ended up a distant second to BJP’s 282 in a Lok Sabha of 543. It was wiped out from nearly half a dozen major states. Over all Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is reduced to less than one-fourth of its size in the previous Lok Sabha.

BJP has enough numbers to form the government on its own - an exception in Indian politics since economic liberalisation.

	2009	2014
BJP	116	282
Congress	206	44

Coupled with its allies, it is now an undisputable power in Indian politics. More than numbers; the party is successful in making its presence felt across the length and breadth of the country.

New wave in Indian politics

The massive anti-Indira Gandhi wave, spearheaded by Jaiprakash Narain’s makeshift Janata Party  in 1977; the surge of Hindu nationalism on the back of BJP’s L K Advani led Ram Janambhoomi movement – nothing can match the achievements of Narendra Modi’s call for able government and a better government.

As Pratap Bhanu Mehta of Centre for Policy Research puts it, 2014 General election had “overthrown” all the accepted narratives of Indian politics.

Time to introspect. Source: my.fakingnews.firstpost.com 

Modi has changed the idom of Indian politics by breaching many caste and religion-based vote banks that were hitherto inaccessible to either BJP or Congress.

The damage to the identity politics can be understood from a single factor. From 21 seats in 2004, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party is reduced to ‘zero’. Its control over the Dalit votes in the cow-belt is down by one-third.

Same is the fate of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) or Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar or Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. All of them were thriving on Muslim votes and caste-based politics.

Preliminary analysis of the results in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Goa; reveals Modi has not merely breached their fiefdom of low-caste Hindu votes; but also got a fair share of votes from Muslim and other religious minorities. 

And that puts at rest, at least at this juncture, the traditional narratives describing BJP as a party of Brahminical ideologues or Modi as an untouchable to Muslims or the dream of a prosperous India doesn’t sell to India’s rural majority.

India has got its first Prime Minister who hails from “other backward class” (OBC) who opposes ‘liberal’ claims (Interview to Times Now) that religious minorities have first right on the national resources. Because he says it is poor - cutting across religious or caste identity - should enjoy that right.

Whether he will be able to bring such words into practice, is to be seen. But, Narendra Damodardas Modi promises Achhe din aane wale hai (good days are round the corner).

And, the young and aspiring India surely believed in him.

Congress missed the signal

In retrospect, India had given the signal by bringing in Manmohan Singh’s UPA government for the second term, with a higher seat share, in 2009. The mandate was for a strong growth oriented government, at the Centre.

Source: theweek.com

But the UPA took it as a license to rob the country or, to continue with their misdeeds in the first term.

Right from Commonwealth Games to the high profile telecom sector or the humble coal and power – unprecedented corruption distorted the economics of every industrial sector.

The government first denied any wrong doing and then, thanks to a vigilant Supreme Court, was forced to take corrective measures.

And throughout this period Singh maintained a silence. He did not have much choice either. Because, some of the biggest scams (as in captive coal block allocation) in the history of India, took place right under his nose.

Singh’s personal integrity is beyond doubt. But, his government had set a new record of corruption as was chronicled by The Economist.

“The business interests of the present cabinet—if you believe the rumours—include a real-estate empire in Singaporeand an insider-trading ring run by a minister’s son,” The Economist wrote in March this year.

But that’s not all, in an effort to remain in power; the Manmohan Singh government took a series of decisions that had seriously dented the democratic fabric of the country.

The rate at which the government issued ordinances (including some during poll season) to bypass Parliament was alarming, to say the least. It was also shocking that a major state (Andhra Pradesh) was divided without allowing members to cast their ballot in the Lok Sabha!

The aim was to create a vote bank. The end result is Congress is wiped out of the region.

A takeaway for Modi

Singh will not find many shoulders to cry on. But, the rout of Congress leaves a strong message for the incumbent as well as every political party.

Source; sodahead.com

No one expects Narendra Modi to present India with a corruption free government. But, his voters surely expect an efficient government that will be relatively clean.

Some corporates will surely continue dictating terms on public policies. The number of billionaires may also rise in the years to come. But, Modi must ensure that the 1.2 billion people get a fair share of the cake.  

India is getting younger. And, this post-ideological generation, that doesn’t care much about the Right or Left, is restless. If Modi fails them, who knows BJP may end up in the same place where Congress many others are now rotting.

***