Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'The better side won' that was published in Newsband

The better side won

The BJP won both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. In Gujarat, it recorded a sixth straight victory. It seems like another step towards its stated goal of a “Congress-mukth Bharat”. That the victory was well short of the 150-plus seats is a setback. It is a ray of hope for a Congress.

Since 1985, the Congress put up its best showing in 32 years. The Congress won by smaller margins in rural Gujarat. As for the BJP, it enjoyed relatively bigger wins in urban pockets. In Himachal Pradesh, the difference in vote share was smaller but the BJP won a much higher share of the seats, close to a two-thirds majority.

Despite the big win, the party faced the ignominy of seeing its chief ministerial candidate, Prem Kumar Dhumal, lose to his Congress rival. In a State that has alternated between the Congress and the BJP in the last three decades, the vote was arguably as much against the Congress as for the BJP. With both States under its control, the BJP can be expected to push forward its reforms agenda with renewed vigour. It may well be tempted to believe that neither demonetisation nor the flawed roll-out of the GST regime has dented its support among traders and the middle class.

Unemployment is one of the challenges in remote parts of country since long. Present urbanisation is due to the same. Urban India has been with BJP since nineties. The think tank at BJP headquarters must take note of social economic truth. In tribal and far off areas whatever social work is seen is thanks to RSS. But if it neglect s agrarian crisis BJP will have to pay for it 2019. This election also underlined need for coming together backward population with opposition party to challenge BJP.

Let us see now whether BJP led central government continue reforms or surrender to populist measures. As far as BJP is concerned People still know there is only one leader working with an agenda for the nation. Congress on the other hand only benefited by stitching divisive and cattiest coalition rather than gain support to it from people for its vision of policies. There is still no agenda from Congress on the table for the nation / state. There is also no committed leader in whom people can believe.

The caste or social alliances built by the Congress yielded rich dividends in its strongholds. By wearing the mask of 'social alliances 'here is a feeble attempt to cover up a naked support for casteism as a tool to divide the people for narrow electoral gains, throwing to the wind the enlightened concept of development for all and appeasement of none

In the lackluster win in the states, the winner doesn't take it all. The rural sector has expressed itself in unambiguous terms its dislike for the the devastating DeMo and faulted rollout of the GST. The winners should not lose themselves in the euphoria and be tempted to jump the cautionary signals the electorate erected. If BJP can still win it is due to the great hatred that people have for the Congress due to its UPA-II scams and loot.

Congress must reform itself fully, must agree to be held to high levels of accountability, and present a honest team of people who could guide the economics of this country towards high growth path, if we are to realize the dream of becoming a developed Nation itself. the numerous temple visits undertaken by Rahul Gandhi who claimed himself to be a sacred thread wearing Hindu is the mischievous attempt to gain sympathy and support from a section of Hindus. In the process, the Congress failed to impress the urban voters. Besides, the vicious propaganda against the PM of the country was counterproductive for the Congress. If Congress improved its tally of seats, it was largely by overwhelmingly seen votes for NOTA exercised by a large number of voters.