Rahul Gandhi avenges Amit Shah
Recent developments gives an idea about how politics will be played in
the run-up to the general elections. In the recent Karnataka election, there were
no towering heroes to celebrate. It was complete violation of the people’s mandate. The Congress bowed
before the Janata Dal (Secular). The JD(S) seized the chance to install HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister despite
having lowest ever vote share. The BJP missed
a chance at seizing power. Had it succeeded Karnataka would have been the 21st
State under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah’s watch.
The nature of alliance formed in Karnataka was where the Congress plays
second fiddle to the regional chieftains. This is the first major election
under the newly-elected President Rahul Gandhi who tried to challenge Amit Shah
at his own game. BJP President
had earlier snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Goa, Manipur and
Meghalaya, where the single largest party was not invited to form the
government. But this time, the BJP was caught off guard.
Karnataka has thus set the tone for the general elections next year. At
one end of the pole is the towering Modi and his invincible strategist Shah. At
the other end are the provincial strategists and mass leaders — Mamata
Banerjee, HD Deve Gowda, N Chandrababu Naidu, K Chandrashekhar Rao, Mayawati,
Akhilesh Yadav, Tejaswai Pratap et al.
This reminds one of 1996 General Elections where Congress led by P V
Narasimha Rao, plagued with scams and scandals, lost decisively but then
neither of the other political parties had a majority to form a government. BJP
was the single largest party with 161 seats but couldn’t cross the halfway
mark. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was invited to form the government and asked to
prove his majority within two weeks on the floor of the Parliament. While BJP
tried to form a post-poll alliance, it could not reach majority. After trying
for 13 days, Vajpayee conceded he could not manage more than 200 seats and
resigned rather than face the confidence vote. The Congress, despite being the
second largest party, declined to form the government. Instead, offered
external support to small regional parties, which were full of internal
conflicts, and in an unexpected move, JDS’ H D Deve Gowda was made the Prime
Minister of India. In less than two years, Congress withdrew support and the
government collapsed.
It is fascinating how the ones who scream about ‘democracy being
restored’ every time they win by hook or by crook never pause to once ponder
about how the democratic mandate of the people is being shamelessly subverted.
Yes, in a democracy majority rules. But if one has to uphold the ethos of
democracy, one doesn’t elevate a party that has been booted by the people’s
franchise to a ruling position. That is exactly what the Congress party did
then, and that is exactly what it is doing now. Perhaps for Rahul Gandhi and
his band of hollow vessels, democracy can only be restored, when the will of
the people can be subverted in order to serve the monarch.
The Congress has sensed that its best chance at crawling back to power in
the face of Modi’s charisma is in playing assistant to all the regional giants.
This strategy is never good, our country will not progress this way. We just
don't have alternatives. Opposition is a collection of tribal chiefs or
feudalistic lords. Congress has become a party which has shed all its ideals
(whatever it may be), and exchanged it for nepotism and petty politics, they
have no vision apart from their flawed vision "Equality for everyone in
the process of division."
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