The expected unbelievable has happened – Narendra Modi has led the nation to its greatest grassroots revolution since the sun set on one-party dominance in 1977. Taking on the Congress dynastic rule with Sonia Gandhi ruling from behind the scenes, and particularly the misgovernance, corruption, and economic stagnation of the past decade, the challenger from Gujarat has singlehandedly made the BJP India’s new dominant party with a clear majority of 285 seats (NDA 339) at the time of writing, reducing the Congress to its worst ever tally of 44 (UPA 57) (at the time of writing).
This is a one man revolution and it is impossible to do full justice to the Prime Minister designate for his Herculean efforts of the past eight months, and particularly the back-breaking, gruelling schedule he maintained unflaggingly in the 46-day final lap of the campaign, tellingly titled Bharat Vijay Rally.
This is a magnificent victory. As predicted by the BJP leader, the Congress will not open its account in several States and will have difficulty touching double digit figures in several; its national tally is now below 50, which means it does not qualify to get the Leader of Opposition rank for its leader, something that Sonia Gandhi must view as a stinging indictment of her performance as de facto ruler of the UPA coalition. It is a measure of Narendra Modi’s confidence in himself and the people, as also the gargantuan efforts put in by the BJP and allies at the grassroots, that he dared say this in rally after rally. That Congress never had the courage to rebut these taunts was a measure of its internal disarray.
The BJP veteran clearly had his finger on the pulse of the people. Any honest observer should have been able to gauge from the crowds that gathered to hear him from September 15, 2013 at Rewari, Haryana, and subsequently in every nook and cranny of the nation, that he was the harbinger of hope to people crushed under price rise and corruption; families staring at unemployment and utter lack of opportunity; the indifference and callousness of rulers; and above all, the sense of national drift towards the abyss.
Not surprisingly, therefore, the results as they pour in vindicate the claims and expectations of Narendra Modi, his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah in Uttar Pradesh, and the BJP in general. Thus, the party has won all seats in Gujarat (26/26), Rajasthan (25/25), Delhi (7/7), Goa (2/2), Himachal Pradesh (4/4), Uttarakhand (5/5) and is doing exceedingly well in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Karnataka, Seemandhra and Arunachal Pradesh. The Congress, in contrast, failed to open its account in 12 States and 5 Union Territories – a deafening commentary on the leadership of its so called first family.
In Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh is trailing behind BJP’s Ram Swaroop Sharma. In Arunachal Pradesh, Kiran Rijjiju (BJP) is winning, but the party is trailing in the other.
The big tragedy, of course, is Rahul Gandhi’s victory in Amethi, though to her credit Smriti Irani gave him a run for him money, forcing the Congress president and her daughter to rush to his rescue. That the fight was tough can be seen from the fact that Irani led in several rounds initially, and in the end, the pocket boroughs of Rai Bareilly and Amethi were all that were left to the dynasty in Uttar Pradesh. Henceforth, whichever Gandhi scion is chosen to lead the party, the writing on the wall says that the Congress will at best enjoy some pockets of regional influence in the foreseeable future.
The trend became clear when Mumbai’s ex Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh (Baghpat) trounced Ajit Singh in this family cum Jat bastion. In the circumstances, Murli Manohar Joshi (Kanpur), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), and Hema Malini (Mathura) were just some of those who breezed through on the strength of the Modi wave. The overall UP tally seems to be a handsome 73, far greater than anything predicted by any pollster. The family of former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav also retained just 5 seats, and cine star Raj Babbar was among the notable losers.
In Karnataka, the return of former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa was vindicated by his sweeping victory in Shimoga; Anantha Kumar defeating Nandan Nilekani by over one lakh votes in Bangalore; and the overall trends showing a lead in 17 seats.
In Punjab, Kirron Kher won over the beautiful Gul Panag (Chandigarh) of the AAP and former minister Pawan Bansal (Congress). But an underlying wave shows the AAP gaining 4 seats while Arun Jaitley (Amritsar) lost to Capt Amarinder Singh (Congress) due to an underlying anti-incumbency against the Badal family that could not be overcome despite a rally by Narendra Modi.
In Maharashtra, the sole Congress victory is Ashok Chavan of Adarsh society scam fame. NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s daughter and heir, Supriya Sule, has lost the family seat Baramati, as predicted by Narendra Modi during his tours of the State. The BJP-Shiv Sena swept, with Poonam Mahajan winning against Priya Dutt, who has hitherto been considered unbeatable! Union Ministers Praful Patel and Milind Deora lost, as did Nilesh Rane, son of Narayan Rane. A satisfying aspect of this election is the fact that Raj Thackeray’s spoiler MNS could not open its account in the State. Notable BJP victories include Gopinath Munde (Beed), Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur) and Kirit Somaiya (Mumbai North East).
In Assam, at the time of writing, the BJP was set to win 6 seats, with Congress trailing at 4 and others managing the remaining 4. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has conceded defeat and offered to resign.
In West Bengal, where Trinamool Congress goons ran amok and won 34 seats, the BJP is leading in two seats while the Left has managed just 2 seats and Congress 4.
In the closely fought Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor (Congress) has retained his seat. The ruling UDF has managed to secure 4 seats and the LDF 6; others have got 5 and BJP has drawn a blank. The BJP will have to introspect deeply about its performance in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu is a big disappointment as much was expected from the alliance with five regional parties; local people attribute it to disarray and lack of sincerity in the BJP unit, beginning with the failed nomination drama in Nilgiri, where the party had a strong chance of victory. In the event, former union minister Andimuthu Raja also lost. It is, of course, a consolation that former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar lost by a huge margin in Mayiladuthurai.
In Rajasthan, the notable losers from Congress include Sachin Pilot (Ajmer) and Jyoti Mirdha. The former BJP leader Jaswant Singh also lost.
In Haryana, the AAP’s eminence grise, Yogendra Yadav, slated to take the party over from the failed leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, lost his deposit in Gurgaon. Another prominent loser is Navin Jindal (Kurukshetra) of Coal-gate fame, also a prominent supporter of the AAP. The BJP is leading in 7 seats and Congress in just 1; others have taken the remaining 3.
In Jammu & Kashmir, the BJP won 3 seats in all, including Ladakh narrowly, and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was trounced. It seems the bells now toll for the Abdullah dynasty in Jammu & Kashmir.
In Bihar, the BJP is leading in 22 seats; former Chief Minister Rabri Devi (Saran) and her daughter Misa Bharti (Patliputra) lost, as did the Congress’s Meira Kumar (Sasaram), the Speaker of the outgoing Lok Sabha. The BJP leader Yashwant Sinha’s son, Jayant Sinha has won from Hazaribagh. However, Shahnawaz Hussain is sweating it out in Bhagalpur.
In Delhi, the BJP swept the polls, with AAP’s Rajmohan Gandhi and Ashutosh, who were widely seen as winners, biting the dust. In all, the Aam Aadmi failed to realise its dream (read daylight hallucination) of emerging as a national political party with 6 per cent of the vote in a minimum of 4 States. The AAP was an illusory sand castle, alluring, but swept away by the first powerful (Modi) wave. Still, its surprise performance in Punjab, where it bagged 4 seats, bears watching.
This is an appropriate time for the BJP to scrutinise the 2013 decision of the Election Commission to give the novice party a common symbol (jhadu) for fighting the Delhi Assembly election. This was against the electoral law and it was a mistake of the Delhi BJP unit to ignore the development, for which it paid a heavy price, as without the common symbol the AAP victory might have been less impressive. As the Election Commission ruling has since been challenged in the Supreme Court, the matter must be followed up.
All in all, this is a complete rout for the Congress-UPA with important ministers losing, a resounding verdict on the governance of the past ten years. The losers include Jaipal Reddy, Pawan Bansal, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Sachin Pilot, Salman Khurshid, Kapil Sibal, Sushil Kumar Shinde, and Ghulam Nabi Azad. Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son, Karti, has also been routed. Others who lost include 2G minister A Raja (DMK) and Aviation Minister Praful Patel (NCP). Former Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily (Chikballapur) ultimately scraped through.
A satisfying aspect of the election was the people’s decision to downsize the CPM to just 2 seats in West Bengal; Tripura saved the party face with 2 seats and its overall tally is likely to settle at 9. An interesting tit bit is that the voters plumbed for female cine stars Hema Malini, Jayapradha, and Naghma; gave the thumbs up to Shatrughan Sinha and thumbs down to Raj Babbar.
The BJP leads in all parts of the country, including Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Arunachal Pradesh, which makes it the first truly pan-India party after the Congress. The party dared spread its wings so far thanks to the vision and daring of one man and a dedicated team that worked to realise the dream.
Niticentral.com, 16 May 2014
http://www.niticentral.com/2014/05/16/narendra-modi-one-man-revolution-224026.html