The last one month has been eventful on the Indian political landscape. If Gujarat saw another emphatic win from Mr. Modi, BJP with intentions of using corruption as a Major theme for 2014 decided against second term for Nitin Gadkari getting Rajnath Singh back as party President. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi has been formally elevated to the number 2 position at Congress party at the recent Chintan Shivir at Jaipur.
Let’s get this straight; this is not a comparison between Modi & Rahul, not endorsing strengths or weakness of either of the party. Irrespective of our political affiliations and personal favorites, lets rally behind the reasons which should form the base for 2014 polls. Narendra Modi winning for a third consecutive time maybe important from the BJP perspective, but from the perspective of the Indians, this win holds significance due to the nature of this confrontation between the two biggest national parties. This is something which as Voters; we must endorse and carry forward to the Parliamentary polls commencing next year. Though Modi had won the state elections on couple of occasions earlier, this time it was different than his earlier wins. On previous occasions, it was more to do with polarization and emotive appeals and had less to do with rationale or merit behind results. However on this occasion, Modi fought totally on the development plank with performance & governance as the barometer to reward or discard him, the results have been thus strictly on merit and aspirations rather than the age old planks of divisional politics. The interesting part is that the areas where he has lost, even there local issues and challenges on the development front seem to be reasons of average performance, which in itself is a healthy trend for one and all. The Bihar elections of 2010 and now the Gujarat elections of 2012; it seems that the Indian electorate is finally starting to judge on merit and rewarding the performers consistently!! It may be a bit early to predict this as a trend, but in this environment of negativity, every positive movement is worth lapping. This is one of the rare positives, which must go in the next year!!
http://rochakvig.blogspot.com/2012/01/day-india-votes-for-development.html
Whether Mr. Modi succeeds in this endeavor, will be difficult to judge as governing a population of 6 Crore effectively does not guarantee a similar show in managing a heterogeneous population of 120 Crores with multiple diversities and complexities attached. It would also present UPA with an opportunity to break away NDA’s “Secular” allies and also polarize the minority vote further, but it would give them a headache of fighting elections on the Positive canvass, where they will have to talk about Development, governance, performance and public satisfaction!! Even when they are plotting the seeds for UPA-3 in terms of “Food Bill” & “Direct Cash Transfer”, it may not have a smooth sail knowing the current public mood which seems to be against the ruling front on issues of corruption, price rise and poor governance. Thus evident from Shinde's recent remarks, UPA in all likelihood may like to stick to its old guns blazing highlighting the “Non-Secular” image which BJP & Modi has been attributed to highlighting the dark chapter of 2002 if BJP projects him as their National face. Even when it would try and sell its latest game changing schemes as the products touching the “Garib Aadmi”, it would have to even play its vote bank cards appropriately to keep the electorate as well as coalition partners on their side to ride anti incumbency avoiding direct confrontation on the core topics. Frankly we would be much more happy Congress talking about Cash transfer, Food Bill & MNREGA rather than the color and religion of terror. UPA’s win or loss at center better is decided by the merit or lack of its performance in last 5 years rather than emotive appeals misleading the voters.
As far as BJP is concerned, it may be a tricky proposition. On the first thought, it seems that Modi with his clean, strong and good governance image may be the best bet for 2014 as their current leadership seems as clueless as the Congress led UPA; unable to convert the public anguish in its favor as a viable alternative. There are people who have started believing the point of social activist turned politician Kejriwal that there is NO OPPOSITION in India, all are partners in the game of looting with only different designations of Ruling front & opposition! It is high time BJP changes its earlier right wing politics along with this thought and whole heartedly approves and takes charge through its effective, performance based and popular brand of “Modi” hoping to amass support as an alternative, which Indians can look up to. It would definitely strengthen the favorable vote with possibility of having in its kitty additional bench sitters fed up from system who hailed Modi’s win from their respective states. Challenge would be to sell the promise of replicating the Gujarat Development Model on the national stage to fulfill the needs and aspirations of the public at large and also get together the so called Secular forces as one party getting clear majority seems distinct possibility.
If this aspirational politics of merit will actually succeed, next year will present us an answer, but as Indians we must hope that the contenders play the game with these rules of merit to serve with mutual respect for each other as against the age old Negative politics of hatred & promises!! Rahul Gandhi after assuming his role of Vice President has again sounded that he would like to play positive constructive politics which we all are desperately waiting for and if this turns out to be the case, we all should hail the Rahul-Modi showdown on the unseen positive canvass which can be a game changer for Indian politics and public alike. Hare Ram, Inshallah, Wahe Guru; we really hope a brighter, safer and content future for our and next generations; AND Modi bidding for the top slot at Delhi with his Gujarat governance model fighting against Rahul’s Positive politics is certainly a start to see the light beyond the tunnel. Amen :)
India has started voting for development and this is what it really Needs!!! Happy New Year…
