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Mainstream, VOL52, No. 22, May 24, 2014

A Landslide Victory for BJP

Friday 23 May 2014

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by Sudhanshu Tripathi

The results of the 16th Lok Sabha elections have clearly shown, perhaps, the rarest of rare democratic phenomenon which was unexpected to even the very wise political pundits who might have relied on the exit polls. Almost all of them were hoping a near likely win for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition with equally possible chances for the Congress-I-led UPA for forming a new government at the Centre. But all these projections have gone awory, clearly indicating a tectonic shift away from the UPA-II Government, in the wake of the massive mandate in favour of the BJP and its allies wherein the BJP in itself is capable of forming the government on its own strength. It is particularly significant for the BJP to celebrate its amazing victory as the entire country as well as the whole world is spell-bound over its splendid performance which, in fact, reflects the true victory of democracy because India as a nation has woken up to assert against the hitherto prevailing misgovernance, utter mis-management and colossal corruption at almost all levels of governance under the Congress-led UPA. People in general did rise above caste, creed, religion, sect and other narrow bonds to vote in favour of a much-desired change for a leader as well as a party who and which, in their eyes, can deliver the best to meet their desires and aspirations. This was, in fact, reflected in the marked increase in voting percentages in the elections that really surpassed the earlier limits.

To a great extent, the Congress-I had to suffer from the anti-incumbency factor but, for the most part, the party is itself responsible for its mischiefs and misdeeds which got reflected in several scams unearthed during its tenure, namely, these related to the 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Housing Society, coalgate, etc., involving many of its Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers and other party leaders and workers, and amounting to crores of public money which shocked the entire country over the fact that the party having a glorious past is no more that original party in form and content and has now become a party of corruption and corrupt leaders because in all these cases the party did try its best to shield and protect its beleaguered leaders by hook or crook, instead of letting them go through the process of law which might have taken its own course towards justice. And this mood of the people’s disenchantment was wittingly gauged by a prominent social activist and social reformer, Anna Hazare, who successfully united the people at large in almost the second Non-Cooperation Movement called India Against Corruption at Jantar Manter in New Delhi more than two years ago. Added to his endeavour was that of yoga guru Baba Ramdev who was also stirring the people’s conscience almost side by side. As a result, the Congress party has almost been routed in the entire country with the BJP making a clean sweep in Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and almost the same situation obtains in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and, further, opening its account in Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Although the euphoria in favour of Narendra Modi and the BJP may not be a positive vote because the Gujarat model of growth and development was not known to the entire country, yet this landslide victory of the BJP has really converted it into a truly national party as it was, up till now, known as a Baniya-Jain party, mostly of upper castes having its tentacles confined to urban areas only, In fact, this time the elections appeared to have moved towards a presidential form from the established parliamentary elections because there were only two leaders against each other in the persons of Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. And it marks the first resounding victory of a non-Congress party since independence. Also, there will be no Leader of Opposition in the coming Parliament and Modi will enjoy absolute power in the government. Again, the youth have certainly now awaken from their slumber and voted en masse for Modi because they were the worst sufferers of the misgovernance and they wanted a change to unfold their bright and secure future. The prevailing poor economic growth and ever rising daily living costs had also added to their woes.

Thus, the much desired change has taken place and Narendra Modi is about to assume power being at the helm of affairs of the nation; the prevailing expectations of the countrymen who were roused by the BJP during the election campaign in the form of promises made to them are highly challenging and must be addressed by him (Modi) and his party because the coffers bequeathed to the new leader are almost empty and the continuing grim scenario in the country requires the overhauling of the entire political, economic and social system so that fresh blood may circulate to create a healthy and vibrant politico-administrative structure which may build an encouraging environment of solidarity and well-being for the entire country with equally dynamic role for India in international and global affairs. How much of these are going to be addressed by Modi as well as his party, only time will tell.

Dr Sudhanshu Tripathi is a Reader, Political Science Department, M.D.P.G. College, Pratapgarh (UP).

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