5 State Polls ~ A Wake Up Call

There were huge expectations from political parties and media people regarding the recent poll verdict.The hot topic was 'Rahul Magic' in UP.The congress was expected to give a tough competition to the strong regional parties(BSP and SP) in Uttar Pradesh.Congress spokesmen made too many statements.Mr.Beni Prasad Verma, honorable steel minister of India said "Dalits are better than goons"(meaning its better to ally with BSP than SP). Even when the counting was going on,Mani Shankar Aiyar was arguing that the SP cannot form a govt on its own and it needs the support of congress.But at the end of the day,everyone was proved wrong. And this time the exit poll result about the UP elections was perfect.They predicted a landslide victory for the Samajwadi Party and the SP got a landslide victory too.This clearly shows that there is no 'Rahul' magic.

But this post is not about Rahul's magic or gimmick,as I always believed there will be no Rahul magic in these elections.This post is all about the other national party which is celebrating without any reason.I am seeing lot of facebook/twitter updates from the BJP supporters who seem to be very satisfied about the outcome. BJP president Nitin Gadkari,spokesperson Mr.Ravishankar Prasad look too happy and they find 'anti-congressism' in this verdict.But what about your party Mr.Gadkari?During the counting,the initial trends were highly favorable for the BJP and many thought it would finish second.Even I thought the BJP 'may' finish second but with a question in my mind,'why'. But the people's mandate is clear.They wanted to throw away the arrogant and atrocious Mayawati govt.They didn't find either the BJP or the Congress to be a credible alternative.And they chose the so called 'goondas' again.

The BJP missed out a golden opportunity to make its presence felt.It can very well say there is anti-congressism in India.Yes its there.People are fed up with this scam tainted UPA govt.They dont want them to come back to power at any cost.So naturally the BJP should be the beneficiary and the anti-congress votes should go to BJP. But that's not the case here.Instead of considering BJP as an alternative,the electorate finds it better to vote for the regional parties. This clearly shows the BJP is fading away. If BJP thinks the regional parties will support them and they can form govt at the centre with the support of these parties, then I would say the party is dreaming. It will be a day dream. Day dreams never come true. Remember BJP, there is something called 'secular card' and 'minority appeasement'. Whenever the regional parties face CBI inquiry they will become 'secular' and they will support the so called 'non-communal' congress party. After the congress party gets the necessary support,CBI inquiry will vanish. This is the prevailing culture in India.

The role of an opposition party in a democracy is something incredible.Yes no party is perfect in India. But atleast the opposition parties should be shrewd enough to take advantage of the mistakes of the ruling party. But the BJP,which once inspired the nation,is in a self-destruction mode.Only when the opposition is strong enough to attract the common man,the ruling party will atleast have a small fear of losing the elections.Here we have a central govt which is battling out lot of scams and facing severe anti-incumbency,but still they are confident enough to win the next elections too.The reason for this over-confidence is they are damn sure of the fact that the opposition is not strong enough.

The BJP didn't have enough guts to bring Narendra Modi to campaign in UP.Instead they brought in Uma Bharti from Madhya Pradesh and she was even perceived as the party's chief ministerial candidate.The party gave lot of importance to 'desperate-attention-seekers' like Varun Gandhi,who said the party had 55 CM candidates for UP.But they are not giving much importance to some of the good leaders like Mr.Mukhtar Abbas Naqui.When a scam tainted minister(Kushwaha) was expelled from BSP,the BJP accepted him to join their party calculating his OBC votebank. This is a party which stalled an entire parliament session demanding a JPC =(Joint Parliamentary Committee) probe in the 2G scam.You are fighting corruption in parliament and you are accepting 'scam tainted' Kushwaha to join your party eying his OBC votebank.Sounds really awkward.

The BJP and its supporters were too critical in finding reasons for the defeat of congress.Media and the BJP say congress party's promise to give reservation to Muslims failed to attract the minorities and it instead backfired.Agreed - the minority appeasement politics didn't do any favor for the congress.But on the other hand,what did the BJP promise there?They promised to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya.I don't understand how will they build Ram temple in Ayodhya,when there is a case related to this issue is pending in the Supreme Court.Are people so dumb to believe this?They lost in Ayodhya.

This time the BJP lost heavily in Lucknow too, which was its stronghold since 1991.It lost 4 out of 5 assembly seats in Lucknow.So on the whole,the BJP performed badly in UP.The party should take this as a lesson and it should behave like a responsible opposition.Last time the BJP won 51 seats,but this time it lost 4 and could manage just 47.Instead of laughing at the failure of congress,the BJP should find reasons for its defeat.These national parties should take this as a wake up call and should rectify their mistakes.Instead of trying to play communal card,they should promise development.Anyday the congress or the BJP is far better than BSP or SP.Its disheartening to see these national parties struggling against arrogant regional parties. As long as SP or BSP is in power,UP will never witness any development.

Anyway,there is still some hope for BJP.This time the SAD+BJP alliance was expected to do badly in Punjab.Media carried reports that the Prakash Singh Badal's govt is facing severe anti-incumbency.But the poll verdicts show there was nothing called anti-incumbency in Punjab.Again point to be noted here is,the BJP is just riding on the success of SAD.In Uttarakhand too BJP didn't lose miserably.They could manage 31/70 while the congress got just one more(32).And in Goa,its a strong victory for BJP,winning 26/40. Congress could retain only Manipur,where no other party is really strong enough to compete with Congress. 

From these results,we can interpret that there is 'anti-congressism',as the BJP says.Undoubtedly,people are frustrated with the central government.But the BJP is not in a position to take advantage of this.As I said earlier the party should take this as a wake up call and should start correcting its own mistakes, instead of criticizing the congress party.