The “TsuNAMO” and its aftermath

Randeep Wadehra

Now that Narendra Modi has got the mandate, he had asked India for, the country looks upon him with great expectations to deliver.

Over the next five years, the AAP should focus on developing into a viable alternative to the Indian National Congress at the national level.

The Indian National Congress has no alternative left but to shed its image as a particular family’s fiefdom. The party must reinvent itself as a modern democratic and secular political entity. 

“Amazing” “Stupendous” “Huge” “Historic” and “Fantastic” are some of the adjectives that the TV channels have employed while describing the NDA’s victory today. It is in fact more Modi’s victory than BJP’s or NDA’s. Never before in India’s electoral history had a non-Congress entity won with this kind of majority. Several factors have contributed to this.

First was the crass arrogance and infighting in the UPA 2. Although Sanjay Baru and other authors have provided insider’s accounts of how Manmohan Singh was reduced to helplessness during his second term, they only confirmed what was obvious to even a casual observer of the Indian political scene. The very Manmohan Singh, who, in his first term, had not just taken India on an unprecedented growth trajectory but had also won for her overdue respect as a rising power, looked like a caricature of himself in the second term. His economic policies were stalled, developmental efforts were put on hold, his attempts to make India an economic powerhouse were systematically subverted, and there was general effort to discredit him as a PM of substance. What the myopic saboteurs forgot was that they were actually striking fatal blows to the Indian National Congress as a political party. In fact, when Rahul Gandhi publically humiliated PM Manmohan Singh I had tweeted thus on 28 September morning, “By diminishing PM Manmohan Singh in public, Rahul Gandhi has ensured Modi led BJP's victory in the coming elections.” Now, chicken have reached home to roost.

The Congress infighting and the all out effort to discredit Manmohan Singh resulted in a paralyzed government - a precursor to the self-destruction that is now manifest. Consequently, development suffered, investment in big-ticket projects – industrial and commercial – dried up and employment generation almost came to a halt. Add to that the galloping inflation, the various corruption scandals, the neighboring countries’ increasing belligerence on our borders and India’s nose-diving stock among the comity of nations and the pathetic picture is complete. The situation became ripe for a massive change. Although Narendra Modi had been in the electoral campaign mode for more than three years, it was the AAP that actually fired the first warning shot of the public’s angst and anger against bad governance, rampant corruption and seemingly unstoppable inflation. Its unexpected victory in the Delhi Assembly polls should not have been dismissed as a flash in the pan. But, there was nobody among the Congress politicos who was sane enough to look at the omen. They merrily continued with their ways. Thus, Arrogance, Bone-headedness and Corruption can be described as the ABC of the INC’s ignominy in these general elections.

Since the AAP was inadequately equipped to replicate its Delhi Assembly performance at the national level and since Modi had already sensed the mood of the nation, the BJP went into propaganda overdrive. Modi marshaled his resources and arguments in a telling manner. He was backed by a highly disciplined and committed party cadre, and appeared to have almost inexhaustible resources at his command. His propaganda machinery’s reach was wide. The social media was inundated with pro-Modi posts, tweets etc. Then there were those 3D holograms, and the more than 450 rallies all over the country that strengthened his grip on the youthful aspiring first time voters. He tapped into the rising frustration of the middle classes, studiedly eschewed all rhetoric that could lead to destabilization and street violence and managed to keep the traditional Hindu support intact while harvesting support in the non-traditional areas like the South, the Northeast and even in formerly unbreachable “secular” bastions in the North – especially in the Hindi belt – and the West including Maharashtra. His was an inspired performance that transcended all traditional caste, community and class based stratification. If he manages to deliver all that he has promised on the developmental and governance front, he will turn India into a citizens’ paradise.

For the AAP, this election should be part of its learning process. They must realize that they have to develop the ability to fill in the centrist or the left-of-centre vacuum. It would be advisable if they leave the leftist shibboleths to others and concentrate on such aspects as developing a sound and responsive party structure; focus on acquiring and maintaining a clean image; give importance to fighting corruption and developing a model of effective, clean governance. They have to have strong ideological underpinnings. Instead of roping in anybody who is not wanted in other political parties, the AAP should have an in-house program for developing political leaders of substance, with a strong sense of ethics. This is for starters. They can evolve thereafter, acquiring other perspectives as they move along.

For the Indian National Congress, this is the right time to get rid of dynastic politics. It should resurrect its old democratic ethos that died with Jawaharlal Nehru. Over a period of time the party was systematically emasculated, regional leaders were neutered and the culture of sycophancy was nurtured. It lost its All India vision and turned into the fiefdom one family. A family that has been pathetically trying to continue its hold by harking back to Jawaharlal Nehru’s charisma and assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. They showed a pathetic tendency to hang on to outdated formulae to garner votes, viz., casteism plus populism with just that hint of communalism wherein the BJP-RSS, especially Modi, was depicted as the ogre out to wipe out all minorities, especially the Muslim community. These tactics have boomeranged spectacularly. In politics, like elsewhere, if you do not evolve with time you end up in history’s dustbin.

Now, the INC must focus on allowing non-Family political leaders to blossom. Let the new generation party be genuinely democratic and liberal. Its agenda should be to serve the national interest not the interests of a single family. 

As for Narendra Modi, he is the first non-Congress leader to get a clear mandate to rule the country for the next five years. It is up to him to make his promise good. We are watching with great expectations.