Many commentators are quick to say that the Congress victory in three States in the recent elections indicates that the voters were not influenced by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. This may not be fully true.
We know that the tirade against politicians after the Mumbai attacks was mainly an upper class phenomenon. The common on the street shows much more resilience. For they live under one or other type of terror everyday. Thus the average Indian is less panicky about terrorism compared to, say, the Americans. So, he is capable of much more reasoned behaviour. This would have disappointed the terrorists besides the BJP.
The common man does not want India to declare war with Pakistan on the spur of the moment. He would have voted BJP if it was a war that he preferred. For the chances of a BJP going for war are much more than the Congress. He may also be aware that the State governments cannot declare war. They are also not directly responsible for the Central government’s failures.
Many also think that terrorism attacks began to spread from Kashmir to other parts of the country after the demolition of the Babri Masjid and Gujarat massacre. Ordinary man has enough wisdom to understand that bringing BJP to power is not the best way to reduce tensions. If at all the country is to declare war against Pakistan, who else is better than A. K. Antony and Sonia Gandhi to be at the helm of affairs? They would be motivated only by security concerns (and not communal factors).
But, we could still wonder why the common man did not react to the economic crisis and price rise. Well, the crisis is yet to hit the common man. It is the stock market players, realtors, banks and exporters who had been bruised badly. Moreover, farmers and others are now seeing the end of tunnel after the Central government pumped in money to help the farming sector and create rural employment. Those who look beyond their immediate welfare know that the Central Government is not responsible for the crisis.
The lack of voter response to price rise, however, look inexplicable. One reason may be that the real incomes of the people at middle and lower levels have gone up. Consequently, price rise is not a big concern as in the past.
It is notable that the voters have generally gone against regional parties. The Mizo National Front has been swept out. The ordinary Kashmiris has shown with their feet that they are not with the terrorists. (This is an opportunity that the Centre must know miss to settle the Kashmir issue once and for all.)
India is showing some facets of a slowly maturing democracy despite all our problems with the politicians and bureaucrats and increasing inefficiency and corruption in administration. Progress is marred only by lack of choice for the voters.
December 8, 2008 at 6:45 pm |
This is a remarkable result indeed. People called it semi-final and it showed all signs of that. I will say this is a warning to Congress&BJP . This highlights BSP as an emerging national party( which must be short lived because it has no ideological back ground). Crucial point to be noted is BJP retained MP which is infact a swing state (courtesy : US pres. elections) which has over 35 MPs in LS. Congress suffered from mumbai attacks clearly and it could have been a reasonably close fight otherwise. Rajasthan gave just slight majority to congress and Mizoram has little significance in national politics.
But the key state was Delhi which i must say holds the highest importance after UP& Bihar. With UP divided among regional parties there by dampening its own chances in Central elctions and Bihar reportedly feeling better under Nitish Raj it was important for Congress to retain delhi. The state holds very high significance in creating the momentum which indicates things will not be easy for BJP as anticipated. They need to have a lot of “Chintan baithaks” before general elections . Congress must be doing the routine face saving exercises by pushing for some concrete and tangible points in war against terror. Hell lot of things depend on P Chidambaram. But if indications are to be believed , they will go for an allout .
To be frank i was always happy with economic policies of government. So i would be hurt if Manmohan loses elections based on economic grounds. But here both BJP and UPA are pressing for similar economic policies which is a good sign for me.
December 8, 2008 at 9:49 pm |
1. BJP’s overconfidence has done them in at the Delhi elections.
2. The commoner is constantly under terror – from goondas of various kinds, including newgen bank debt collectors as far as the middleclasses are concerned.
3. AK Anthony is not ‘communal’; but Sonia is, in an ill-educated way. Please look at all the appointments that she has made, after 1984. ‘Communalism’ would increase if Sonia comes back; because the majority community would feel very bad. The minority community fanatics would see to it.
4. Nothing will change evonomically, whether it is BJP or Sonia. Things are decided elsewhere, outside the country.
5. We ought to thank the Cable TV for any democracy-maturity that we have begun to show.
December 8, 2008 at 9:54 pm |
6. It hurts me as an Indian, to have Sonia who even now holds double-citizenship, to be my Empress.
December 9, 2008 at 12:17 am |
Well It requires BJP to think a lot regarding Delhi. Delhi is a true reprentation of India and highly educated electorate .So their voice matters. BJP’s failure will be clear in just 2-3 weeks.
3,4,5,6 are highly controversial matters. I do not think we need to think anything in terms of religion . I may have good christian neighbours and few bad hindu neighbours(assume i am a hindu). So the ‘Hindu’ tag is meaningless here. Some of sonias appointments are deplorable most notably that of Pratibha Patil( who is a hindu). I hate the votebank politics being played by Congress and BJP but i am not against individual leaders who have proven backgrounds like AK Antony and Manmohan Singh.
Being a hindu i have always tried to understand what it preaches and the values it represents. The 5000 year old story of this magnifiscent religion(which is history of India infact) is reliant on pillars of accepatnce and brotherhood. People have mingled with natives fostering a truly epic culture. Questioning some one just because he is born outside is not according to our ethos. Its his willingness to accept the land and its culture matters. You have Indian mujahideens going against india and you have sanghparivar activists who killed thousands in Gujarat and Orissa. Do you think they are better than Sonia just because they are born in India?
People tend to get emotional when you hear a forigner is going to rule the country. This is far far behind the ‘Single world’ which even our forefathers dreamt of. People need to think and act .
.Reagrding the point about 84 .. Still she made Manmohan – a sikh- prime minster of our nation.
Its a disgrace if we consider Sonia unsuited for most prestigious office of the country just because of the place of birth. She is more Indian than Sushama swaraj and her party colleagues.
She may not be as good as Indira or anyone but her deeds reflect some of the core values which are missing in social space. She renounced Prime ministership when it was actually offered to her(Rem this was the single most important election issue which BJP projected in 2003-04), she forgave nalini who killed her husband, She even quit offices when she ould have hanged on. I was mesmerised by her tactical politics where she turned every setback to her advantage. This is far far better than petty communal politics of BJP or mudslinging of CPM for me.
Common man was always harassed but why do we blame just politicians? why not bureaucracy?
I would thank all the media – print,electronic and paper – for the maturity we have shown. But still we have miles to go. I wonder when we’ll have a president like Barack Hossein Obama !
December 22, 2008 at 6:32 am |
Let us wait till the financial allegations [from the 100 crores given by the Rao government in 1991, the various Foundations, to the many Italy-slanted international contracts] start raising their heads during the next five years.
Renounced? Another Mahatma? Remember when BJP had lost the number game the first time. Her entire family had been air-lifted to Delhi to witness her swearing in, before KR Narayanan put a spanner in the works by demanding affidavits from MPs who would support her.
As for appointments, even our Hybi Eden is NSUI President because he is a Christian and a Catholic. AK Anthony is there because he would not demand his ‘cut’; and would meekly let that portion also go to Italy via Switzerland. [Not that they are both not guys about whom we should be otherwise proud!]
Did anyone actually check how much we have spent on arms after AK Anthony came in? I am told that the quantum is the highest since Independence; and the highest in the world for this period.
December 22, 2008 at 4:13 pm |
Sonia Gandhi’s renouncement of prime ministership was basically a tactical decision. If she had accepted the post, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for her to rule. Her decision took the winds out of Sushama Swaraj’s sail.
Antony was brought in as the Defense Minister when it had become problematic for the armed forces to acquire quality equipment because of corruption. We still do not have enough facts to undertake a full evaluation of the results.
December 22, 2008 at 8:52 pm |
Well i can not view everything from a cynical point of view which is absurd when it is not supported by Facts. I am not saying renouncing PMship was a ploy or indeed true, but it needs some courage ( Rem – Vajpayee couldn’t resist the temptation to rule india for 13 days ). But it did represnt a few values which were missing or atleast projected such a thing to public sphere. Even as a polictal ploy it was a tactical master stroke which is remarkable i would say. I am sure Sonia could have become the PM if she really wanted to. There’s no provision in our constitution where president can seek individual affidavits(this is limited to written letter of support from respective legislative parties) from each MP . I think this is based on some speculations rather than documented proof.
How many ministers were Hindus in BJP ministry ? To what religion Pranab Mukherjee belong to ? What about P Chidambaram? Remember when george Fernandes held the defence portfolio why did people kept mum?to which religion does he belong to ? For me a god fearing Hindu idiot is as dangerous as a muslim terrorist. I do judge persons based on their performance and not by cast or colour or creed or the religion. There are very few clean defense ministers but unsurprisingly Antony is one.
When you complain about Hybi then why are you keeping mum on Ashok Tanvar(think i got it correct ). How many PCC chiefs are there from minority ? When a very small portion of minority gets into power you feel irritated and insecure? We had Advani handling the home ministry when the biggest intelligence failure(“actionable intelligence” and not rumours) in Kargil which led to loss of 500+ indian soldiers. We had a hindu , narendra modi , ruling a state when thousands got massacred in gujarat. We had the same CM crushing down many temples in Gujarat. My friend i would say religion has nothing to do with administrative competency.
I am not denying politics has religious interests and vice versa but baseless allegations does not take you anywhere.