Round The
States
New Delhi, 25 May
2019
Modi-Shah Gathbandhan
‘NEW INDIA’ ENGULFS OPPOSITION
By Insaf
The BJP juggernaut is
simply unstoppable. It’s ‘Phir ek baar Modi sarkar’ and ‘Ab ki baar 300 paar’ campaign slogans
slaughtered Congress’ Chowkidar chor hai’,
making the Lotus bloom like it never had. Yes, BJP under the Modi-Amit Shah
team has undeniably had a historic victory. The biggest festival of democracy
witnessed one man, Narendra Modi, taking on the 22-party Mahagatbandhan and demolishing it. The voter across the country,
barring southern States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, gave a
resounding endorsement to one, BJP’s Hindutuva,
national security (Balakot strike) and
nationalism, two, Modi's popularity, three differentiated between national and
State politics, four discarded misguided alliances and last but not the least was
at a loss as there was no other alternate! Thus the Modi magic not only swept
through the Hindi heartland rubbishing among others the absurd BSP-SP tie-up in
Uttar Pradesh, which was a cause for worry given the 80 seats, but also made huge
inroads into Odisha, West Bengal, and the North East.
Worse, the BJP’s
spectacular victory has put a big question mark on the Congress leadership of
Rahul Gandhi. His Chowkidar slogan
clearly backfired, couldn’t gain confidence of the voter on his ‘leadership’
and got trapped in the rules of the game as set out by the BJP. Issues such as
unemployment, farmers’ distress, poor state of economy etc didn’t get
highlighted enough. Therefore, what he ended up was a pathetic increase in party’s
tally-- from 44 to just 55 and he needs to thank his allies to have helped put
the UPA at above 100 seats. Indeed, the saffron brigade hit him back hard and
real hard. The Grand old party drew a big zero in 19 States and Union
Territories, including Rajasthan, Harayana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The
acrimonious campaign and bitter tu-tu-mein-mein
at the end made the public cringe and send a message across board of ‘not
done’. In fact, for Rahul the defeat cannot be but humiliating as he lost his
family stronghold seat of Amethi, where sister Priyanka factor failed
miserably. Worse, the States which the Congress gained in December
last—Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka my witness a turmoil. With the BJP
winning majority of the Lok Sabha seats, the non-BJP Chief Ministers are in a
tizzy over their government’s stability. The million dollar question is whether
Modi, the Prime Minister, will have a conciliatory approach, as assured in his
victory acceptance speech to the nation, or will he go for a further mauling
spree?
* * * *
West
Bengal Stormed
Orange rashogullas (sweets) being distributed
in West Bengal by BJP cadres must leave a ghastly bitter taste among ruling TMC
leadership. Indeed, the saffron flutter in Mamata’s bastion is a phenomenal victory
for BJP President Amit Shah. Clearly, Didi’s hold is crumbling as not only did
the BJP withstand the unprecedented violence and bullying, but sent a firm message
that Hindutava vote can’t be ignored. Of the 42 seats BJP won a huge chunk of
18, cutting down TMC’s tally to just 22. An analysis suggests one, the restrictions
on Durga Puja or chanting of Jai Sri Ram or the perennial wooing of the
minority vote bank by the TMC was a factor with the aam janata and two that the Left vote seems to have gone the BJP
way (not the Congress). Mamata, who has her next big challenge in 2021 with
Assembly polls, will need not just to analyse but introspect how she can avoid
the next big hit. Likewise, the Communists, who have been wiped out completely for
the first time, will need to prepare a survival plan.
* * * *
Andhra’s
Young CM
It was now or never, for
YS Jaganmohan Reddy. He not only bounced back but did so with a loud thump, getting
his YRSCP to win 153 of the 175 Assembly seats across all 13 districts and grabbing
all but three of the 25 Lok Sabha seats. The 46-year-old’s walkathon of over
3648 km now takes him to the Chief Minister’s chair, unseating TDP’s
Chandrababu Naidu, who has resigned since. Indeed, it’s a big opportunity not
only to revive his father, YS Rajashekhar Reddy’s era, but also ensure there is
no looking back from now on. Naidu had to bite the dust with just 21 seats in
Assembly, plus neither Congress, which had deserted Jagan, nor BJP could open
an account. While Naidu could blame it on anti-incumbency, the big game changer
is his failure to get Special Status for the State despite his being with the
NDA long enough. His walking out of it was too little, too late. Now Jagan has
to strategise how he achieves his goal. His answer is he would try to prevail
on PM Modi. Whether Delhi will oblige and if so by when only time will tell.
Odisha
* * * *
TN
Out of Shadows
The other southern
State which saw the ‘son’ rising was Tamil Nadu. It sees a glimmer of M K
Stalin finally growing out of the shadow of his father M Karunanidhi. No doubt
it will take Thalapathi, (commander)
time to step into his shoes, but this victory for the party, after 2011, gives
hope, as it has made rival AIADMK bite the dust, by winning 34 of the 38 seats with
its Congress and Communist allies. What is critical is that this State too kept
out the saffron surge. In fact AIADMK’s tie-up with the BJP at the Centre was a
major factor for DMK’s spectacular win, given the Dravidian politics. While
this is the first major victory Stalin has tasted, he may just be eyeing more. But
he will need to wait for the Chief Minister’s post as even though the State had
polling for 22 of the 234 seats too, Stalin couldn’t upset the apple cart.
Palaniswami-led AIADMK government is safe, at least for the time being.
* * * *
Wait
For Delhi Home
Newly-elected MPs now
need to find their right place in the heart of the Capital—a new home. The Lok
Sabha secretariat is on the job of preparing accommodation, but sans past luxuries.
The new members will no longer be put up in Five-star hotels as stop-gap
arrangement. Instead, they better book themselves in their respective State
guest houses or the spruced up Western Court. The directive is to cut costs for
Urban Development Ministry’s Estate Dept, which in 2014 had to host 315 new MPs
(highest since 1980) for a period ranging 15 days to 3 months. However, this time
round the number of new entrants would be far less, and the challenge would be
to get old timers to vacate their houses. A tough task, indeed! --- INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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