Well, well, well…who fooled whom about the scores in this election? All that talk about ?feel good? and ?India Shining? seems to have fallen by the wayside. Elaborate rath yatras appear to have become a gimmick of the past. The hype around the success of the NDA has given way to despondency and the over-confident ruling alliance seems to be on the back foot. Only the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister are out there adjusting their rhetoric to the reality that faces them. The rest are hardly seen or heard. The pollsters will not admit it but their body language shows great surprise as the exit poll results come in. Who knows, their surprise may well grow as we move towards May 13, 2004.
Whether they admit it or not, pollsters and the English press believed that Chandrababu Naidu would scrape through the finishing line. There were some of us who did not buy that, even for a moment. We went by what those who had travelled through the state were reporting ? that he would be routed if the opposition got together. Even today, the urban pollster is hesitantly accepting the defeat of the Telugu Desam Party, still hoping against hope that it will not be as devastating as it is poised to be. Maybe Mr Naidu can be rehabilitated as India?s representative to the World Bank or IMF!
The callous attitude towards the farmer, the under-privileged, the artisans and weavers, has all come home to roost. True leadership is about addressing the whole canvas, not just the easy end of it. Development agendas run parallel ? it can not be one or the other, it has to be both, because the other determines the vote. The final count in Andhra will be better than what is being made out today!
Rural and urban electorates are no longer gullible. They see the hypocrisy, they comprehend the double talk, they understand the wooing, they live their reality. Leaders and politicians are dispensable. So is a corrupt administration. That is why we are seeing anarchy. The press has been caught on the wrong foot as well. Plugging a line instead of exposing the true picture. Their credibility is at stake. Interventionist journalism, journos campaigning for political friends and suchlike has reduced the stature and dignity of the fourth estate. Their role in this democracy stands diluted.
The Congress Party on the other hand ? despite its broken-down machinery, its neglected grassroots operation, its back-stabbing inmates ? has gained, not lost. The signal seems clear: The country is looking for a strong alternative, an alternative that is not carrying the baggage of the past, one that must look to the future. The old guard must go, the party must cleanse itself, it must look to the new generation leaders with fresh ideas, with an energy to change the prevailing idiom of Indian politics.
Experience can often be detrimental to radical change, it does not recognise the metamorphosis taking place, it is comfortable with what it knows and therefore knows no better. The experienced have let down this country, have held it back, have exploited the under-privileged, have hoped the status quo will last forever. They are in for a rude shock. This country may well be on the edge of a new phase, one of assertion. To deal with that we need new generation leaders.
The slogan today is, the Congress Party vs Sonia Gandhi. The latter, having spent the last many weeks on the road, talking about the real issues facing this country, has put her party into the race. She has done it single-handedly across India. Her colleagues have either sat in committee or have campaigned for themselves in their constituencies. Those in committee desperately try to undermine each other to gain favour. They have all become inconsequential and need to be replaced by energetic and committed yuva netas ? those who will take the party into the future.
The committee wallahs in Delhi are busy figuring out how to form a ruling coalition. Their appetites for power are growing with every passing hour. If they are serious about ruling in the future, they should stay away from the treasury benches. With this revival, they should ruthlessly cleanse, regroup, restructure, build the ground level base, empower cadres and wait for the next round. That alone will consolidate the party that has gained by default.
However, those in Delhi will now try to ride on the revival. The have no business to because it was Sonia Gandhi, not them, who put the Congress back into play. Only one group was in sync and added to the gains ? the ads in the vernacular press and the jingles on television were well-conceived and made some impact. The negatives about dynasty and the foreigner issue seem to have been rejected by the electorate.