Being Shinning to Being Sensible

Finally the verdict is out, Indian voters throw out 80% of all incumbent governments, especially in bad economic times. The global recession has hit India hard - industrial production slumped into negative growth, and exports were down 33% last month. Rural consumer prices are up almost 10%.

 

Given the above circumstances winning by the margin it did Congress probably would have surprised even a few of their own.  While the experts predicted a hung parliament with Mayawati having a king making role, the party held its cool. If we do go back the past 5 years they have remained in power one could see that the seeds of victory were sown long before.

 

One of the main reasons would be the rural prosperity which is basically 70% of our total population. BJP which made Industrial captains, trade unions and information technology may have hogged newspaper headlines, but these are barely visible to the rural millions.

 

Luck matters. The monsoons have been good for five years, helping agriculture average 4.5% growth, the fastest ever. This growth has been spread widely, and not limited to a few areas, as in the early Green Revolution. But I guess if Dhoni can win matches out of sheer luck Congress had its fair share this time around.

 

"A leader never defeats others.....He always wins or tries to win...." BJP's main campaign was to highlight the drawbacks of Congress. And this was visible in all of their campaigns, be it media, internet, public speeches, be it anywhere. Now that is the main drawback of a leader. One should always highlight his own strengths and support it with evidence. Had BJP kept quite when India faced the challenges and rather tried to bring the country to better shape, 2009 election outcome could have been different.

 

From Shining India to Sensible India, is one way of looking at these results. Clearly, the voter was in no mood to opt for either the Right or the Left. It was a clear mandate for continuity, for better or worse. Religion and caste came second and third, when everyone expected both to be the biggest issues. In a way they were - India voted against their exploitation by political parties who were trying their luck by playing those cards. The BJP got nuked! 

 

The “Experts” commented that Congress was an “Ulta Pulta Party” lead by a “Kamzor” PM. Kamzor or not “Singh is still the KING” moreover as TOI says he got a 21 – Ton Salute from the sensex too.

 

But among all the real surprise was the the way the LEFT got LEFT OUT. They were on the path to get hammered some time but no one saw it coming this time around. It hoped to be kingmaker in New Delhi, but instead now faces defeat in the next state Assembly. The Left Front needs to finally stop fighting the Cold War and wake up to the realities of the 21st century. The only sad part of this whole episode is though she turned out to be a true “Left Killer” , Mamta herself is quite a pain. Hopefully the elections have strained her out, if not well then BEWARE !!!

 

So why did I write this article ?? Not that I am a congress supporter. I did not vote for them, for that matter I was shameless enough not to go out and vote even after all the efforts put in by Jagore and other agencies’. I watched TV and slept for most part of the day. But I still write the article for the millions who did vote, whose vote showed that India did not want Shine what it wanted was Sensibility.

 

So for a “Kamzor” PM and his “Sensible Supporters” a lazy but proud countryman says “JAI HO”