Following up on her earlier post, Schroedinger’s Cat:
The results of the 17th Loksabha elections are out. The Bharatiya Janaty Party (BJP) has won a comfortable majority on it own steam, 303 of a total of 545 seats. While the Indian National Congress(INC or just the Congress) ‘s haul was 52 seats. It was a clean sweep for the ruling party in the Hindi heartland and western India. Rahul Gandhi who led the INC in this election lost his seat in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh (UP). A seat he had held since 2004. Besides Rahul three other members of the Gandhi family have represented the Amethi consituency since 1980.
UP is the Hindi heart of India. Being the most populous state its sends the greatest number of representatives among all states to the Loksabha. This year the INC has won only one seat in Uttar Pradesh (UP) of a total of 80 and the BJP has won 62. That’s the entire story of these elections in a nutshell. Since what happens in UP determines political fortunes in India.
Rahul Gandhi made mistakes at both the tactical and at the strategic level. Instead of forming pre-poll coalitions to take on the ruling the party they fielded their own candidates in more than 400 constituencies. Most importantly, Rahul Gandhi ceded the ideological space to BJP by letting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi define the terms of the battle, whether it be national security or the place of minorities in the polity. Instead of taking the fight to the BJP, Congress ran away from the fight. This included maintaining a studied silence about the entire Pulwama incident, when it happened, not fielding enough Muslim candidates for the fear of being labeled pro-Muslim and even shying away from visiting Muslim majority areas to ask for their vote. Electorates rarely reward cowardice or incompetence.
So how did the party that led the independence struggle against the British rule and oversaw the establishment of the modern Indian state, its constitution and its institutions come to this sorry pass?…
(To be continued)
ETA: The new government wants to stress learning Hindi, so before I go, check out this video which celebrates the linguistic diversity of India, another obstacle to the ultimate goal of the Hindu Rashtra where everyone speaks Hindi and is Hindu. I am so old that I remember when Unity in Diversity was India’s creed.ETA2: They have walked it back, after a huge outcry from the southern states. I think they were just testing the waters. They will float this proposal again.
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(If you find this interesting, be sure to check out SC’s blog!)
Steve in the ATL
On a related note, the theater nearest my house is showing 13 movies, 4 of which are Indian.
Also, none of the 4 is “the world’s fastest Indian”
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Motorcycle movies?
sgrAstar
Esteemed Madame Cat- I am really enjoying your take on indian politics. Thank you for casting light on yet another troubling locus for the rise of rightwing, nationalist movements.
Another Scott
Thanks for this, SC.
Putting on my conspiracy hat, is it too crazy to think that too many in Congress are fat and happy with the current situation, or have been somehow paid off by the BJP? Why was Congress so incompetent?
China and Russia would probably be quite happy with India’s development being slowed down another decade or two. But are there domestic forces that would enjoy that as well?
Looking forward to part III.
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
Thank you, Alive-and-Dead Kitty! Always appreciate your insights on Indian culture and politics.
And Anne Laurie, I really like the guest posts from our experts on foreign politics. SC on Indian movies and food and elections, Tony Jay on Brexit and the U.K.’s role in the recent EU elections and Teresa May’s likely fortunes. We have a number of interesting and informed Aussies who comment on politics in Oz, and of course our invaluable Amir Khalid who is so knowledgeable about Asia-Pacific/Oceania doings. We are really very fortunate to have such a wealth of expertise on so many subjects right here amongst us.
Jay
@Another Scott:
Even at times of extreme national danger, in FPTP Parliamentary systems, Political Parties almost never run co-elition campaigns.
It requires too much pre-election compromise, shifting your fundfaising, spending and staff to supporting another Parties better placed Cantidate, and causes you to lose support from all your people who thinks that “it’s my turn, now”.
plato
The one ‘blue’ state where ‘modi magic’ will never do jacksquat and his party won zilch seats in 2019.
schrodingers_cat
@Another Scott: @sgrAstar: Thanks so much. If there is any aspect you would like me to focus on do let me know.
As to the question of why Congress was so incompetent, its a long story. Their woes are largely self inflicted. The decline started in the 1970s and now it is complete.
schrodingers_cat
@plato: I don’t have your confidence. BJP has grown from 2 seats to this majority since 1984. Their poisonous ideology flatters Hindus and they have made inroads into states where no one had heard of them just ten years ago. It would be a mistake to underestimate them.
plato
@schrodingers_cat: I live here. It never gonna happen.
schrodingers_cat
@plato: Well then, that’s great news. Did you change your nym. I remember that there used to be a commenter from Chennai.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@schrodingers_cat: Thank you for this post, and @plato: thanks for the view from the ground, as it were.
Warren Senders
The first singer in the video is the late Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century — and he’s not even trying to get the lipsynch correct. Whew.
I was living in Maharashtra when the BJP & Shiv Sena started to assert power. What a disastrous group of people.