Unpredictable Indian Voters

In 65 years of Indian democracy, Indians have exercised their adult franchise many a times yet their mood and sense to select a electoral representative for Lok Sabha and Assembly always seems to be far from reality and logical sense. They always seem to be fantasizing in the dream world to elect a macho person who would find the solution of their problem magically. They treat their representative to be a super hero as they have seen in the bollywood movies. Not surprisingly the result of the 2014 Lok sabha election has surpassed all poll predictions and given a clear mandate to the BJP and Mr. Narendra Modi.

There are few things which has been special in this elections are the large turn-out of voters to exercise their voting rights for electing the candidates, secondly the number of young voters formed the large chunk of electoral battle. The third and the major factor which led the NDA achieve this major hall mark of seats were the anger of the people because of the price rise, inflation, corruption, scams and un-responsive attitude of incumbent government towards the common people.

Apart from this, the mega marketing style of Mr. Narendra Modi which supposedly costed  5000 crores,  also created a great euphoria among the large section of the society that culminated into votes. Although, critiques does not endorsed all the poll promises of Mr. Modi or the BJP, it was the marketing style which influenced the individual voters to believe the promises to be really becoming true if Mr. Modi comes to power. When the election campaign of Mr. Modi started it had a lot to say about the development model of Gujarat and rescuing country from misdeeds of congress’s government but at the end of the campaign there were instances of wooing caste and religion too for the votes.

Now that the massive victory of BJP is out in the middle, it is very difficult to understand the mindset of the Indian voters. The poll pundits and analysts speculations have time and gain gone wrong in the recent past except  during Lok Sabha election of 1977, which was speculated to be clearly against the then Indira Gandhi Government. This time too there was a clear wave against congress yet the clear majority of BJP was not clearly written on the wall. As a result, all that has happened is quite surprising.

At a time when BJP is happy about this result and forming government in the center, its time for the opposition to understand as to how they could gear-up against the ruling party on the road ahead. Because in the coming assembly elections in few states the winning factor of BJP would definitely edge them over the opposition.  The real challenge is to be a strong opposition now to the ruling BJP in the center and be a strong contender of the assembly election in the states. Now, how the opposition look at their poll debacle in this concluded Lok Sabha election and introspect various mistakes they committed, will lead them to use their wisdom to look ahead fighting assembly elections.  

Assembly elections are largely fought on the basis of the local issues yet the policies of the center does play a greater role. Whether the coming assembly elections results would also be surprising or will it be on the line of BJP way is to be seen again. But the Indian voters would remain unpredictable for sure. 

Why will Mukesh Ambani donate to AAP?

This is very hot news for me to know Mukesh Amani has donated x amount of money through bank transfer to AAP. However, Yogendra Yadav has denied the reports.

How Economic times did come to know that Mukesh Ambani has donated money to AAP?  What is the basis of this report?

Has Mukesh Ambani donated money to Economic Times to carry this news? I have lot of questions because I see a lot of relationship building around this to change public perception about AAP through continuous publishing slandering news reports and comments by the journalists of paid media houses. I see a lot politics happening outside political parties for the business gains. Media houses have good time making money through politicians and they would go to any extent to assassinate the characters of politicians and political parties.

Today, the media houses look to me no less than the political parties helping each other for their gains.  However, the intent of making donation to AAP by Mukesh Ambani can be easily related to the CongBJP conspiracy to tarnish the image of AAP and convert them to be the band wagon of corrupt parties. They can boldly say in public, if Ambani donates money to us so as he does to AAP.  They will turn this as normal phenomena and drive the perception as this happen in politics during election and this is not a corruption.

Similarly, favouring Ambani after election in making loot of public money would turn out to be normal politics as Moily has done. Cong and BJP drive this philosophy. We are tainted so we will make you tainted. And to do this they will play any sort of dirty games. Some of them we see in open, some of them are yet to come in light. They are hell bent to prove, this is the way politics is run and this how it will run. No wonder they will go to any extent to malign image of AAP in public.

Mukesh Ambani could donate AAP on behest of CongBJP. But AAP will not accept it. AAP’s campaign will be run by Aam Adami and they do not need to spend so much money just to spread simple words of wisdom. AAP’s donation will come from people’s hard earned money and will be used for genuine cause.

AAP is not running on money but people’s aspiration for change and to make india corruption free. I am sure all forces will also help to achieve the dream.

Why BJP and Congress are Worried with AAP?

The pathetic performance for last 10 years in power of Cong led government is quite obvious to the people and to the congressmen themselves. Its all known what scams happened in Congress regime and writing here again will be waste of time of the readers and simply repeating the same. Although Congress could have lost power in last Lok Sabha election itself but they came in power again due to the leadership problem and complacency of BJP. BJP was sure to win that election under the leadership Mr. L.K. Advani but couldn’t manage their campaign and they were divided lot also on the several other issues.

Five years later, now once again BJP sees very strong anti-incumbency factor and eyes a strong chance to come to the power. This time they did not want any nonsense. Therefore, they got their homework done very calculative. They got a new president of the party who is known to be great strategist. They got a popular face for the prime-ministerial candidate as Narendra Modi. Their marketing team did a good job initiating campaign in social media making Modi a very acceptable face and savior of new India. All the other leaders of BJP also supported this move because they had tasted the debacle in last election. They do not want to repeat it again. After all, they cannot be away from power too long. The result was, they won 4 states election out of 5 and were largest party in Delhi Assembly.

However, the emergence of a new party, the Aam Adami Party (AAP) did not go unnoticed by them. Arvind Kejariwal, the Anna movement leader with AAP surfaced in late 2012 and started making its presence felt in 2013. Arvind Kejariwal and AAP continued their anti-corruption agitation against corrupt leaders and parties. It was 2013 that Arvind Kejariwal suddenly started stealing media attention and being heard and talked largely in media and outside the political circle. The murmur of he being in politics did not go well with Congress or BJP either. If you look at the earlier videos of different debates and talk shows hosted on youtube, it clearly shows the political hatred of BJP and Cong towards him. However, the people wanted to hear him more and ask his vision and dreams to eliminate corruption. His conviction to bring changes slowly earned him laurels in the hearts of people.

By the end of 2013, AAP had presence felt in Delhi and they decided to go into the election in Delhi Assembly. Rest is history now.  After 48 days of Delhi government experiment AAP looks to be well motivated and politically little experienced party which can overpower the gimmicks of Cong and BJP and give them reply which can make them smell dust. They have emerged champion and have outsmarted both BJP and Cong in Delhi Assembly. The decision and the work they carried out during 48 days of government will loudly challenge any of the current and previous state government for a logical comparison. Though not prepared they thoroughly crafted their move and burnt night lamp oil to achieve these in spite of daily chorus of Cong and BJP comments in media.

Hysterically BJP and Cong leaders made lots of joke and questioned their experience in politics. Yet, they were the worried lot of AAP bringing JanLokpal bill in Assembly challenging the authority of central govt. and autonomy of Delhi state.  Lets not forget we did not know anything about Delhi state and center affairs and Delhi police’s jurisdiction at large. The double standard of politics in center and state of Delhi was well know by BJP and Cong. General public started to know these details only when AAP brought these into the day light. Both these parties worried by the emergence of AAP as new political option to the people of the nation, wanted it to be remained restricted to Delhi and rule in Delhi until Lok Sabha election without fulfilling any major promises of their manifesto. But AAP slowly implemented almost all their major agenda except Janlokpal. To expose BJP and Cong combine inclination to help Reliance,  AAP in Delhi  filed an FIR against Mukesh Ambani.

With Mukesh Ambani coming in legal battle would certainly spell many names in power and opposition that led the BJP and Cong seek AAP to resign and brought it down. Now, Anti-AAP campaign and paid media influence against them is making BJP and Cong even more exposed and doubting their own credentials. Their power monger behaviours are truly on display in public. Whereas, no lust for power of AAP is openly visible.  

Moreover, people are interestingly watching everyday events.  In the frustration to makeover the image what they have lost in Delhi they are committing mistakes after mistakes.  They questioned AAP government even for sitting and getting up, now ignoring the bigger questions. AAP is again smart, putting lots of other questions to them which matters directly for people of the country. Among them, corruption, loot, dynasty rule and communalism are the bigger questions. Cong and BJP are both caught red handed.

On the other hand, AAP which was busy battling Delhi government everyday is now free to make their vision and policy clear in different forum for national agenda. In a limited appearance AAP leaders have proved they have great and better vision and action plan of clean and corruption free India than the Havard educated political stalwarts in Cong and BJP.

The best thing about AAP is the humility of its leaders and volunteers and commitment to learn and give back to the society. Their consideration of themselves being the part of this society itself emotionally attach people so much that they feel them very much of their own.  AAP and its Leaders know what they want to do. BJP and Cong just want to win the election – this is the major difference between AAP and them. And this is also the great reason to worry for BJP and Cong.

Can lotus survive the storm?

Jaswant Singh was expelled from BJP on the charge of praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his recently published book. Many of us, who keep tab of media reports and political controversy, would hardly forget that the present opposition leader in parliament and the BJP stalwart Shri Lal Kirihsna Advani too, had praised Jinnah in Pakistan in a political meeting not even long ago. The dust of that controversy has not settled fully and yet another controversy cropped up about Jinnah called the moderate leader. Jinnah was seen by many during freedom struggle as the hardliner and was hell bent on dividing India for Pakistan. Well, we all have read history in India and almost all the books of history have called Jinnah the man behind creating a separate nation out of undivided India. Few history books do talk about the reason behind Jinnah’s intention for a separate nation, but these books are mostly become the reference materials for historical researches. In general, people in India, hardly has any interest in the life and times of a leader who went away taking a part of the country during the independence.

Fact remains obvious as India is largely divided on the basis of caste, region, and religion. Politicians knowing these weaknesses have utilized the inherent sentiment of the people and made these factors sensitive for their vote bank politics. After independence, the ruling party congress chose to be a secular force, while the hindu hardliner, right wing political force remain non-secular in principal to safe guard the interest of majority population of the country and envisioned India to make a hindu nation. Considering the fact that the breakaway Pakistan became an Islamic democratic country after partition, why shouldn’t India with its majority hindu population be a hindu country.

Time and again the right wing hindu organization like Hindu Maha Sabha, Viswa Hindu Parishad, the RSS, and the Bajrang Dal have always showed allegiance to the political force, which remained loyal to the vision of India being a hindu nation. During independence, Jan Sangh became the political opponent of secular force and kept on improving its number of Member of Parliament in subsequent general elections. For reference, in 1977, when Jan Sangh merged with Janata Party, it had 101 MP in Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament.

The experiment of Janata government, its debacle and breaking away is now a folk lore in the Indian political history. Everyone knows, to go along with Janata Party experiment was the will and wish of Shri Atal Bihari Bajpayee and everyone would certainly vouch that it was timely and was in the interest of the nation during the emergency. There were leaders in the party who did not buy the philosophy of Bajpayee, coaxed him and moved away. One among them was Balraj Madhoke who blamed Bajpyee alone for the loss of Party’s face value after Janata Party’s failure. Truly the sacrifice of Jan Sangh went futile and it suffered major setback. From Break away Janata Party again emerged a party with the same ideology but a different name called Bhartiya Janata Party, in short the BJP.

Lal Krihsna Advani became the architect of BJP and people would never forget how he brought back the lost pride of the party by simulating the sense of hindutava and benefiting his party forming even the government with support of other parties. Though, he remained the powerful person in his own party, he was never an acceptable face with alliance partner. This is when Atal Bihari Bajpayee took the center stage and subsequently three BJP led government was run under his leadership. BJP fought all the election under his leadership and own because of his charm and charismatic character. Bajpayee had announced his intension to step down in the general election of 1994. In the same election, when it looked that BJP led government once again is going to be in power, the internal tussle revealed the weaknesses of the party which showed allegiance to Advani but was not sure of his leadership. Resultantly, it suffered a loss.

Advani, after 1994 election, remained the opposition leader in the parliament and senior leader in the party and with this capacity he had praised Jinnah in Pakistan. It was not taken in the good light in the party during that time, however, everyone in the party reconciled and he was pardoned. But for the same reason, another senior leader is crucified and expelled from the party. I don’t know how the political analyst view this situation, but one thing is very clear, even in organization like BJP, some are equal and some are more equal. Why is this dual policy and different yardsticks? Is there a fear in BJP, no Advani, and no BJP? Then why blame Nehru family alone?

It looks very ideal that you support your senior leader to show solidarity of the party but somewhere down the line, two senior leaders of a hindu right wing party coming to a conclusion to rake the chapter of history after 62 years of India’s independence in support of Jinnah raises lots of questions. First and foremost, is BJP no more a party which believes in its non-secular nature and trying to shift its stand from a hindu hardliner face to a more widely acceptable face by all the community. But being Advani and the holy alliance of RSS, Bajrang Dal and others in whelms of BJP affairs, it can never be possible. Then what made Advani praise Jinnah in Pakistan? Perhaps by praising Jinnah, he wanted to point finger on Congress, Gandhi and Nehru for deceiving Jinnah on several occasion which made him seek a separate nation. But before it could ring the bell in the congress party, his own people messed up.

Perhaps Advani could not manage sharing the underlying facts with the party leaders before he made that into public speech. Or is it that after debacles of 1994 general election, he realized that Bajpayee’s moderate approach only will make the way for the party to come again in power. And hence, the beginning of praise towards Jinnah was the soft stand towards muslim community. If so, Jaswant was doing another good to the party, why to snub him.

The revelation made by Jaswant Singh after expulsion from the party even raises more serious questions about the intent of Advani, citing the instances when Bajpayee wanted to question Narender Modi about Godhra riots. Advani kept everything under the carpet and pacified Bajpayee. By doing that, surely Advani did not want to buy Bajpayee’s philosophy of secularism. Then, is it simply a face mask to surprise the minority community. Advani lied in case of Kandhahar hijack when Jaswant Singh had gone to bring back the kidnapped civilians. Why did he try to distance himself from the fact?

News report reveals that Jaswant after the loss of party in the 2009 general election wanted a retrospective analysis done. This could be one of the reasons, what Advani wanted to avoid, not to take the blame on him. By doing that, once again he proved that he can not be as brave as Bajpayee who could ask pardon in public if he would do something wrong.

Jaswant Singh’s expulsion also calls wrath because VallavBhai Patel is mentioned in bad light in the book. Gujarat government is banned the circulation and sale of book in the state. What hypocrisy! Vallavbhai Patel always supported Nehru and he had resigned from the post of president of congress for Nehru during independence year of India. It was well evident that even Gandhi had succumbed to the wishes of Nehru to be the first Prime-Minister even at the cost of dividing India. Vallavbhai Patel strongly supported seeing that no one can stop the inevitable. History also speaks the love of Gandhi towards Nehru, which made Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose resign from the post of president of Congress party when Gandhi had once uttered that defeat of Nehru was his own defeat. Reader of history could perceive what kind of treatment even Jinnah would have got from Gandhi. Obviously, the idea of Pakistan would have emerged much before independence and that is a part of the history now.

Although, in private life, Jinnah being Muslim, it is not know that he practice Islam staunchly. Dominiuqe Lapiere and Larry Collins in their book’ Freedom at Midnight’ have thrown some light on his life, which reveals that he was totally a modern personality but was perceived differently in public. May be the political compulsion might have made him do so.

The last question what haunts me loudly is Jaswant Singh’s own soul searching towards the party’s ideologies and its future. Is it a hint that BJP will no more be able get back to the power with continuing Philosophy of Hindutava and it is imperative that bring all caste and religion into its fold to make it a truly national party? Was he trying to set the platform along with Advani to revamp the image of the party?

All this episodes, indicates that Advani was in all likelihood, looking at Jaswant Singh as next inheritor of position in party and above all Jaswant Singh even had blessings of Bajpayee in this regard. But Advani do not seem to be in hurry leaving the party in anyone else’s hand. So, he took the advantage and turned the tide in his favour. But this has created a vacuum in the party, an uncertainty about the leadership, and posed a question about the culture of the party. Above all, it has also created a weak opposition in parliament which is not good for democracy.

The battle in the BJP is on and the murmur of the different camps can be perceived through media though in a limited extent. What unfolds in the coming days and months will reveal the future of BJP. But to be an Indian, I would wish BJP to become a truly secular national party and concentrate on India’s development as electoral issues rather than caste, region, and religion. We have lots of other challenges to deal with such as, poverty, hunger, drought, and sanitation and health. In the twentieth century the aim of the nation is ‘Kaam Kaj’ and not the ‘Ram Raj’. Strong opposition gives an opportunity to the people to have options in the electoral franchise. For the good health of Democracy, I would like BJP to resurrect once gain and come out of the crisis.