Watch that apple cart

After Gujarat, it was inevitable that all eyes would rest on Himachal Pradesh. Would the tide unleashed by Narendra Modi in the west bathe the mighty Himalaya in saffron? Would Pramod Mahajan’s famous prediction of a hat-trick for the BJP — Goa, Gujarat, Himachal — become the reality? Would Himachal prove that only the most regressive and volatile issues capture the imagination of Indian voters? So blinded was the BJP by its Gujarat victory, that it had lost completely its powers of observation, its ability to feel the pulse of the state. Its social engineers in their anxiety to land another win, flew in the Gujarat wizard to wave his Moditva wand and assiduously dug up unsavoury stories involving their political opponents. Even the prime minister, known on occasion to rise above sectarian obsessions, was tempted to dip into the poison pond, by harping on issues like the Ayodhya temple and cow slaughter.

But when the time came for the silent majority to reply to all this through their EVMs, their message was clear: they wanted a future, not a regurgitated past. The result should come as a reality check to both the BJP and the Congress — now seriously flirting with the idea of soft Hindutva. Deconstruct this further and two important aspects emerge: One, that the Gujarat results were an aberration wrought by a riot-polarised polity. Two, that other things remaining equal, people perceive good governance as the ultimate value to be garnered from the democratic process. Of course, there was the anti-incumbency factor at work here, but anti-incumbency itself is the fall-out of a political practice that has lost its purpose, one that substitutes an honest administering to people’s needs with gimmicks and grand gestures.

In a state where 95 per cent of the people — not just the men — are literate, it is difficult to hoodwink the voter. If HP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal was delivered this lesson, the Congress — presently swollen with pride over its electoral success — may yet live to learn it. Party leaders would do well, then, to read these results correctly, not as evidence of the great delight voters take in the Congress but of their search for a government that respects them and their concerns. If the party reverts to its old habits of factionalism and apathy, it can be sure that this heady moment of victory will not last. There is a great deal to be done in terms of maximising the advantages the state has of geography — in terms of horticulture, hydel power and tourism — and human talent — in terms of information technology and local industry. So watch the political apple cart. It has been toppled once, it can topple again.