Opinion Congress’ flop show

In its lead editorial,RSS journal Organiser contends that the Sonia Gandhi parivar,more specifically Rahul Gandhi,“met with a shattering rebuke from the voter” and says that the party’s traditional hold on voters in Amethi and Rae Bareli is under siege.

“Rahul had a similar experience earlier in Bihar,Kerala and Tamil Nadu. He is a voter-repellent and not a darling either of the youth or the masses. The UP situation for the Congress… looks akin to the party’s rejection by the voter post-Emergency in 1977…Then it was a sudden explosion of mass anger,now it is a cool,calculated rejection of the dynasty politics in world’s largest democracy.” Claiming that the Congress decline from Uttarakhand to Goa is total,it says that the “Rahul-Priyanka flop show has put a question mark on the future of the Congress first family”.

The Panchjanya is also critical of the Gandhi dynasty and the efforts by Rahul Gandhi to revive the Congress in UP. “Among leaders from all parties,Rahul Gandhi held the maximum rallies (212) and over a dozen road shows,but the poll results not only smashed his ‘star’ image but pushed the Congress into deep disappointment”,it says.

Good governance wins

The party’s victories in Punjab and Goa and its performance in Uttarakhand — especially the clean images of the Uttarakhand and Goa chief ministers — have been lauded by both the Organiser and the Panchjanya. “The BJP snatched power (in Goa) in a resounding mandate. The Congress had converted it into a laboratory of crime,cronyism,corruption,sleaze and communalism. Power was handed over to mafia war lords loyal only to the God Mother…Voters rejected the idea and the numbers are reduced to a single digit. The biggest ever setback in Congress history…” says the Organiser.

The Organiser has claimed that the Akali-BJP combine came back to power in Punjab because it followed the Gujarat model of governance and revived agriculture,ensured better compensation for farmers and presented a positive development agenda. In Uttarakhand,it claimed that the “Mr Clean image of Khanduri worked wonders”.

Taking stock of UP

Both the Organiser and the Panchjanya have critically assessed the BJP’s poor performance in the UP assembly elections. They likened the BJP to the Congress in UP and maintained that unless corrective measures are taken,the party could end up faring badly in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The Panchjanya went a step further and suggested that the BJP was now suffering from a problem of more leaders than workers.

“In UP,the BJP too has suffered from…disconnect with its voter. So it has lost half its vote share in the last one decade. Core ideological issues,principled approach and credibility of leadership are needed to sway the voter. More than the party,the leader,and more than the leader,his track record (performance) determine poll outcomes these days,” says the Organiser.

The Panchjanya,on the other hand,has contended that while the BJP’s nationalist approach has raised a ray of hope in a UP it perceives as being embroiled in the politics of caste and religion,its decline will only strengthen fundamental forces. “The Congress promise of 4.5 per cent reservation for minorities that was extended to 9 per cent,was surpassed by Mulayam Singh Yadav who promised 18 per cent quota for minorities. As a result,majority of the Muslim votes went to the SP,even though if the promise is really implemented,then it will disturb the entire constitutional system in the state.”

Compiled by Swaraj Thapa