Indian politics has been synonymous with the Congress with it being the numero uno party for most part of its 67 year history.Apart from sporadic bursts by flimsy,fragile parties it never faced stiff competition until in 1999 when the Bharatiya Janta Party led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee formed a Coalition Government,the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) at the Centre.But the watershed moment in Indian Politics was the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when a resurgent BJP secured an unprecedented single party majority thus ending the coalition era and forming the most stable government in 30 years.
It all began with the 2013 Assembly Elections
where the BJP romped to victory in four out of the five states.It had such a
debilitating effect on the Congress that many of its stalwarts were ostensibly
reluctant to even contest the LS elections fearing thumping defeats.
So what was it that lead to such a resounding victory for the BJP.Was it the Modi wave?Was it anti-incumbency?Was it disillusionment with the ruling Congress regime?Was it the meteoric rise of the hitherto dormant middle class?or was it the awakening of the ignorant youth?I’ll say it was an explosive brew of all.The anger against the incumbent regime was ingeniously fermented and leveraged by Modi.A carefully orchestrated campaign of a quantum never seen in Indian politics,funded by Corporate and Media Houses and executed perfectly to the T translated into what some argue was a “bandwagon effect”.The pro-development rhetoric coupled with daintily couched communalism not only encapsulated the youth but also enabled the BJP to hold on to its erstwhile strongholds.The spate of corruption under the UPA-2 and the economic slowdown with GDP falling to levels of less than 5% were glorified and presented as the sole reason for the seemingly endless woes of the polity.Modi was successful in effectively selling a dream even when his detractors tried to highlight the flaws in his specious ‘GUJARAT MODEL’ obviously to no avail.Even the gambit of inoculating fear in the minds of the minorities by endlessly referring to the 2002 gujarat pogrom couldn’t impede the Modi juggernaut.People willy-nilly started believing that this “messiah” is the panacea for all their ailments.
So what was it that lead to such a resounding victory for the BJP.Was it the Modi wave?Was it anti-incumbency?Was it disillusionment with the ruling Congress regime?Was it the meteoric rise of the hitherto dormant middle class?or was it the awakening of the ignorant youth?I’ll say it was an explosive brew of all.The anger against the incumbent regime was ingeniously fermented and leveraged by Modi.A carefully orchestrated campaign of a quantum never seen in Indian politics,funded by Corporate and Media Houses and executed perfectly to the T translated into what some argue was a “bandwagon effect”.The pro-development rhetoric coupled with daintily couched communalism not only encapsulated the youth but also enabled the BJP to hold on to its erstwhile strongholds.The spate of corruption under the UPA-2 and the economic slowdown with GDP falling to levels of less than 5% were glorified and presented as the sole reason for the seemingly endless woes of the polity.Modi was successful in effectively selling a dream even when his detractors tried to highlight the flaws in his specious ‘GUJARAT MODEL’ obviously to no avail.Even the gambit of inoculating fear in the minds of the minorities by endlessly referring to the 2002 gujarat pogrom couldn’t impede the Modi juggernaut.People willy-nilly started believing that this “messiah” is the panacea for all their ailments.
The BJP manifesto,though not very different
from that of the Congress,raises hopes as it talks about effective
implementation of the policies,something perceived as the the biggest undoing
of its predecessor.It talks about cutting the Red Tape,doing away with
laborious procedures,transparency in its dealings ,faster clearances,breaking
the glass ceiling;some prominent reasons for the pathetic state of affairs in
the country.On the back of these promises and Modi’s business savvy image,FII’s
have pumped in $25.8 million dollars in 2014 causing the Sensex to soar to
unprecedented levels of 25,000+ and strengthening of the rupee to a 13 month
high of 58.8 versus the dollar.Though some fear this makes the economy more
vulnerable,there is no disputing the fact that the trudging Indian economy is
on a recourse.
Right from the swearing in ceremony,which was
widely praised for invitations to all the Saarc leaders, to the cabinet
formation,leaner and more effective in keeping with the tagline of “minimum
government and maximum governance”,the Modi government seems to be taking all
the right steps.The 100 day agenda,priority to agriculture,joining of the
rivers,100 modern cities,the cleaning of the Ganga river and its river front project
et al highlight the resolve of the man.He even silenced his skeptics first by
inviting Nawaz Sharif,the Pakistan PM to his swearing in followed by accepting
the proposal to visit the US,with which he has historically had bitter
relations over the visa denial issue.And though on the face of it everything
seems to be falling into place,yet all is not hunky-dory.Modi’s remarks about
the repatriation of Bangladeshi infiltrators(with its contentious definition)
makes you wonder whether the all-encompassing façade is a mere farce.Moreover
his silence on a plethora of pressing issues like killing of a Muslim boy in
Pune,to section 377,to the Ram Mandir issue in Ayodhya leaves even his most
ardent supporters confounded.
All said and done,the abysmal performance by
the regional parties(except for the TMC,AIADMK,BJD) and drubbing of the
Congress even in its erstwhile bastions like Maharashtra in the LS polls has
made it very lucid that politics of polarization and appeasement is antiquated
and will no longer satiate the demands of the polity.If the LS polls are
anything to go by,the 2015 Assembly elections will result in the BJP being the
ruling party in 90% of the major states of India.Whether that augurs well for
Indian democracy remains to be seen.As for now one can safely say “Acche din
aate lag rahe hain!!”.
