The spectacular performance of the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the just concluded parliamentary election has many people surprised. The reason is that no one could have imagined a week ago that the Congress would cross the 200 mark on its own. While most people had predicted that the Congress would emerge as the single largest party, what will stand out is the party’s performance in some crucial battleground states and the comfortable margin of its victory over its closest rival the BJP and its NDA alliance. Much credit should go to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi for the party’s stunning comeback in Uttar Pradesh, the State which sends the highest number of Lok Sabha seat to Parliament i.e. 80 in total. From almost been wiped out in the last two General Elections, the Congress managed the crucial 21 seats to add to its tally. UP has over the years become the bastion of the smaller parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), functioning on the narrow perspective of caste politics. In a sense therefore, the results across the country, would suggest that people of India are tired of divisive politics, power mongering and stunted mindset.
The verdict of elections 2009 has some clear messages for those who run this country. Firstly, the Indian voter has become much more discerning and knowledgeable. Politicians cannot take the voters for granted nowadays. It is clear that the Indian public is more concerned about good governance, development and honest leadership. Besides the Congress, one should make a mention of the other non-Congress leader who has been rewarded by the electorate for his good performance at the State level—Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister, whose party the JD (U) swept the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar. At the national level, the Congress seems to have delivered more than other parties on this front. In Manmohan Singh, they have a leader who is genuinely honest and has the interest of the country at the forefront. On some of the key policies and programmes under the UPA, the voters seem to have credited the Manmohan Singh government. For instance the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)—the largest attempt at rural employment anywhere in the world, the Right to Information (RTI) Act—an initiative to ensure good governance, accountability and transparency; the farm loan waiver etc. Besides, one should not forget the Indo-US Nuclear deal, which the Prime Minister had himself staked his personal reputation on.
Not without surprise the extremely poor performance of the Left Front also goes to show that it is out of sync with the world and more importantly with the emerging young voters. No one can easily forget the manner in which the Left had ridiculed the UPA government for signing the Nuclear Deal with the United States. In these columns, it was then pointed out that the Left was taking a huge political gamble in opposing the nuclear deal and that what price they (Left Front) will pay, only time will tell. It does appear now that the Left’s ideological dogmatism on the Indo-US nuclear deal and its withdrawal of support to the Manmohan Singh government did not go down well with the Indian electorate. The nuclear deal after all was certainly not about bashing up Capitalism but about energy security, nuclear non proliferation and transfer of technology—all within the lexicon of enlightened national interest which, not surprisingly, the Left failed to grasp.
Besides the decimation of the Left parties, verdict 2009 is also a vote for stability and national unity. The dismal performance of the so called Third Front consisting of disparate elements out to extract petty political bargain is a clear indication that the voters are not impressed by the intent of some of the smaller parties desperate for power. The Third Front was in the news more for the number of Prime Ministerial aspirants within its rank than having a coherent plan of programmes and issues to be put forth before the people. While regional parties cannot be wished away and they remain a vital component of our democratic discourse—yet ganging up merely for the sake of power with no ideological affinity or common ground among them—this has been clearly disapproved by the Indian electorate. The clear mandate in favour of the Congress led UPA is therefore a vote for national unity, political stability and progressive mindset.
