Expectations from the UPA
With Dr. Manmohan Singh all set assume reins of the government for a second term, it is in order to hold him and his party to their promises.
The UPA has made a big deal about “inclusiveness” with its claim that it represents all of India.
But for RTI the UPA’s first term record has been less about all-India legislation and more about legislation that selective targets segments of India.
The NREGA may have won it the rural vote but its fruits were selective.
The farmer debt waiver may have won it the farmer’s vote but once again its fruits were targetted only at a special interest group.
The UPA must recognize that having pandered to its special interest segments and won a stable mandate for second term, “inclusiveness” now assumes a new meaning.
The UPA would do well to appreciate that the most “inclusive” policies are those which attract “bi-partisan” support.
So rather than make an opening with special interest legislations, will the UPA begin with policies that target the nation as a whole.
Infrastructure has suffered greatly in the last 5 years and there can be no dispute on political support for spending initiatives on Infrastructure. Perhaps the UPA could make a bipartisan beginning in this area.
Expectations from the BJP
It is regretful to note that the BJP has not overcome its electoral shock and has pressured Mr. Advani to continue with the burden of Leader of Opposition.
One hopes this is an interim arrangement and the process of transition will begin in true earnest.
The Leader of Opposition must be elected through a transparent ballot if the BJP hopes to turn the corner from this humbling defeat. BJP has nothing to lose and must get bold to face bitter truths, transparent ballots are the best therapy. The BJP had shown once that it can resolve issues through ballot in the Sushil Modi episode to quell dissidence in Bihar
BJP’s stakeholders include friends sympathisers a swathe of nationalist center right believers, transparent ballots are a must to keep them
From Leader of Opposition to next Leadership duo, Mission and Vision everything must be put on ballot.
The era of Sangh backroom consensus is over, the era of transparent ballots must begin.
Filed under: DesiPundit, jeetega-bharat
Guys the election is over get over it.
Rone – moderation is automatic
Balaji – You miss the point again. The election is over.
The BJP succession debate is pointless till BJP acknowledges you all have a stake in that debate. As of now you don’t for there is no transparency to that process.
So once again my humble suggestion:
- Take up the BJP succession debate on lkadvani.in and fobjp.org and demand a transparent process that gives all of you a stake in it else you will be taken for granted.
- On Narendra Modi he needs to demonstrate moral detachment to earn the moral right to national leadership.He has done the right thing so far.But that’s not enough. He needs to show that like a true Karma Yogi he can walk away from fruits of Political Power. That’s the only way for him to win the moral middle ground.
- On Varun Gandhi he is immature and he has allowed opportunistic bigotry to get the better of him. He needs to be in the doghouse for a long time before he can be considered a leader.
- As I said before its time to move on to issues, principles and idea as far as this blog is concerned.
Debate on BJP is welcome as long as it is about issues, principles and ideas and not on how to win the next election.
Prashant,
that may be true of UP. In urban centres TV is a quick medium to connect with voters. I would agree if the media was unbiased. If the media is biased and painting you negatively, you need someone to be unbiased. Else the younger generation labels you as communal and not cool!!!
@Offstumped, seems like moderation is on for my comments.
Yoss and readers of Offstumped, I hope you guys have read today’s papers.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/19/stories/2009051955120700.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/19/stories/2009051958660300.htm
One home guard dead. One constable seriously injured. Reset your counters. I hope media and govt stops celebrating and gets to work.
For what its worth, I have blogged about my analysis of AP election results, just to get it all off my chest.
Thanks to Offstumped and all the commentors here for a great collective experience of this elections.
http://kumarsbol.blogspot.com/2009/05/general-elections-2009-analysis-of-ap.html
Yossarin,
You are right. We have no stake in BJP’s leadership debate. The only people who have a stake are the knickerwallahs. BJP is back to its pre-Ram Mandir days, where it was just the political wing of the Hindu fundamentalists.
And you are right, we should talk Issues. But issues concern people. Right now whom does BJP represent in the country? Is there any demographic group in this country whose interests are served by BJP? This question is important, bcos lot of rather specific vote blocks had a vested interest in BJP’s progress from the Sangh lab to its crowning glory under Vajpayee in 1999.
1. The vast majority of well-meaning Hindus who agreed with the BJP idea of a Ram Mandir have now moved away bcos they were gullible and were not prepared for the rabid muslim hatred that was behind BJP’s mandir movement in the first place.
2. The upper caste and students who flocked to BJP horrified by V P Singh’s caste politics have now moved away since BJP is by far the biggest promoter of caste politics in the country today. A lingayat vote here, a jat vote there and a Gujjar or Meena vote in between.
3. The educated middle class which was impressed by the very visible decency displayed by the likes of Vajpayee, Shekhawat, Patwa etc compared to the cunning Narasimha Rao or the tired old brigade of Pawar/Chavan/Arjun is now unimpressed by questionable characters like Advani, Modi and Rajnath.
4. The entrepreneurs and the conservative middle class which appreciates privatization is unsure if the current BJP is a center-right party they want it to be or the hindu-fascist outfit they fear it be. They would rather go with a known entity like congress than the unknown BJP animal.
5. My generation (the last batch of new voters before the current one) who somehow bought into the media created myth of BJP being a party with the difference has reached middle age. The next generation which started understanding politics around the time of Gujarat riots doesn’t even want to give BJP a chance.
BJP is not the party what we imagine it to be. Its just a tool in the hands of the Hindu fundamentalists. It may continue to limp on for few more years bcos Muslim haters have not much choice otherwise and also because its the default option against Congress in some states.
But on the whole, I cannot think of a single demographic group other than Hindu fundamentalist for whom BJP has anything to offer at this point.
Balaji – very valid question hence the need for transparency and a stake for non-sangh friends sympathisers and voters. Make yourself heard on lkadvani.in and friendsofbjp.org with these hard questions.
Balaji,
May I know why do you still call yourself a BJP supporter? If you really believe in what all you posted about BJP, I think it’s time for you to move on.
Yossarin,
I don’t know. You probably don’t post at lkadvani.in. Its heavily censored. When the forum started in February, I was among the top posters there bcos I was giving ideas. Then I ran out of Ideas and started talking issues. They have stopped publishing my posts ever since. As a feeble attempt, I wrote a new post yesterday titled, “Please elect the Leader of the Opposition by secret ballot”. As I expected, they rejected it.
Humdinger,
You are right. As I mentioned in the previous post, I belong to the conservative middle class which believes in free market etc. I still read Fredrick Von Hayek!! This election, I went all in, to support the BJP. I worked the last two months on the field. A rich but sad experience which have chronicled in my blog (click my name above if you care). I guess I will be moving on.
jiggs & yogesh,
in maharashtra assly elections if cong is to be routedout the only way is to avoid anti cong vote splitting. looking at the vote shares… MNS got a chunk of them big enough to spoil party for BJP -SS… though a large amount of people didnot vote MNS as this was a loksabha elections and will vote MNS in Assly.
Cong is talking of going independently based on the Loksabha polls outcome… NCP may try to woo SS….and BJP and MNS may join hands…. still the bottomline is anti cong votes will be split. Also there is a good chance of NCP dumping SS and joining Cong post poll.
the best option is BJP+ SS+MNS…
this is looking difficult considering the public statements by the T family… the egos are too big…
in my opinion BJP should act as mediator and go for a tactical arrangement with both MNS and SS. Ensure that there is no cross fight between 3 of them.. and Congi faces a one on one fight at each constituency….. (eg if a constituency has BJP candidate the traditional SS / MNS voters will vote him instead of cong. this applies for SS and MNS too) way back BJP tiedup with SS only with the intention of avoiding vote splits… same holds good even now…
the loss here will be that of the north indian voter… but they to will not block vote the cong the votes will be split between cong and BSP..
if now the Anti cong votes get split between BJP+SS and MNS then maharashtra is doomed till one of the 3 is totally smashed.
with cong +ncp v/s BJP+SS v/s MNS is going to be the show… surely neither BJP +SS nor MNS will get majority.
this time around… the story was the parents voted BJP+SS and kids voted MNS…
this infight amongst brothers is taking maharashtra in the reverse direction… the polling % in cities was very poor in Loksabha … the same will repeat in assly if this situation remains unchanged.. people will prefer not voting…….
Yoss
I completely and whole-heartedly agree on ‘transparent ballots’ suggestion. I doubt if this will happen though.
Balaji -
How would you define a Hindu fundamentalist ? For example most of the main stream English media considers Veer Savarkar a ‘Hindu Fundamentalist’ do you share the same view ? Just trying to understand your point.
Balaji – I have written to the forum managers on exactly the same issue.
It is not very useful to debate labels like who is and who isnt a fundamentalist.
Let us keep the focus on principles, policies, issues and ideas.
I am going to freeze this thread for now. A fresh start in the next post.