Maharashtra Results – End of the Road for BJP avatar

With Maharashtra assembly election results trending towards a Cong-NCP lead over Shiv-Sena BJP by a margin of around 30 seats it is safe to say that the BJP is headed for the dog-house in Maharashtra.

Barring any post poll horse trading which seems quite unlikely to do much to its status even if the situation were to manifest, the ramifications of the dismal electoral outcome are bound to have a ripple effect in the national party.

That some in the BJP were projecting Nitin Gadkari as a contender for the top BJP job irrespective of the outcome in Maharashtra is a reflection on the bankruptcy of imagination in the party and also a reflection of the grave inertia within the party to think boldy to embrace change.

More analysis and rationalizations will follow on this debacle once the final electoral outcome is clear. Much will be said of the Raj Thackeray factor and every other conspiratorial angle will be analyzed threadbare.

The bottomline however, as Offstumped had said before, is that the BJP is trapped in its rhetoric and legacy of the past while its Delhi based non-leaders are trapped in a Semi-finals mindset.

In the resulting impasse all decision making is reduced factional intrigue and myopic compromises stripping the Party of what little sheen was left of its claim to be the Party with a difference.

Irrespective of whether Narendra Modi is called upon to embrace the leadership of the BJP now or two years from now, we are staring at the end of the road for the BJP to emerge as a national alternative to the Congress.

This is not to say the BJP will not be a viable player in some states where it continues to fill the non-Congress political space.

However barring unprecedented acts of nature and god it is hard to see the BJP breaking new ground to sustain a bipolar polity at the National level.

It would take extradordinary leadership to make a clean break from the past and to chart a new course for the BJP, leadership that is nowhere on the horizon.

The defining faultlines of future electoral politics are decisively drifting towards socio-economic issues. Unless the Center Right stitches new coalitions around socio-economic interests to challenge the Congress’ maai-baap politics we are in for a Congress monopoly for at least the next two election cycles.

Filed under: Assembly Polls 2009, DesiPundit, India Elections 2009, Live Events, Maharashtra Polls 2009, Offstumped Community, Shveta Chhatra

Maharashtra Assembly Election Results – Live Blogging

With Maharashtra set to count the ballots, speculation is rife on the many scenarios that will likely unfold.

Here is what Offstumped will be looking forward to in the results.

#1 How viable is the Sharad Pawar factor – does he stand diminished, enhanced or just about stagnant ?

#2 What is the future for NCP as a standalone political entity ?

#3 In the akahara of Sena politics, which cousin emerges “tagda” ?

#4 How effective was Rahul Gandhi’s rhetoric ?

Finally of course the most important question to this blogger if not to the Maharashtra voter – What does this mean to the future of the BJP ?

Maharashtra BJP President Nitin Gadkari ran a marathon campaign of some 100 odd public meetings while his bete-noire Munde gave this election a nepotist hue. 

Nitin Gadkari who has also authored a Vision document on transforming Maharashtra’s infrastructure has been touted by both Swapan Dasgupta and Kanchan Gupta as likely to be promoted to New Delhi for BJP top job.

Will this election mark the emergence of a new viable leader who has been the BJP’s best kept secret ?

OR

Will this election merely reinforce the Rajnath stereotype that an election wipeout is a great Resume enhancer if you are contending for the top BJP job ?

So as Maharashtra prepares to count the ballots you can catch Offstumped live on

#1 Twitter

#2 at an Offstumped Community Live Event

#3 as always on this blog

Keep the comments coming ……

Filed under: Assembly Polls 2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Maharashtra Polls 2009, Offstumped Community , haryana

Mahrashtra Elections 2009 – A response to Rahul Gandhi

SEE NEW UPDATES BELOW

Rahul Gandhi campaigning in Raigadh for the Maharashtra Assembly elections on behalf of Congress-NCP combine had this to say:

“Two Indias exist today. One is the ‘Shining India’ and the other is the ‘Backward India’. There is a need to connect the two Indias,”

Below is a response from Offstumped in response to Rahul Gandhi in the form a speech that we dont expect any BJP leader to ever give.

Friends

It has become fashionable these days for leaders of the Manmohan Singh Sonia Gandhi lead Congress to be in awe of all things American. This affliction has become particularly acute since the ascent of the messiah to the American Presidency. Now the pandemic has infected Rahul Gandhi as well.

Let me explain this with a little story from American politics.

Most of you may not have heard of John Edwards, I dont blame you for it. John Edwards was one of the many challengers to Barack Obama for his party’s nomination for Presidency and he shot to fame with his rhetoric of “Two Americas”.

When one hears Rahul Gandhi plagiarise this formulation to talk of “Two Indias” one cannot but help but wonder if its similar to the “Two Americas” that finally sank John Edward’s political career – one legitimate and the other mired in clandestine affairs and illegitimate progeny.

Be that as it may, Rahul Gandhi’s rhetoric of “Two Indias” needs a coherent and incisive political response.

Let me take this opportunity to remind Rahul Gandhi of what this nation had to suffer the last time we heard such rhetoric of “Two Indias” – one Muslim and the other Hindu. 

No Rahul, this nation shall not countenance this divisive rhetoric that pits Indian against Indian. Your family excelled quite well at this rhetoric to script India’s partition, 6 decades ago, we will not let you do the same a second time.

Make no mistake my countrymen, this rhetoric of “Two Indias” is exactly same the rhetoric of those who thrive outside the ambit of law and go by the name Maoists. By lending credibility to this divisive theme of “Two Indias” Rahul Gandhi is rationalizing their anti-India activities.

Be that as it may, Rahul Gandhi’s political naivety is of little consequence to your everyday life and the core issues of this election. However the flawed policies of his Party’s Government in Maharashtra and in New Delhi have been of grave consequence to your everyday life.

Yes Rahul Gandhi is right there are two distinct political ideologies here. On the one hand there is the ideology of the “aam admi” that thinks very little of you or your abilities.

This ideology thinks so poorly of you that it would like you to remain poor if you are already poor and create incentives for you to declare yourself as poor if you are not already poor.

This ideology thinks so little of you that it sees your abilities as being only “banal’ and “common”, nothing special/

This ideology thinks you are so ignorant and naive that it has the arrogance to conclude that all wisdom lies in Delhi rather than in Raigadh so it can make choices for you sitting in Delhi.

This ideology is so ignorant of how different every one of you is that it is stupid to believe that a one size fit all solution designed in Delhi will work for all of your problems.

One such one-size-fit-all solution is this 5 letter word called NREGA that Rahul Gandhi never loses an opportunity to throw at you. But then Rahul Gandhi forgets to tell you what every one of you told the government during the 2002 BPL Census.

Rahul Gandhi who never forgets to tout NREGA as a panacea to all the rural poor’s problems has no clue that a majority of Rural Poor when asked what kind of assistance they would like from the Government had screamed in one voice that

they would like “Self Employment” over “Government provided wages”

they would like “Skill development” over “Subsidized food via PDS”

It is in that earthy rural wisdom that is inherent in every one of you is the second ideology that is exactly opposed to what Rahul Gandhi is preaching to you.

This ideology was not scripted in New Delhi by armchair intellectuals.

This ideology does not need 5 letter words to be understood and appreciated.

This ideology does not need the benevolence of Sonia Gandhi’s family to deliver benefits to you.

This ideology does not need you to depend on Government and Bureaucrats to make a difference to your everyday life.

This ideology my friends is what comes naturally to every one of you.

It is what makes every one of you unique and special.

It is the wisdom that was passed on to you by your parents and their parents before them.

It is the wisdom to be self reliant and self sufficient.

This ideology my friends is of freedom so you can become masters of your own destiny. This ideology my friends is that innately native spirit of India that saw each village and town, each trade and craft be masters of their own destiny with the autonomy and economic independence they desire. This ideology is the Dharma of how we used to do things when there was no sultanate in Delhi dictating how you should conduct your life.

I would be guilty of high sounding rhetoric and no substance at all my friends if I fail to explain to you how this ideology will make a difference to every one of you to meet your unique needs, understanding your special capabilities.

But before I do that I would urge every one of you to reject this divisive rhetoric that treats you as common and banal and to spread this infection called optimism that the answer to your problems lies in your hands through self reliance and enterprise.

If elected my party will ………………………………

Postscript: NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain rips apart Rahul Gandhi’s claims on Congress-NCP governance in Maharashtra

Perhaps the most emblematic example of squandered greatness is Maharashtra’s employment guarantee scheme, conceived in the famine years of the early seventies and subsequently the template for the UPA’s national flagship. The EGS was, quite apart from its intent, a remarkable attempt to bridge wealthy, highly urbanised Maharashtra and its impoverished rural interior : the funds for the scheme were raised through professional tax.

About 3 decades on, Maharashtra’s EGS has come to represent much of the failed promise of one of India’s most progressive states: corruption, unspent funds, unpaid labour, incomplete works. Almost every CAG report is a familiar indictment: a  2006 report finds that ‘registration of labour is incomplete’, ’scheme has not met targets’, ‘of the 10,000 crores collected for the scheme, only 4677 crores have been spent’ and so on. In 2005 , a whistle-blowing collector in Solapur who unearthed massive rigging in the local EGS rolls faced an escalating level of official aggression that culminated in the chief minister’s office.

Filed under: Assembly Polls 2009, DesiPundit, Local Governance, Maharashtra Polls 2009, Offstumped, Offstumped Community, Offstumped Community Posts, Shveta Chhatra, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

Minimum Government Maximum Governance – Open debate

With the results of the bye elections in and the BJP doing well in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, Offstumped is inviting open debate from its community of readers and twitter followers on “Minimum Government Maximum Governance” being a credible Center Right alternative to the UPA’s ostentatious austerity and one-size-fit-all psuedo progressivism.

Will the BJP go to polls in Maharashtra for the upcoming assembly elections with Minimum Government Maximum Governance as its platform ?

Recent tweets on this subject below:

1. Last but not the least “Minimum Government Maximum Governance” in action http://is.gd/3gpdq from Offstumped archives
2. More on “Minimum Government Maximum Governance” from INI’s Pragati edition March 2008 http://is.gd/3goYJ
3. Narendra Modi’s seminal speech in Chennai articulating Minimum Government Maximum Governance is a must read http://is.gd/3goP7
4. Window of opportunity still exists for Modi to seek moral high ground & steer larger BJP debate rather than leave it to apolitical ideologue
5. If there is one reassuring angle to bypolls it is that BJP’s lock on Gujarat is secure enuf for Narendra Modi to consider larger issues
6. Imperatives for the BJP dont change it still needs to settle succession with transparency, break new ground with coherent credible agenda
7. Why all this excitement over bye-elections, BJP always did in state polls till R’sthan debacle and Delhi defeat
8. If farmers with even 25 acres of land are signing up for NREGS http://is.gd/3eAL0 it raises troubling questions on who exactly is BPL ?
9. Lack of coherent & credible political alternative to NREGS is leading to institutionalization of role of Govt as primary employment provider
10. must be asked how long before the psuedo-progressives in the Congress decide to pass a “Right to Employment” bill universalizing NREGS
11. Finally a political party bold enough to say it will scrap NREGS will promote rural self enterprise http://is.gd/3eC3Y kudos to Sharad Joshi
12. Can the BJP ever demonstrate such clarity and certitude to denounce NREGS for destroying self reliance fostering a BPL mindset
13. Punjab seems to make a start in letting rural Local Government raise its own revenues be self sustaining http://is.gd/3ezBm
14. Finally someone is paying attention to 2002 BPL Census data http://is.gd/3euCl will the same ministry accept majority dont want entitlements
15. At the risk of sounding repetitive will say this again there is only one opposite to UPA’s one size fit all centralized psuedo-progressivism
16. Movement to freedom and autonomy to Local Governance, unless the BJP reinvents itself to herald this move it will be seen as Congress clone

Filed under: Maharashtra Polls 2009, UPA-II Critical Appraisal, jeetega-bharat

Maharashtra Polls 2009 – Open thread for debate

With the Election Commission announcing the poll schedule for Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections, Offstumped is reactivating this blog as a Community portal to keep the debate going.

The full schedule of the election can be found here.

With Maharashtra being a high stakes state between the Congress-NCP combine and the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, Offstumped invites its community of readers and twitter followers to join the debate.

Filed under: Assembly Polls 2009, Maharashtra Polls 2009