Prof A N Sadhu
The Assembly Election results of three states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh have not been anywhere close to the exit polls. The most stunning results came from Chhatisgarh where all exit polls had given the congress an edge over BJP. Political analysts and Party strategists should be analyzing the results in detail, but common citizens seem to be equally keen to understand, the voting behavior of their fellow citizens. The keen interest shown in these results is also because of the impending Parliamentary elections due in April-May 2024. What went wrong or right, is the exercise of the contesting Political parties but these results have drawn everybody’s attention and a common man would like to analyse it objectively and draw his own inferences. One thing clear unambiguously is that the balance of political returns has gone in favour of BJP
Examining the election results from a common man’s perspective calls for analyzing the election outcome on the following factors.:-
Strategising the campaigning programme
Every political party must have a Research and Analysis wing. The Indian Electorate has matured substantially, at the first instance and at the second, the electoral participation has effectively become more inclusive. Men, women, young and old, all understand the value of their vote and come out to exercise their franchise and these percentages will move upwards, in the days to come. Contesting parties will have to reach every voter and timely arouse his interest in this exercise. The ruling BJP has seemingly made the required effort in this direction. Their Research wing seems to be competently identifying the weak pockets and reaching them at the right time. No doubt, the party in power, has an advantage to facilitate it, but that alone does not help unless it is backed up by a timely assertive effort.
Campaigning has to be a sustained effort and launched well in time. It has to be an exhaustive exercise as well. The times have changed. The voter has become aware of his role and capable of preparing his balance sheet before making up his mind. The BJP seems to have assessed these changing paradigms well and has shown its capability of reaching the today’s voter, keeping these changes in view. The Party, through its sustained campaigning comprising of the massive road shows and door to door contact reached voters, particularly women, tribals and weaker sections and ensured their support. The opposition utterly failed to match the campaign launched by BJP, both in matter and methodology. One must admire the party that swept these elections, not merely because of being in power but because of a resolve to convincingly motivate voters in its favour. The need for systemic stability was focussed upon vigorously in public outreach programmes as against the need for change focused upon by the opposition. Salesmanship of Party’s merits and achievements is a skillfull job which the winning party carried out successfully.
In any exercise that seeks to evoke response from Public, emotions, sentiments and traditional ethos play a vital role and the Party that addresses these human impulses effectively will always harvest better results in Indian society which is deeply rooted in history and tradition. To understand the electorate needs a comprehensive and sustained exercise and the equally strenuous exercise to address these impulses successively. The opposition seems to have failed in doing so. It has been a general complaint from public that politicians reach them at the time of elections and forget them thereafter. This warrants a sustained public contact programmes and the political parties that fail to do so can’t expect the public support to come there way automatically.
The conduct of G-20 programmes has won laurels for the BJP Govt. and the same got registered in the mind of the electorate. The often repeated criticism on the job front was defeated by PM himself distributing the employment letters just before the elections. Prices of essential goods, though high, have remained stable without further spurt in the recent months. The BJP successfully blunted the opposition criticism and in the absence of an equal and matching counter, succeeded in cashing on its assertive campaign. BJP has also remained a highly disciplined cadre and has single mindedly carried out its campaigning of assuring a stable government to the advantage of the people.
Viewing the overall political scenario in the country, the development of statesmanship leaves much to be desired among the politicians. The reflections of division on the basis of population and places can’t be overlooked. The unique character of the country of unity in Diversity should not become a casuality in the political matrix of gains and losses of a Political Party. The country is uniquely placed both, in its geography and people besides languages and cultures. Revival of rich Indian cultural and civilizational ethos is required but a thousand year history cannot be erased. The need of the time is to correct historical distortions in a manner as would not deepen the dissentions to harm the unique character of ‘Unity in Diversity’. The people of the country have also to do an introspection and fall in line with ancient Indian ethos. If the country is racing to reach its destination of being the third largest economy of the world, internal political and social stability is of utmost importance and statesmanship warrants a thoughtful effort in this direction.
The long established political Party ‘Congress’ will need a careful review of its work and conduct and avoid an ideological hiatus. The opportunism may yield short term gains but it, ultimately results, in long term pains. The expression ‘Indispensability’ is neither theoretical nor practical and change is the sauce of life. Change within or outside, often opens new vistas of advances and achievements and as long the system in existence, adhers to change, it sustains, more so in the absence of matching alternatives.
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