Sir,
The Congress’s revival after having hit the lowest point in its history in 2014 is the big takeaway from the assembly election results. By the same token, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) hope of ushering in a Congress-mukt (free) India has been dashed, along with its dream of reigning from panchayats to parliament for the next 50 years.
At the same time, there is no denying that the BJP put up a good fight in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh by demonstrating that even 15 years of the party’s rule haven’t made the anti-incumbency factor strong enough to give the Congress an easy victory as the latter expected.
Only in Chhattisgarh has the BJP faltered with the Congress;s virtual runaway success, which is all the more creditable because the party’s entire top leadership was wiped out by a Maoist attack in 2013, leaving the relatively unknown Bhupesh Baghel in charge.
The Congress also managed to fend off the challenge of the so-called spoilers – the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress, which were expected to cut into the Congress’s vote share and help the BJP.
However, as the outcome shows, if the electorate makes up its mind to defeat the ruling party, then it turns resolutely to the only credible challenger to the exclusion of the others. The Congress can consider itself lucky that the mercurial Mayawati preempted the chance of a tie-up with the Congress and chose the Janata Congress.
By faring satisfactorily in the three heartland states, the Congress has edged ahead of the other non-BJP parties in the matter of providing leadership to the proposed mahagathbandhan (grand alliance).
Whether the Congress will be able to politically utilize these drawbacks of its main opponent is the million-dollar question. The party cannot but be aware that its post-independence days of glory are long past and that it does not exist as a major force in large parts of the country such as U.P., Bihar, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. It is also losing ground in the north-east, as its setback in its last stronghold of Mizoram shows.
Clearly, both the Congress and the BJP are hobbled by a number of factors which cannot be immediately rectified. From this standpoint, they will now be confronting each other on a level playing field.
Amulya Ganguli
on e-mail
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