Elections
2014 can be said to be a ruthless mandate against the inertia of one
man Manmohan Singh and non-performance of one party the Congress. It
is also a mandate for one man's exuberance Narendra Modi and one
party the BJP, which has been knocking on the doors of power for
decades now and is eager for a sustained stint at the helm.
Lok Sabha
Elections 2014 was undoubtedly the most fascinating since
independence. The largest democracy in the world took to the ballots
like never before to fire a bullet at status quo and catapult one
man, one party to the throne of power, in the hope that they will
deliver what an entire nation's consciousness has willed for.
The
decimation of the Congress is all but complete, for it must be
incredibly humiliating for the country's oldest party to not even get
50 seats in a 500+ seats Lok Sabha. The Congress is dubbing this
defeat as a `communications failure`, but make no mistake, this is
not a communications failure, but a loss of credibility. The BJP's
and Modi's hi-tech campaign caught the imagination of the voters,
many of them young, as they mounted a crusade so to say to get rid of
a regime which was seen as fueling corruption, apathy and
misgovernance, with a `silent` prime minister at the helm.
The Indian voter is never the one to like being taken for granted. They decimated Indira Gandhi and the Congress in the 1977 elections, punishing them for the Emergency. In 1980, they brought them back as this time they punished the Janata Party for in-fighting and opportunism. The Indian voter, through the ballot, has always found a way to let the political class know what exactly he thinks about them. Thus, since 1989, as single political parties failed to prove their ability to govern by themselves, the voters found a middle path by denying a clear mandate to any party. This created a `forced teamwork` culture in Indian politics through coalition governments.
The Indian voter is never the one to like being taken for granted. They decimated Indira Gandhi and the Congress in the 1977 elections, punishing them for the Emergency. In 1980, they brought them back as this time they punished the Janata Party for in-fighting and opportunism. The Indian voter, through the ballot, has always found a way to let the political class know what exactly he thinks about them. Thus, since 1989, as single political parties failed to prove their ability to govern by themselves, the voters found a middle path by denying a clear mandate to any party. This created a `forced teamwork` culture in Indian politics through coalition governments.
That the
BJP, maybe against its own expectations, got a majority this time,
says something about the Indian voter – he is now sick of coalition
politics, where opportunism masquerades as teamwork. He has given the
mandate to a single party, a single man to take India on its deserved
development path.
The
decimation of the Congress is a culmination of the process that
perhaps started in 1975 when Indira Gandhi declared an emergency. For
long, the Congress thrived on the `There Is No Alternative` (TINA)
factor. But the Indian voter now believes he has found the
alternative. The Congress may not have done well even in 1984 –
when it won a landslide – but for the sympathy wave that Rajiv
Gandhi received on the back of Mrs Gandhi's assassination. It is very
significant that it has taken the nation thirty years to gave a clear
mandate to a party.
India has changed changed dramatically in these thirty years. We now live in a liberalised world, where technology forms the core of information and communication. Life, governance, issues and agendas are all an open book now. A youthful nation is demanding accountability like never before. There is a kind of corporate culture that has set in, where society respects and honours performance and ruthlessly dismisses non-performance.
Elections 2014 can be said to be a ruthless mandate against the inertia of one man Manmohan Singh and non-performance of one party the Congress. It is also a mandate for one man's exuberance Narendra Modi and one party the BJP, which has been knocking on the doors of power for decades now and is eager for a sustained stint at the helm.
India has changed changed dramatically in these thirty years. We now live in a liberalised world, where technology forms the core of information and communication. Life, governance, issues and agendas are all an open book now. A youthful nation is demanding accountability like never before. There is a kind of corporate culture that has set in, where society respects and honours performance and ruthlessly dismisses non-performance.
Elections 2014 can be said to be a ruthless mandate against the inertia of one man Manmohan Singh and non-performance of one party the Congress. It is also a mandate for one man's exuberance Narendra Modi and one party the BJP, which has been knocking on the doors of power for decades now and is eager for a sustained stint at the helm.
A clear
mandate for Modi and the BJP comes on the back of huge expectations
of development and an opportunity to live in a clean, non-corrupt
society. The BJP and NDA now face a peculiar behavioural challenge of
being able to handle power. Receiving a clear mandate is one thing,
but managing the heady feeling of having got power on your terms
after such a desperate and high decibel campaign is another thing.
All said and
one, the days ahead are very interesting, for the nation will watch
with bated breath what the BJP, NDA and Modi will do with the mandate
they have received.
