"The mother-son government in Delhi is on its way out. Please make sure that you vote for stable alternative to ensure development..."
"This wave of support in favour of BJP will soon convert itself into a tsunami as election progresses..."
" Congress will not open account in many states and in many others, its tally will not touch double digits..."
These often repeated statements by NaMo in his rallies may have sounded like mere rhetoric at the time of election campaign. But when the election results were declared, these words turned out to be so prophetic. NaMo not only won a decisive verdict from the people but also managed to rise much higher in stature than all others in the party - which includes many veterans and erstwhile peers. He stands way beyond competition now. In addition, the margin of victory gives him much needed authority which was the main handicap for Vajpayee when he was the PM.
NaMo's articulation of BJP's victory is very significant - he interpreted this victory as strongly
pro-BJP rather than anti-congress. He highlighted the fact that victory was not by default but a hard earned one. This is important in view of what a few others in his party have been trying to project, in a veiled effort to deny due credit to party's campaign chief. NaMo also reminded everyone of the responsibility to deliver on the promises which he assured by presenting report cards of the government periodically. Innocuous it may seem, the statement was aimed at claiming full control on selection of his team members in the government. Finally, s
tatistics on vote share shows that BJP got approximately 6.5 crore votes more than Congress, resulting in close to 240 additional seats in its favour. This is a massive turn around with respect to the earlier difference of abut 85 lac votes between winner congress and BJP in 2009 when congress won about 100 more seats compared to BJP.
Equally noteworthy part of the electoral story is the total decimation of congress. Rout is so devastating that it is now deprived of even the status of an official opposition party, having failed to win min 10% of the seats in Loksabha. Congress team will not be able to come to terms with the fact that its countrywide tally is half of what Amit Shah won for BJP in a single state of UP alone !
All ministers of UPA who had made NaMo bashing a part of their daily routine (Ajay Maken, Salman Khurshid, P.K.Bansal, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Farooq Abdullah, Praful Patel) lost. Many even lost their deposits. A few like Shashi Taroor were lucky to scrape through.
Some UPA veterans like Chidambaram and Sharad Pawar were wise to read the writing on the wall and stayed away from the contest which saved them huge humiliation in the final stage of their active political career.
Only 2 congress ministers who survived the BJP juggernaut – Kharge and Moily. Incidentally, they are both from Karnataka - a state which gave congress party relatively respectable tally. It appears, destiny of mother India is now finally free from the clutches of a desi dynasty. Brain storming sessions seem to be already on within congress party. This debacle will definitely shake up all those young leaders who may have entered politics as a full time profession. All these young leaders are likely to see a very bleak future for themselves, with RaGa at the helm. Going by the current trend of the party where RaGa's leadership style is coming under scrutiny as well as open criticism (for the first time history of the grand old party), it will not be a surprise if congress leaders silently shift loyalty to BJP in near future.
AAP, the other omni-present contender in the fray, ended up with a big flop show. Countrywide total votes polled by AAP was less than those polled under NOTA ! This fact confirmed the views expressed by many political analysts that AAP hype was basically a glorified creation of the media. There were a few scandalous theories regarding AAP's very emergence on the scene. Their inexplicable hurry to relinquish power in Delhi assembly followed by the decision to put up candidates in over 400 seats all over the country were reason enough to substantiate the theory that purpose of AAP was to keep NaMo away from power by splitting anti-congress votes. The party which was solely dependent on anti-corruption sentiments, appears to have thoroughly mis-judged pulse of the people. Without any defined agenda for general governance or for any woes of the nation, AAP was also strongly speculated to be a B team of congress. Such negativity has been rejected by the electorate. NaMo deserves full credit for showing exemplary smartness to judge AAP's abilities very early. He treated AAP dismissively and did not even mention about them even once in his entire campaign, thus denying any undue publicity to their outfit.
NaMo, the PM-in-waiting :
With an official letter of appointment from Rashtrapati's office, NaMo is now the PM-in-waiting. It is reported that NaMo carries the distinction of being the first citizen born in independent India to become the PM. This is also symbolic in the sense that aspirations of the new generations needs to be seen in the context of current scenario, while keeping old values still intact. NaMo fits this requirement very well. Another uniqueness to NaMo is that he is going to be the first PM to bring with him a long and creditable administrative experience of 12 years as CM of Gujarat. Speculations are strong regarding the future cabinet. NaMo will surely continue to implement his slogan "m
inimum government, maximum governance" by having a compact cabinet. Strategies like merging different ministries to make this possible are already being talked about. Although 81 ministers are allowed in the central government as per constitutional provisions, size of cabinet is expected to be limited to less than 50% of allowed size.
A decisive majority has given much needed freedom to the PM-in-waiting to select his team, without undue pressure from party and allies. Cabinet is likely to have fresh faces and specialised technocrats in key portfolios. Fortunately, there is a big talent pool to choose from. While Gen .K.Singh can add immense value as a minister of state in defense ministry, a huge list of able personalities like Arun Shourie, Subramanian Swamy, M.J.Akbar and many others with clean image, professional experience in various fields and fresh ideas to governance can enormously enhance image and efficiency of the new government. In any case, we can expect to see the dawn of
NaMo has definitely perfected the art of communication through speeches as well as his symbolic gestures. His unprecedented act of bowing down to kiss the ground before his maiden entry to central hall of Parliament (as a member and a proposed leader of the house) grabbed due headlines. It also made him deservedly stand out as someone with strong commitment to the cause of democracy. In the subsequent address to the elected members of his party in the presence of party's entire elite leadership, he displayed his soft side with tears and choked voice while referring to party veteran Vajpayee and again while trying to be humble about his personal contribution to party's victory. It was remarkable how he carried himself by not trying to hide his sincere emotions and also managing it admirably without losing his composure for long. NaMo swayed his politically astute audience with the same ease with which he connected with general public during election rallies. In the end, his soft side came out strongly in the full glare of cameras for everyone to see without harming his image as a tough and no-nonsense leader. NaMo deserves credit for showing that a soft heart is not necessarily a weakness but it can co-exist without diluting decisiveness of a person.
Media has been dissecting NaMo in minute details all these years. Most commonly heard comment about NaMo was abut his arrogance. Chchanulal Mishra, the Hindustani vocalist who was one of the proposers of NaMo's candidature from Varanasi, recounted the experience of his encounter with NaMo. He described the NaMo's behaviour as self esteem and sense of pride rather than arrogance. Many other interpretations and observations about NaMo are likely to be re-written, as he comes under much intensive media glare from now on.
"Mein kuch banne ka nahi, kuch karne ka sochta hoon...", NaMo reportedly said in one of the recent interviews. Finally, India is going to have a PM who has the presence of mind to coin such inspiring lines instantly. More importantly, his track record gives us re-assurance that he means what he says. Jai Hind !
-ಬಾಪಿ
