Analyzes the Congress debacle in Elections 2012

1. Elections 2012: Congress Arrogance & Decimation
Barun Kumar Basu
The Scottish philosopher and essayist, David Hume (1711-76) remarked that “When
men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion
without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.”
Indeed Elections 2012 was all about religion vs. development, old vs. young, men vs. women,
good Samaritans vs. jailbirds, the educated vs. the unlettered, deeds vs. promises, merit vs.
mediocrity, accessibility vs. inaccessibility (of leaders), absentee landlordism vs. grass roots,
a distant past vs. a future of self-respect and politics of subsistence to politics of social and
economic relevance. On all these counts, the Congress failed because the arrogant Nehru-
Gandhi oligarchs, caught in a time-warp, failed to recognize that it was no longer a vote for
traditional democracy. Indeed, as GK Chesterton famously remarked, “tradition……is the
democracy of the dead.” By all accounts stated above, the Congress believed in „tradition‟ as
their patron saint. How alienated the rulers of the nation were from the ruled! Manohar
Parikkar, Sukhbir Badal and Akhilesh Yadav provided the critical break with „tradition‟. That
is why the nation toasts them today. Why was the Congress decimated?
First, for the Congress, India never moved ahead after Nehru. Indeed it did not, at
least till 1991. Born with silver spoons in their mouths, Congress leaders who mattered
placed themselves and their families before the party and the nation. Electoral tickets, loans,
subsidies, loan waivers, sale of strategic national assets and resources, even appointments to
the highest posts in the land, were decided in closed-door sessions by Congress politicians
and their undeserving allies, each calculated to hugely benefit their own kith and kin or
indulge in expansive back-scratching. Over the last six decades and counting, the Congress,
in particular, built a huge empire with its foundations in subsidies, subsidized loans, loan
melas, loan waivers, et al. Apart from bankrupting the central treasury and making way for a
Greece-like situation in the years to come, these steps have benefited powerful owners of
cooperative banks, fertilizer dealers, hoarders of PDS food grains, big farmers and select
corporate groups. The middle class had its own share of minor income tax sops and post-
liberalization wealth showered on a fortunate few. For the indigent there were however, not
even night shelters in the biting North Indian cold but for Samaritan intervention of higher
Courts, tribals consumed poisonous roots while small and marginal farmers committed
suicide at not being able to repay debts. The Food Security Bill only prolongs subsistence
living. Subsidies, reservations, quotas – all were politics of division of the 1950s-1970s at the
cost of development of the 1990s and 2Ks. For the Congress the 2K millennium evidently
never arrived. Instead what remained intact was Oliver Cromwell‟s analysis of members of
the Long Parliament in 1653, “Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God;
which of you have not barter'd your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that
has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?”
Second, Nehru-Gandhi India‟s shame lay in starvation deaths while food grains rotted
in the open or in leaky overflowing FCI storages. Notwithstanding generous infusions of
central grants-in-aids and low-interest loans to states, basic infrastructure including, but not
limited to potable water, primary health care centers, primary schools, etc. have either
crumbled or, are simply, non-existent, particularly in rural areas. And most such states reeled
under Congress rule for over three decades. Major cities are on the brink of urban disaster
while people shell out usurious electricity and water bills and kill each other for parking
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2. space. State universities willy-nilly collapsed; the few that survive with credit cannot hope to
do so for much longer. Prices have rocketed along with fuel prices reducing even the calorie
intake of the average Indian. Women hardly mattered as well-heeled ladies looked for job
opportunities in the name of women‟s reservation. This was when women, half of India‟s
population, were sagaciously tapped by Dr. SZ Quraishi‟s Election Commission to come out
and vote, as they did, in huge numbers, with attendant catastrophic results for the Congress.
Again Cromwell‟s Long Parliament speech ibid rings true, “you have dishonored by your
contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and
enemies to all good government….”
Third, the Congress campaign was necessarily geared to promising goodies that they
had not delivered since 1952. Not just this, their campaign was negatively geared. If other
parties had something to show off, the Congress reasoned the best way was to pull the other
down to its abysmal level of non-performance. Their politics was geared to stand in the way
of progress even in UP simply because they were out of power there. Railway factories do
not alone generate votes. Not only that, sub-quotas were arrogantly and unilaterally declared
by none other than the Union Law Minister, an apparent progressive, from within legal
quotas established by successive governments and the Supreme Court. Evidently, such
negative gearing was to assure that the Samajwadi Party‟s vote bank was diluted. On the one
hand was a Congress that opposed the Communal Award in 1932 and now Narendra Modi‟s
alleged communal philandering in Gujarat. On the other, the Congress gracelessly promoted
divisive politics of division of colonial times when development, of its own admission, was
the call of the 1990s and beyond. The pinnacle of arrogant intolerance was when Rahul tore
up the SP‟s manifesto to a beaming media‟s cameras. Notwithstanding whatever Mr.
Narendra Modi‟s detractors have to say about his „communal politics‟, Mr. Modi has
effectively shown what miracles development of an impoverished nation can do to its people.
Development engenders self-respect and hence is to be welcomed, not shunned, or fall prey
to partisan politics. Inclusive development, as Mr. Modi has shown, is the surest-shot vote-
catcher. Blinded by its hatred arising from fear of Mr. Modi‟s managerial ability and its
positive fall-out on minorities, the Congress stuck to its traditional arrogantly zamindari
plank. The end result was rightful decimation by infuriated voters.
Fourth, the Congress was also seen to have gifted away rights for exploitation of
natural resources ranging from land and natural gas, telecom spectrum to metal ores, often for
a song. Projects were awarded on the whims and fancies of Ministers, drying budget
allocations for Opposition-ruled states, spiraling sugar prices topped with high-price
emergent purchases of sugar in international markets benefiting UPA allies while farmers
starved to death or committed suicide, these were but drops in the tidal wave of resentment
against the Congress. Arrogant Congress absentee landlords – ‘barsaati mendaks’
(monsoonal frogs) were seen to have driven an honest PM driven to dishonesty by incessant
backseat driving by the Nehru-Gandhis, and that too on megabuck, and often murky, deals, is
something that even the most illiterate of voters discerned – Cromwell‟s “mercenary
wretches…………like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.” So much so that
some senior Ministers even appeared in the media overruling the PM and said Rahul could be
PM, whenever he wanted. If PM Manmohan Singh did not matter, CM was an irrelevance!
Arrogance of power stretched to an extent where a senior Congress Minister was shown on
media stating that either the Congress would form a new government or it would be
President‟s Rule for UP. Priyanka pinching her mother‟s cheek and promising her all the
assembly segments in Rae Bareli and Amethi Lok Sabha constituencies was nothing short of
political hara-kiri. It gave the voter an impression of being a historic sucker who jolly well
would have to vote to perpetuate the divine right to rule of the Nehru-Gandhis.
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3. Understandably, Rahul and Priyanka only myopically succeeded in stoking public outrage, a
filial cheek-pinching losing nine of ten seats from the Gandhi-Nehrus‟ Lok Sabha assembly
segments!
Fifth, Rahul Gandhi‟s advisers, almost entirely drawn from the young generation of
hand-me down family retainers, attuned more to Page 3 and social clubs, were as far
alienated from the voter as Paradise is from Purgatory, and equally arrogant to boot. Neither
can Excel sheets read voter‟s minds, nor is the voter a mere statistic. That the voter was
human,was completely overlooked by Rahul‟s advisers. Here too the ostrich-like Congress
arrogance essayed a major role. Akhilesh‟s bus and cycle yatras were in stark contrast to
Rahul‟s choppers and robotic and dour-faced SPG security men that highlighted his
alienation from his voters. Media reports of air conditioners ferried to Rahul‟s Dalit visits and
powered by Scorpio-mounted generators were beamed to all villages. His advisers also did
him in Bhatta-Parsaul (NOIDA) by shamelessly transforming burnt plastic and wood shaving
to human mortal remains without a shred of remorse when proved by a government
laboratory. Akhilesh‟s nine-year old bubbly daughter, Aditi - a picture of a happy middle-
class family - was in stark contrast to familial differences on public display in the shape of
Robert Vadra who even staked claim to Amethi/Rae Bareli after Rahul and Priyanka, as one
would to a family zamindari! That MBAs and former Rajas, zamindars and family
businessmen were irrelevant in wooing the voter for the Congress cannot therefore be denied,
for science, management and business cannot replace humanism and common sense. Chronic
foot-in-mouth disease of Beni Prasad Verma, Sriprakash Jaiswal and many others conveyed
an impression that the Congress election machine looked and behaved more like a 1950s
Landmaster car complete with its crankshaft-turning handle!
Seventh, like the Nehru-Gandhis, their lieutenants too thought their constituencies
were mortgaged in eternity for their children, a pro rated extension of the divine right to rule
principle. To retain their turf, they doled out tickets to musclemen who would safeguard their
familial constituencies for their posterity. Sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, wives and
mistresses, all found tickets and each claimed they had the „backing‟ of the Nehru-Gandhis –
a claim subsequently roundly rejected by voters. Beni Prasad Verma even proclaimed in the
media that the Congress should ally with the Samajwadis, evidently to protect their own turf
that he was in danger of losing. Eventually, he lost all seven seats in his Lok Sabha
constituency, including his son‟s. In stark contrast, Akhilesh‟s vetting of party candidates left
out criminals and many hereditary politicians. The few that survived were defeated at the
hustings or survived by wafer-thin margins. Similarly, Punjab witnessed an arrogant ex-
Maharaja of Patiala, proclaiming a huge Congress majority when the obverse was coming
true. Why would voters vote for plebian-communal Akalis when a Maharaja was available?
Never has the alienation of the rulers from their subjects been as complete, not even in
Europe in the Middle Ages!
Eighth, bred on a high-calorie media diet by the likes of Barkha Dutt and Arnab
Goswami, the Congress arrogantly took for granted the extensive media coverage of an
occasional meal with a Dalit and arrogant tearing of other‟s electoral manifestos that
obviously detracted from the civility of Elections 2012. This only enraged and pushed voters
to exceed their rightful limits of tolerance. The sight of multi-crore elephants and public
parks tell an identical tale. It was beyond Rahul and his advisers to comprehend that the
media was a double-edged sword. So much so, an honest PM‟s future was publicly debated,
even that he could be arrogantly dumped in a lake at the drop of the imperious imperial pin,
again in full media glare. That this was the dominant paradigm in the Congress became even
more apparent when the Congress President said on national media immediately after
Elections 2012 that PM Manmohan Singh would continue as PM!
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4. Ninth, the recent Brihanmumbai and other local body elections in Maharashtra,
showed that the Congress was the biggest single loser, unlike its UPA ally, the NCP that
maintained its seats and even improved upon them, in cases. Except for Maharashtra and
Andhra Pradesh, the Congress is nowhere in power in any other large state. The Congress
does not command the numbers, without its self-seeking UPA allies in Parliament. Drastic
situations demand drastic solutions and leaders. In all respects the Congress remained
wanting. The Congress President went on national media on Election Day evening stating her
party had too many leaders. What she omitted to mention that each one owed his loyalty to
her, and therefore she was entirely responsible for the rout and not just her hapless son,
Rahul, who became the tragic scapegoat. Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Digvijaya Singh even
proferred their heads in sacrifice – a typically zamindari trait, for victory alone was the diving
right of the Nehru-Gandhis and last rites were the preserve of the minions to suffer! Indeed
the Congress rout may pave the way for yet another late-1970s musical chairs at the centre,
with hostile borders and a crumbling economy. When Elections 2012 were so critical for the
long-time survival of the Congress, why did they not appropriately invest human resources
and common sense in it? The answer lies in the Nehru-Gandhi legacy of arrogance and in the
forced perpetuation of that family‟s divine right to rule.
Last, but not the least, is the fact of Akhilesh, Manohar and Sukhbir being sons of
their soil. In contrast, Rahul is the son of a Christian mother whose origins lie outside this
land, even though she is an Indian citizen by naturalization. Rahul‟s Hindi speeches often
bordered on the violent and his empty innunedos were not a substitute for reasoned argument
and appeal. His Hindi diction bespoke a public school accent, not known for its purity or
accent or even regional slants that reduce the distance between the rulers and the ruled. In
contrast, Akhilesh spoke guttural Hindi, Manohar, chaste Konkani, and Sukhbir, rustic
Punjabi. It was therefore natural that voters saw them as prospective leaders. Further, Rahul
did not have any political, social or economic achievement to his credit, other than
sycophantic glue. In contrast, Manohar and Sukhbir served as MLAs, State Public Accounts
Committee Chaiperson, CM and Dy. CM that stood them in good stead. Born and bred in
traditionally heavyweight political families, Sukhbir and Akhilesh were exposed to the rough
and tumble of party life (under the watchful eyes of their able fathers) before taking the full-
time plunge. Unfortunately, Rajiv Gandhi‟s untimely end deprived Rahul of similar grooming
and instead, placed him in the company of sycophants and time-servers. It was evident,
indeed unfortunate, that Rahul never stood a chance, even with his noble intentions and
strenuous last-minute efforts.
The Congress rout was thus reminiscent of Oliver Cromwell‟s immortal speech to the
Long Parliament at its dissolution on 20th April, 1653: “…have you not defil'd this sacred
place, and turn'd the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and
wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation…………So! Take
away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!” Only the
Indian voter replaced Cromwell. Yet there was no change in the anger level from Cromwell
to the Indian voter. The only difference was that a hostile Charles I was replaced by an
impartial, competent, graceful, yet firm, and painstaking Chief Election Commissioner, Dr.
SZ Quraishi, and his team of able and committed officers and staff of the Election
Commission that paved the way for the nation‟s most peaceful and orderly election to date,
instead of plunging into Civil War, as happened in England, 350 years ago. This was even as
the EC‟s authority was sought to be undermined by the very same Congress arrogance
manifested in public defiance by Jaiswal, Verma and Khursheed, followed by traditional
recanting.
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5. What does the Congress rout then translate to? For one, it places people‟s trust in a
new generation that is seen to have the capacity and willingness for hard work, transparency,
fair decision-making, largely secular, untainted by corruption and criminality and accessible
to the common man. Their promise of bringing development to this noble land enthuse the
average voter, tired of listening to false promises and propaganda, for over six decades.
Second, the promise of a single party with an impressive margin of victory is seen to be a
stepping stone to the central government, which people yet believe is a major source of their
misery. Most voters would believe that a strong state representation would ensure that central
government grants and loans become more easily and fairly accessible to the state. At the
same time, a responsive administration would devote their energies to fairly expending such
funds in their state‟s balanced development. Voters have thus sealed a two-way social
contract to safeguard their life, liberty and property, by giving the go-bye to many „stalwarts‟,
some even in jail. Therefore new „stalwarts‟ beware! Forewarned is forearmed!! For
Elections 2014 and 2017 are not too far away. For the nation, single ruling regional parties in
states is good news, but what happens if all of them make a beeline for the centre in 2014?
Should we revisit our Constitution and think of a directly elected Chief Executive that is
independent of legislative support for its existence at the Centre?
The author is a former Ambassador of India to Cuba, Chile and Bolivia and a former
Director of the Historical Research Division in the Ministry of External Affairs. This
article was published in The Statesman on 22nd-23rd Mar, 2012 in two parts and is
available online at
http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=403981:special-
article&catid=38:editorial&from_page=search and
http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404077:special-
article&catid=38:editorial&from_page=search
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