Lessons to learn from recent elections

Almost every political party, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), must draw lessons from the just-concluded Assembly elections in five states – Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The party which should immediately put aside every other business and get into serious analysis of the election results – disasters – that it faced is the Congress. It is one party that has not only failed to make any significant presence in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand, but also failed to retain Punjab despite the fact that the BJP too has failed miserably in that state. It is a fact that the Congress party is now like a rudderless boat. No one in the party is sure who exactly is its executive head, and who runs it. All three leaders from the Gandhi family – Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi – have repeatedly proved that they have no impact among the voters of the country. The second rung of leaders in the Congress is more busy fighting among themselves instead of contributing towards revitalizing and strengthening the party. Likewise, the BJP too should be able to find out soon what led to its pathetic performance in Punjab, where it could win only two seats out of 117. It is imperative that the BJP also analyses what is the key to Aam Aadmi Party's grand success in Punjab. A party that does not have money-power and muscle-power which are so typical to contemporary Indian politics, especially when it comes to fighting elections, the AAP must be having some very interesting strategy that has contributed towards its amazing performance in Punjab. As far as the Left parties are concerned, the less said the better, because all Left forces are gradually on their wane. The significant improvement in performance that the Samajwadi Party has registered in Uttar Pradesh on the other hand should serve as some warning to the BJP. As far as Assam is concerned, it is the municipal elections and the Majuli Assembly constituency bye-election which should prompt the leaders of the Congress, Raijor Dal and Asom Jatiya Parishad to engage in serious analysis of their respective dismal performances. While the Congress has been already described as a rudderless boat, the other two parties - Raijor Dal and Asom Jatiya Parishad – appear to have failed to draw any lesson from the Assam Assembly elections of 2021. It seems that these two new entities, which are both headed by young leaders, do not have any scientific mechanism in place through which they can actually conduct a study or analysis of the ground realities. Slogans, motorbike rallies, press releases, roadshows and wild allegations against the opponents cannot help catch votes. The common people are concerned about the delivery of basic services, and development. Yes, publicity is also required. But then publicity should contain hard facts regarding the ground realities and the issues which affect the voters most. Both Raijor Dal and Asom Jatiya Parishad did not have anything worthwhile to tell the people when they went out to seek votes. About the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), it appears that the regional party does not have anything of its own, and only looks at its senior partner BJP to give it some share of its success. The AGP has no specific plan and programme to show to the people. Its MLAs have largely won in the 2021 Assembly election by riding on the BJP wave created by Himanta Biswa Sarma. The number of AGP legislators has been drastically coming down in every passing Assembly election. This way there is every reason to apprehend that the AGP will be wiped out in the 2026 Assembly election. A regional party has a lot of responsibility towards the region. What the AGP had failed to do in the past, the BJP has been doing in the past six years. It was an issue close to the promise of 'jaati-maati-bheti' of the BJP on which the AGP was constituted in 1985. While its founder president and two-time chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has faded away for his own faults, it will not take much time for present president Atul Bora and executive president Keshab Mahanta to go into oblivion. The regional party should not have chosen to become an appendage to a national party. Rather, it should have worked hard to become an equal and respectable partner of the BJP.