12-17-2005, 03:29 AM
xposting Mitra's post from BJP thread.
<!--QuoteBegin-Mitra+Dec 16 2005, 01:57 PM-->QUOTE(Mitra @ Dec 16 2005, 01:57 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->How to win elections - now this is a pretty complex issue.
Do not make the big mistake, performance alone does not suffice. As a Govt. the NDA performed excellently on nearly all fronts. Economy, Industry, tourism,etc. - and not to ignore liberalisation, which is responsible for the resugent India we see today. The agriculture scene was reasonable, not too good but not bad either. Progress was there though slow. However its non performance on its core ideological issues was what got it out of power by alienating its core votebank. Whenever a party wants to win solely on performance - it turns the common voter into a very selfish mode. He tends to think "ok if everything is going so well and everybody is making good, let me calculate exactly what good things have happened to me - mujhe kya mila?" And believe me, however high may be the performance index of the govt. concerned, it more often than not does not add up favourably. People tend to forget their blessings and concentrate on the blemishes. There is also another factor. Every developement happens in a trickle down mode and certain sections utilise and exploit the gains of a good economy earlier than the others. In India currently the most benefitted section is not the rich but the middle and upper middle classes. However rather large chunks of these classes have started to consider themselves as too cool to vote. Thus while the benefitted and the well disposed stays home and watches TV, those that feel a grudge rush out to vote, determined to make it a day of reckoning for the present govt. This has happened to every party and every goverment who has tried to win elections solely on performance.
Only ideology does not suffice either. The prime example of this is the CPM of Kerala (NOT of WB) which has lost every alternate election.
Elections under normal circumstances (when nobody is emotionally charged due to some reason or other) are generally won by a judicious mix of both performance and ideology. And a large dollop of realpolitik, basically its - whom to subdue, whom to promote and whom to buy out. And the permutations and combination of these equations change frequently. Nobody advertises it, everybody does it. Politics is the most undiluted form of worldliness and materialism. Anyone who is searching for saints in this sphere is deluding himself/herself.
jay_dk, ashyam, ben_ami
How does the CPM holds on to power in WB for 30 years? To do justice to this topic would require pages and pages. But here's the nutshell.
It is undeniable that for the first two phases (1977-1987) the CPM did a lot of work targetted towards its core constituency in the State - the rural poor. This was achieved through mainly two means - land reforms and social empowerment of the backward castes. Both these policies went haywire in later stages but the goodwill they earned for the first ten years have stood them in good stead for the next 20. Though the factor of Caste is weak in Bengal still this "empowerment" angle has a little twist. It is not that the poor or backward has had their lot improved to a great deal. Empowerment really meant that the party cadres were given free reign to help themselves with the land and goods of the opposing "classes". This earned them their loyalty and votes.
2. The Party totally infiltrated and controlled the academia and intelligentia. Till the middle of the 1990's nearly 99% percent of the School, Collage and University teachers posts were filled only by people subscribing to the Marxist ideology. So were the other academic bodies and research institutes. It is this part of the strategy that brainwashed the youth of a whole state for 2 full decades.
3. Realpolitik. Half of CPM's total efforts were used to play the weaknesses and differences of its opponents. It is wrong to assume that WB CPM used extreme violence (like Kerala) to subdue its opponents. Differences in opponent ranks were eagerly exploited. Weaker leaders of the opponent parties were actively assisted with money, men and the "influence" they were allowed to employ in govt. circles and other places sometimes surpassed even hardcore party office bearers! The sole reason for this policy was to promote a weak leadership in the opposition which is beholden to the CPM for its prominence and influence. Many a time CPM deliberately fielded lightweights against chosen opposition leaders and the party cadres were ordered to work against the official party candidate. Subsequently when these leaders won they did the CPM's bidding either in Delhi or Kolkata. This, in a nutshell, is the secret why the Left Front keeps winning WB decade after decade, although the vote % of the left has never surpassed 41-43%.
One very important factor to notice between the two so called 'Organised Political Parties' of India CPM and BJP is that the CPM clearly identifies its core votebank and unabashedly promotes its interests, whatever and wherever they might be, thereby winning their loyalty and fidelity. In close run contests it is this votebank which tides them over. They simply do not care what the media says or does. Whatever keeps them in power, they stick with it. In these matters their intellectual communities are well utilised to provide a veneer of sophistication for the more unpalatable activities. Everybody knows how the BJP treats its votebank and the whirlwind of resentment such treatment reaped.
Although, as a parting shot, it must be said that the Superb focus and Organisation of the CPM can be maintained only because it is a very small party influential in two small states, however all pervading that influence might be there. It is nearly impossible for any pan-india party to maintain such a tight structure.
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<!--QuoteBegin-Mitra+Dec 16 2005, 01:57 PM-->QUOTE(Mitra @ Dec 16 2005, 01:57 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->How to win elections - now this is a pretty complex issue.
Do not make the big mistake, performance alone does not suffice. As a Govt. the NDA performed excellently on nearly all fronts. Economy, Industry, tourism,etc. - and not to ignore liberalisation, which is responsible for the resugent India we see today. The agriculture scene was reasonable, not too good but not bad either. Progress was there though slow. However its non performance on its core ideological issues was what got it out of power by alienating its core votebank. Whenever a party wants to win solely on performance - it turns the common voter into a very selfish mode. He tends to think "ok if everything is going so well and everybody is making good, let me calculate exactly what good things have happened to me - mujhe kya mila?" And believe me, however high may be the performance index of the govt. concerned, it more often than not does not add up favourably. People tend to forget their blessings and concentrate on the blemishes. There is also another factor. Every developement happens in a trickle down mode and certain sections utilise and exploit the gains of a good economy earlier than the others. In India currently the most benefitted section is not the rich but the middle and upper middle classes. However rather large chunks of these classes have started to consider themselves as too cool to vote. Thus while the benefitted and the well disposed stays home and watches TV, those that feel a grudge rush out to vote, determined to make it a day of reckoning for the present govt. This has happened to every party and every goverment who has tried to win elections solely on performance.
Only ideology does not suffice either. The prime example of this is the CPM of Kerala (NOT of WB) which has lost every alternate election.
Elections under normal circumstances (when nobody is emotionally charged due to some reason or other) are generally won by a judicious mix of both performance and ideology. And a large dollop of realpolitik, basically its - whom to subdue, whom to promote and whom to buy out. And the permutations and combination of these equations change frequently. Nobody advertises it, everybody does it. Politics is the most undiluted form of worldliness and materialism. Anyone who is searching for saints in this sphere is deluding himself/herself.
jay_dk, ashyam, ben_ami
How does the CPM holds on to power in WB for 30 years? To do justice to this topic would require pages and pages. But here's the nutshell.
It is undeniable that for the first two phases (1977-1987) the CPM did a lot of work targetted towards its core constituency in the State - the rural poor. This was achieved through mainly two means - land reforms and social empowerment of the backward castes. Both these policies went haywire in later stages but the goodwill they earned for the first ten years have stood them in good stead for the next 20. Though the factor of Caste is weak in Bengal still this "empowerment" angle has a little twist. It is not that the poor or backward has had their lot improved to a great deal. Empowerment really meant that the party cadres were given free reign to help themselves with the land and goods of the opposing "classes". This earned them their loyalty and votes.
2. The Party totally infiltrated and controlled the academia and intelligentia. Till the middle of the 1990's nearly 99% percent of the School, Collage and University teachers posts were filled only by people subscribing to the Marxist ideology. So were the other academic bodies and research institutes. It is this part of the strategy that brainwashed the youth of a whole state for 2 full decades.
3. Realpolitik. Half of CPM's total efforts were used to play the weaknesses and differences of its opponents. It is wrong to assume that WB CPM used extreme violence (like Kerala) to subdue its opponents. Differences in opponent ranks were eagerly exploited. Weaker leaders of the opponent parties were actively assisted with money, men and the "influence" they were allowed to employ in govt. circles and other places sometimes surpassed even hardcore party office bearers! The sole reason for this policy was to promote a weak leadership in the opposition which is beholden to the CPM for its prominence and influence. Many a time CPM deliberately fielded lightweights against chosen opposition leaders and the party cadres were ordered to work against the official party candidate. Subsequently when these leaders won they did the CPM's bidding either in Delhi or Kolkata. This, in a nutshell, is the secret why the Left Front keeps winning WB decade after decade, although the vote % of the left has never surpassed 41-43%.
One very important factor to notice between the two so called 'Organised Political Parties' of India CPM and BJP is that the CPM clearly identifies its core votebank and unabashedly promotes its interests, whatever and wherever they might be, thereby winning their loyalty and fidelity. In close run contests it is this votebank which tides them over. They simply do not care what the media says or does. Whatever keeps them in power, they stick with it. In these matters their intellectual communities are well utilised to provide a veneer of sophistication for the more unpalatable activities. Everybody knows how the BJP treats its votebank and the whirlwind of resentment such treatment reaped.
Although, as a parting shot, it must be said that the Superb focus and Organisation of the CPM can be maintained only because it is a very small party influential in two small states, however all pervading that influence might be there. It is nearly impossible for any pan-india party to maintain such a tight structure.
[right][snapback]43311[/snapback][/right]
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