02-26-2009, 06:48 PM
<b>State Pulse: New Delhi: Battle lines drawn for Lok Sabha elections</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Category » Editorial Posted On Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The youth have the potential to usher in change and it is the responsibility of the leadership to provide them the opportunity- MK Dhar
The nation's two largest political formations Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and BJP-led truncated National Democratic--Alliance are joining the ensuing election battle pretty much divided and unsure of what the future holds for them. Revival of the Hindutva and Ram temple agendas has already created a schism with the BJP pitted against former allies--TDP, Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK and JD(U)--and a feeling has taken root that LK Advani does not have a winning agenda to fulfill his life-long ambition. Differences between the Congress, NCP and SP over seat-sharing and other matters seem to rule out the possibility of their fighting the elections untidily to prevent division of secular votes and attrition of seats.
Considering the state of the parties the BJP, on present reckoning is unlikely to reach its 2004 tally and the Congress may not achieve any spectacular gains to enable it to shake off dependence on allies in government formation. As BJP's recent Nagpur conclave revealed, pessimism is widespread in its rank and file which feels that it does not have a winning agenda to oust the UPA. Equally true the big Congress jumbooree in New Delhi witnessed plain-speak by grassroot workers about missed opportunity to widen the party's base and involve the youth in a big way; all pervading groupism, lack of unity at the organisational level and projection of controversial faces. The sum total of their plaints was that the party was as weak as it was five years ago and nothing much had been done by the leadership to revive and re-energies it.
The Government resisted the temptation of making election oriented tax concessions across-the-board without corresponding steps to raise revenues and the bridge the huge gap in revenue and projected expenditure. The country is already running a big current-account deficit due to shortfall in revenue and large sums committed for various rural development and employment generation programmes. Yet, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee was bold to announce a massive allocation of Rs. 131, 3I7 crore for various flagship programmes to spur the economy and benefit the common man, particularly the rural population. Besides committing Rs. 141, 703 crore for defence, in view of the deteriorating security situation owing to cross-border terrorism, he also announced massive spending on social sector schemes for the benefit of "aam admi" including Bharat Nirman, NREGA, rural infrastructure, farmers debt relief waiver and higher subsidies on food and fertiliser to protect the poor and increase farm production.
All this is in addition to the massive relief packages already announced with more to come to ensure liquidy of banks and the export sector, spur industrial growth and increase domestic consumption to mitigate the deleterious effects of the world financial crisis which has adversely impacted the economy and brought down GDP growth to 7.1 percent in 2008-09. The reduction in petroleum product and LPG prices has given substantial relief to the consumer and will spur demand. The remedial action taken by the Government has been fast, as well as, massive considering the resource crunch, in the hope that the people will not hesitate to make a little sacrifice to uplift the economy and resume the growth path.
The Government has also taken visible action to rebut the BJP's main election plank of playing soft on terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Through diplomatic means, it built up considerable pressure on Pakistan to own up the nationality and involvement of the Mumbai terrorists and promises to try them. Having thus lost the main election issue, the BJP campaign managers are now busy trying to invent new slogans and to prove that little development has taken place during five years of UPA rule Mr. Advani's slogans, such as, "pseudo-secularism", "minority appeasement", surrender before terrorism neglecting the poor are now too old and worm out to appeal anyone and the leadership's commitment to build temple to Lord Ram at Ayodhya is not taken seriously by anyone any more.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has sought a renewed mandate for her party so that it can continue to provide each and every Indian a life of security, dignity and prosperity. She has repeated her charge that the BJP has been misusing the name of Lord Ram for cheap electoral gain. Grave damage has been done to our secular polity society and economy by the BJP-led NDA. "Theirs is a voice of polarisation, of division, of hatred". The Congress, on the other hand, is a voice of social justice and communal harmony, she argued. She has expressed confidence in her party's ability to win the elections. While ruling out a coalition at the national level before the election, presumably to avoid too many claimants for the Prime Ministerial post, but favours local-level tie-up in some states out of compulsion but not at the cost of the party's growth.
This is relevant to the big demands for seats made by the Nationalist Congress party in Maharashtra and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh which, if conceded, would reduce the Party's overall tally and weaken its bargaining position during the leadership contest. But she made no commitment regarding seat allocation for the youth in her party as a step towards rejuvenating it with the infusion of young blood and not relying too much on old fagged-out faces which are uninspiring and have become more of a liability and cannot be counted as an asset. The sooner they make way for younger, trusted and energetic persons the better it is for the party's future as a vibrant political force. Taking up their case, Mr. Rahul Gandhi pledged to end the domination of "recommendation" and money power over party politics. Though the youth worked very hard, it got no chance at the time of election. They have the potential to usher in change and it is the responsibility of the leadership to provide them the opportunity. ''Caste, money and religion will not be criteria -- only work will be", he promised. It remains to be seen how he succeeds in bringing about this transformation.
The Congress has tried to deprive the BJP of all its election planks and the saffron party has taken to personal attacks and highlighting "dynasty politics" which no longer clicks, except that Narendra Modi gets thus an opportunity to spit venom at the party which is most likely to return to power at the Centre. For a party that takes pride in being heir to a Hindu nationalist tradition strongly critical of Mahatma Gandhi, the sudden desire to lay claim to the Mahatma's legacy is inexplicable. The party leaders have not hesitated to revert aggressively to abrasive themes of the past that had caused it to lose considerable political ground in the earlier election. Mr. Modi cannot resist taking the usual potshot at the Muslims by alleging there was "inside help" to the terrorists involved in the recent Mumbai attack.
Doubts that Mr. Advani was trying to recast the BJP in a secular mould were removed when the returned to the temple theme asserting that his party "never left Ram". He is doing so under compulsion from the likes of Party President Rajnath Singh and others, in full knowledge that this is no longer a winning election slogan. Obviously, under instructions from the RSS, the leaders are trying to project the BJP as a true Hindutva Party even though, in the eyes of the people, it is presenting itself as an obscurantist party with a unidimensional agenda. But the party can hardly gain any momentum on the basis of this slogan and politically uninspiring platform.
The pledge to build the Ram temple has rattled BJP's allies with BJD and JD (United) dissociating from the slogan and insisting that the BJP was trying to commit hara kiri. Burdened with an ageing leader who hardly inspires the new generation of voters and whom the frontal organisations like VHP and Bajrang Dal do not like a bit, BJP does not summon courage to project a younger leader. The allies have made it clear that the temple is a BJP issue and did not bode well for the unity of the NDA, or whatever is still left of it with TDP and others having already walked out. <b>It underlines the tension the party faces seeking to tailor its secular concerns of development and governance with the religious pitch. It has given its opponents a convenient handle to rally Muslims against the BJP in the elections yet it cannot rally the Hindu vote in its favour. </b>The future looks pretty grim.
-NPA<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Category » Editorial Posted On Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The youth have the potential to usher in change and it is the responsibility of the leadership to provide them the opportunity- MK Dhar
The nation's two largest political formations Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and BJP-led truncated National Democratic--Alliance are joining the ensuing election battle pretty much divided and unsure of what the future holds for them. Revival of the Hindutva and Ram temple agendas has already created a schism with the BJP pitted against former allies--TDP, Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK and JD(U)--and a feeling has taken root that LK Advani does not have a winning agenda to fulfill his life-long ambition. Differences between the Congress, NCP and SP over seat-sharing and other matters seem to rule out the possibility of their fighting the elections untidily to prevent division of secular votes and attrition of seats.
Considering the state of the parties the BJP, on present reckoning is unlikely to reach its 2004 tally and the Congress may not achieve any spectacular gains to enable it to shake off dependence on allies in government formation. As BJP's recent Nagpur conclave revealed, pessimism is widespread in its rank and file which feels that it does not have a winning agenda to oust the UPA. Equally true the big Congress jumbooree in New Delhi witnessed plain-speak by grassroot workers about missed opportunity to widen the party's base and involve the youth in a big way; all pervading groupism, lack of unity at the organisational level and projection of controversial faces. The sum total of their plaints was that the party was as weak as it was five years ago and nothing much had been done by the leadership to revive and re-energies it.
The Government resisted the temptation of making election oriented tax concessions across-the-board without corresponding steps to raise revenues and the bridge the huge gap in revenue and projected expenditure. The country is already running a big current-account deficit due to shortfall in revenue and large sums committed for various rural development and employment generation programmes. Yet, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee was bold to announce a massive allocation of Rs. 131, 3I7 crore for various flagship programmes to spur the economy and benefit the common man, particularly the rural population. Besides committing Rs. 141, 703 crore for defence, in view of the deteriorating security situation owing to cross-border terrorism, he also announced massive spending on social sector schemes for the benefit of "aam admi" including Bharat Nirman, NREGA, rural infrastructure, farmers debt relief waiver and higher subsidies on food and fertiliser to protect the poor and increase farm production.
All this is in addition to the massive relief packages already announced with more to come to ensure liquidy of banks and the export sector, spur industrial growth and increase domestic consumption to mitigate the deleterious effects of the world financial crisis which has adversely impacted the economy and brought down GDP growth to 7.1 percent in 2008-09. The reduction in petroleum product and LPG prices has given substantial relief to the consumer and will spur demand. The remedial action taken by the Government has been fast, as well as, massive considering the resource crunch, in the hope that the people will not hesitate to make a little sacrifice to uplift the economy and resume the growth path.
The Government has also taken visible action to rebut the BJP's main election plank of playing soft on terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Through diplomatic means, it built up considerable pressure on Pakistan to own up the nationality and involvement of the Mumbai terrorists and promises to try them. Having thus lost the main election issue, the BJP campaign managers are now busy trying to invent new slogans and to prove that little development has taken place during five years of UPA rule Mr. Advani's slogans, such as, "pseudo-secularism", "minority appeasement", surrender before terrorism neglecting the poor are now too old and worm out to appeal anyone and the leadership's commitment to build temple to Lord Ram at Ayodhya is not taken seriously by anyone any more.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has sought a renewed mandate for her party so that it can continue to provide each and every Indian a life of security, dignity and prosperity. She has repeated her charge that the BJP has been misusing the name of Lord Ram for cheap electoral gain. Grave damage has been done to our secular polity society and economy by the BJP-led NDA. "Theirs is a voice of polarisation, of division, of hatred". The Congress, on the other hand, is a voice of social justice and communal harmony, she argued. She has expressed confidence in her party's ability to win the elections. While ruling out a coalition at the national level before the election, presumably to avoid too many claimants for the Prime Ministerial post, but favours local-level tie-up in some states out of compulsion but not at the cost of the party's growth.
This is relevant to the big demands for seats made by the Nationalist Congress party in Maharashtra and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh which, if conceded, would reduce the Party's overall tally and weaken its bargaining position during the leadership contest. But she made no commitment regarding seat allocation for the youth in her party as a step towards rejuvenating it with the infusion of young blood and not relying too much on old fagged-out faces which are uninspiring and have become more of a liability and cannot be counted as an asset. The sooner they make way for younger, trusted and energetic persons the better it is for the party's future as a vibrant political force. Taking up their case, Mr. Rahul Gandhi pledged to end the domination of "recommendation" and money power over party politics. Though the youth worked very hard, it got no chance at the time of election. They have the potential to usher in change and it is the responsibility of the leadership to provide them the opportunity. ''Caste, money and religion will not be criteria -- only work will be", he promised. It remains to be seen how he succeeds in bringing about this transformation.
The Congress has tried to deprive the BJP of all its election planks and the saffron party has taken to personal attacks and highlighting "dynasty politics" which no longer clicks, except that Narendra Modi gets thus an opportunity to spit venom at the party which is most likely to return to power at the Centre. For a party that takes pride in being heir to a Hindu nationalist tradition strongly critical of Mahatma Gandhi, the sudden desire to lay claim to the Mahatma's legacy is inexplicable. The party leaders have not hesitated to revert aggressively to abrasive themes of the past that had caused it to lose considerable political ground in the earlier election. Mr. Modi cannot resist taking the usual potshot at the Muslims by alleging there was "inside help" to the terrorists involved in the recent Mumbai attack.
Doubts that Mr. Advani was trying to recast the BJP in a secular mould were removed when the returned to the temple theme asserting that his party "never left Ram". He is doing so under compulsion from the likes of Party President Rajnath Singh and others, in full knowledge that this is no longer a winning election slogan. Obviously, under instructions from the RSS, the leaders are trying to project the BJP as a true Hindutva Party even though, in the eyes of the people, it is presenting itself as an obscurantist party with a unidimensional agenda. But the party can hardly gain any momentum on the basis of this slogan and politically uninspiring platform.
The pledge to build the Ram temple has rattled BJP's allies with BJD and JD (United) dissociating from the slogan and insisting that the BJP was trying to commit hara kiri. Burdened with an ageing leader who hardly inspires the new generation of voters and whom the frontal organisations like VHP and Bajrang Dal do not like a bit, BJP does not summon courage to project a younger leader. The allies have made it clear that the temple is a BJP issue and did not bode well for the unity of the NDA, or whatever is still left of it with TDP and others having already walked out. <b>It underlines the tension the party faces seeking to tailor its secular concerns of development and governance with the religious pitch. It has given its opponents a convenient handle to rally Muslims against the BJP in the elections yet it cannot rally the Hindu vote in its favour. </b>The future looks pretty grim.
-NPA<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->