03-20-2009, 01:13 PM
Shamuji,
If the Congress had been that powerful then it would had the guts to fight the election on its own at least in UP with its 80 seats to the Lok Sabha and would not have been shabbily treated by other partners in Bihar , Utter Pradesh and West Bengal. Its position is so weak in most of the States that it is in no position to stand up against its own partners. Therefore, to say that it will have its way in conducting of the elections or in illegally influencing the verdict of the people is rather unrealistic.
The Civil Society, the media and the judiciary are all functional and so are the political parties both on the Government side and in the opposition. Today, money power and misuse of power will not be able to influence the outcome of the election to an extent in any State that the final result will go against the verdict of the majority of the voters. There can be minor aberrations in a few polling booths and that is not going to make any major change in the outcome of the results of any particular parliamentary constituency.
No national party is expecting to go in for a large scale success only on the basis of religion or caste to be successful on a National Level. It is somewhat different for the Shiv Sena as it has to address a captive electorate and same is the case with the AKALI Dal in Punjab. Religion is not a major factor un TamilNadu and in Kerala except for the Muslim Leagueâs captive constituencies there is no other place one can go in banking entirely on the religious plank.
Therefore, the BJP has very rightly distance itself from the controversy surrounding Varun Gandhi. Given the ground realities of contemporary Indian political scene, as a national Party the BJP cannot afford to be seen as a Hindu political outfit. The old image of BJP has undergone a change and it needs to maintain this image if it wants to succeed in the national level. In this context you will observe that in the immediate past the top leadership of BJP no longer talks of Shri Ram and Ayodha temple etc. Even if there is no large scale support of the Muslims yet it can get a sizable support from the so called secular Hindu electorate and this will give a great boost to its election prospects.
If the Congress had been that powerful then it would had the guts to fight the election on its own at least in UP with its 80 seats to the Lok Sabha and would not have been shabbily treated by other partners in Bihar , Utter Pradesh and West Bengal. Its position is so weak in most of the States that it is in no position to stand up against its own partners. Therefore, to say that it will have its way in conducting of the elections or in illegally influencing the verdict of the people is rather unrealistic.
The Civil Society, the media and the judiciary are all functional and so are the political parties both on the Government side and in the opposition. Today, money power and misuse of power will not be able to influence the outcome of the election to an extent in any State that the final result will go against the verdict of the majority of the voters. There can be minor aberrations in a few polling booths and that is not going to make any major change in the outcome of the results of any particular parliamentary constituency.
No national party is expecting to go in for a large scale success only on the basis of religion or caste to be successful on a National Level. It is somewhat different for the Shiv Sena as it has to address a captive electorate and same is the case with the AKALI Dal in Punjab. Religion is not a major factor un TamilNadu and in Kerala except for the Muslim Leagueâs captive constituencies there is no other place one can go in banking entirely on the religious plank.
Therefore, the BJP has very rightly distance itself from the controversy surrounding Varun Gandhi. Given the ground realities of contemporary Indian political scene, as a national Party the BJP cannot afford to be seen as a Hindu political outfit. The old image of BJP has undergone a change and it needs to maintain this image if it wants to succeed in the national level. In this context you will observe that in the immediate past the top leadership of BJP no longer talks of Shri Ram and Ayodha temple etc. Even if there is no large scale support of the Muslims yet it can get a sizable support from the so called secular Hindu electorate and this will give a great boost to its election prospects.