India goes to national elections from mid-April this year. Voting this time is going to be a litmus test for the ruling Congress and its allies. The polls are becoming quite interesting since opposition leader Narendra Modi, prime ministerial nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has thrown a formidable challenge to the ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government. Incumbent Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has said that he would not be a candidate for the prime ministerial job even if his party wins the elections.
Recently, the Congress lost state assembly elections in four of the five states and this has dampened the spirit of the party. Particularly, the loss in Delhi state assembly elections has been a big disaster as the Congress has been relegated to a distant third position after being in power for two consecutive terms. Two important states - Madhya Pradesh and Rajsthan - were already in the grip of the BJP, which has further strengthened its position in both the important states.
Earlier, results of the five state assembly elections came as a big disappointment for the centre-ruling Congress. The results that saw a poor performance by the Congress leading to a rainbow coalition at the federal government are a big setback for party president Sonia Gandhi and more so for her son Rahul Gandhi, largely seen as the future prime minister of the country.
India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, which sends maximum number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, drew attention of all in the recent polls as the Congress was desperate to stage a comeback to its old citadel.
The state has also special significance for Sonia and Rahul as the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty comes from here. Besides, Uttar Pradesh has produced most of the prime ministers of world's largest democracy. The first premier of independent India Jawharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi were all from this state. Outside the Nehru family, Congress had Lal Bahadur Sastri as the prime minister from this state. Non-Congress premiers from the state include Bishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandra Shekhar. As such, the importance of Uttar Pradesh in Indian political milieu is well understood.
 But the strength of the Congress in the state is on the decline for last several years as it has not been able to win much seats either in the central parliament or in the state assembly. Both Sonia and Rahul were keen to improve the image of the party in the state for obvious reasons. Frankly, none really expected the party to win the polls here, but enormous scope existed for improving its position. Unfortunately for Congress, that has not happened and sadly, the party came fourth after Samajwadi Party, ruling Bhujan Samaj party (BSP) and the BJP. Worse still, Congress lost seats in the constituencies of Sonia and Rahul - Rai Baerelly and Amethi respectively that had returned them with big margins in the Lok Sabha, the central parliament. Indeed, this was a big embarrassment for both the mother and the son. Rahul has taken the responsibility of the failure on his shoulders, but the fact remains that the outcome of the UP voting has cast doubts on his ability to negotiate the troubled waters of national politics.
This is a setback for the Congress as it could not come nearer to power in the UP while it also could not fare well in the Punjab.
The only satisfaction for the party is that it has been able to retain power in the small north-eastern state of Manipur. Punjab was the second most important state after UP that went for balloting. Here, an alliance between the Akali Dal and the BJP romped home, dealing a hard blow to the Congress.
The Congress-led UPA is in a difficult situation mainly because of a number of alleged corruption scandals. The recent election results could be seen as a reflection of the central authority's current image, although the state polls are fought largely on different platforms.
The poor performance by the Congress in the state assembly polls in two phases gives a signal that the party's popularity is declining. Nevertheless, this can be seen as a wake up call and the Congress may try to repair the lost ground to some extent at the national polls, although facing the fierce challenge from BJP prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi would be tough.
zaglulbss@yahoo.com
India polls: Litmus test for Congress
Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury | Published: January 08, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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