Ides of March

The recent election results in UP, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa are a clear testament to the declining influence of national parties in the country. Congress and BJP have been humiliated by the voters and obliterated by them at least in UP. The surprising and the seemingly irreversible decline of both BJP and Congress shows the high level of disenchantment of the masses who prefer voting for local parties with regional mindsets than to strengthen the hand of national parties.

Both Congress and BJP have only themselves to blame for their shoddy state of affairs. Congress, marred by corruption, sycophancy and lack of political and ideological vision for the nation also faces a mounting obstacle in the form of a very strong anti-incumbency wave. BJP, sadly has been unable to step into the shoes of a strong responsible and attractive alternative to the Congress and is marred by dissent, both political and ideological, within its ranks. 

Rahul Gandhi was expected to turn the fortunes of Congress around in UP. Sadly, he cost them even the sure shot government slot in Punjab. BJP, bereft of a strong regional leader in UP was bound to lose, but the nature and the extent of loss, that is decline in number of seats and the overall vote share is a slap in the face of BJP-UP stalwarts like Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra and many others. Even the belated arrival of Uma Bharti did little to improve the situation for the party.

The states which are ruled by Congress and the BJP are those wherein the local units of these parties have become strong regional parties in their own right. For example, the BJP of Narendra Modi in Gujarat or the Congress of Taurn Gogoi in Assam do not represent the state of decay and degeneration that their national counterparts face. The victory of Parrikar in Goa and Ibobi Singh in Manipur must be seen in that perspective. Both are capable, state level leaders and the voters have voted them into power, not necessarily the parties that they represent.

Going by the way things look now, 2014 will deliver another United Front type government- cobbled up by various parties opposed to both the BJP and the Congress… Given its likely narrow vision and focus on regional issues, it is likely to mark the arrival of another era of political instability at the national level which does not bode well for a strong, confident and stable India claiming its rightful place at the international stage