UPA victory: what it means?
May 17th, 2009To begin with it would be in order to congratulate Sonia, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi on this decisive victory. Truly commendable indeed. Congratulations once again!! Despite all the doomsday predictions they have managed to romp home with a clear verdict in their favor. The victory is quite significant in today’s times when all of us predicted a hung house with the regional players getting a major share of the cake. Some regional players like Trinamool Congress did corner a large chunk but only because they were in a tie up with Congress. Even JD(U) and DMK managed to get a big share only due to their alliance with BJP and Congress respectively. This is not to say that it is the end of the road for regional parties but there is surely a lesson or two for them to learn and emulate if they want to become players at the national level.
A job well done
Like everyone else I also undermined the goodwill and good work done by Congress in it’s last tenure. My beliefs stemmed from the fact that BJP was doing well in the states where it was in power and also because regional players who were not with either of these two could play a spoilsport in Congress’s chances. Had that happened BJP could’ve made a bid for it by weaning away people like Jayalalitha, Chandrababu Naidu and maybe even Mayawati. But it was not to be. Most of these stalwarts have been reduced to be non players in the current dispensation.
So what exactly does this result mean for you and me? Is the resurgence of Congress good for the nation or not? Will it benefit the aam admi or will it go down as a victory gone waste? And what does it mean for other parties who lost? Lets find out.
1. Stability. That’s the most important implication for the country. Though they are short of about fifteen seats or so I feel they can easily muster up the required numbers. It’s just a matter of deciding whom they wish to include and whom they don’t. The govt is going to be quite stable and in all likelihood will last it’s full term. With not too many counter weights in the govt the govt can concentrate more on issues of governance and deliver more than what it did in it’s last tenure, hopefully.
2. Economic Reforms. We all can expect big ticket reforms from this govt, now that they don’t have the baggage of Left parties attached. Protectionism will be the first casualty in the next five years. Be it privatisation of PSUs or FDI in retail we will see positive moves in this direction. The economy will surely get a big boost now. And this implies better job prospects and better pay packets for us. You can also expect the Sensex and Nifty to zoom in the next few days. Having said this I wish to point out that we are unlikely to see any of those huge loan waivers or some such stuff. Elections are over now, remember.
3. Focus on development. Yes, that’s one of the best implications. The development of infrastructure is likely to get a big push now. This in turn will result in our industry getting big orders which is big boost in these difficult times. It also means better roads, more electricity, good airports and railway stations etc etc. Expect a big focus on poorer sections of the society. Congress has realised that these are the people who can bring them back in UP elsewhere.
4. Foreign Policy. You can expect a more vigorous relationship with US, despite the differences on outsourcing. Also, hardening of stance against Pakistan is definitely on the cards. Some posturing and reaching out to Nepal too cannot be ruled out. On Sri Lankan issue we will see the govt maintaining a stoic silence (remember DMK is an ally in UPA) and some more aid for Tamils affected in the current face off.
I know these are pretty obvious implications for all you guys. But there implications for other parties who are not exactly with the Congress.
1. People like Lalu and Amar Singh have been shown their places. Even if they are included by Sonia Gandhi in the govt they will be subservient to her and Manmohan Singh, although it is highly unlikely for SP for the moment. Lalu is a different story as he has only four MPs and is hardly a threat.
2. People have clearly rejected the policies of Left parties. Their attitude towards UPA even before they withdrew support was at best, negative. It seemed their only agenda was to block the Congress at every step. They better watch out. If they don’t start working for the people in West Bengal and Kerala they will face a ceratain rout in next assembly elections.
3. As for BJP, I’ve already said a lot in my post BJP needs to apologize to the country. For now I can only say that they have no option but to shed their hardline image. For most of us religion is a personal issue. We hate it when it is turned into a political gamesmanship. Nobody cares for the Ram temple either. In short, they need a major overhaul.
4. Now a word about regional players. It’s not that that era of regional politics is over. But it is amply clear that for now they have to do two things. Work sincerely for the people (take BJD for example) and at the same time don’t work in isolation (DMK for example). Another example is JD(U) who has swept the elections not only by doing good work for the people but also by having an alliance with BJP at the same time. Now that was really smart. Not only did they garner their own votes they garnered BJP’s votes as well which has resulted in their huge victory. On the other hand you have BJD who has done so well despite being alone only because of his good work. That’s also doable if you are sure of yourself and your achievements.
While I’m talking of regional players I have to talk of Mayawati. She may have won the assembly elections because of her social engineering and caste based politics but if she doesn’t start delivering to the people of UP she will be shown the door next time. At the moment UP is in shambles. They have nothing to speak of as their achievement, unless of course if you count the multi crore opulent BSP House under construction in the heart of Delhi. Believe me people, it really cringes my heart to see such opulence, all in the name of Dalits who themselves don’t even have enough to eat. And on top of it the arrogance of Mayawati makes her and her party repulsive, to say the very least. And then she dreams of becoming the PM. Well, if the dreams had wings horses would fly.
Isn't she the most arrogant woman you have come across?
5. Last but not the least is the fact that people who incite violence and hatred like Vaiko (he had recently said that there will be blood in Tamil Nadu if Prabhakaran was harmed by Sri Lankan forces), who lost even his own seat and Varun Gandhi, who may have won his own seat but has inflicted a body blow to BJP in the rest of the country. Like I said yesterday, the top BJP brass had to be seen disassociating themselves from those comments, even if Varun Gandhi had not said those horrible things. On top of it violence against Christians in Orissa was also a factor in their defeat. Nobody likes these kind of things. Most of us middle class people have friends from all faiths and we want them to feel safe like us. With BJP in power at the centre they feel pretty scared and that’s a fact.
Well, things appear to be heading towards effective governance for the next few years. All the best to the Congress and it’s allies!!!!!!!
Having said this, I would like to point out that every party which has lost when asked about the reasons for their losses has said that they will sit down and analyze the same. Bullshit, I say. BATTI BUND HAI SABKI. They don’t know what hit them. You can make that out from their long faces. They can keep analyzing but for now the game is over. Thank you so much!!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!!
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