Such a Bad Loser

LITTLE IS MORE irritating than the mewling of an adult cry-baby. The Congress clique now in control of the party has become so inflated with hot air that it has succumbed to indigestion. It cannot digest facts.

Even by the standards of fantasy, its excuse for the drubbing in Haryana is folly bred from preposterous self-delusion, a unique excursion into silliness. Congress is alleging that many thousands of government servants working for the Election Commission somehow colluded to rig high-voltage EVM batteries to swing towards the lotus to just that nuanced point where the difference would be enough to give BJP a winning margin. The lower voltage ones were, apparently, honest. Or maybe it was the other way round. Who cares whether nonsense is stood on its head or its feet?

What a curious amalgam of the bizarre and the banal. The next time round Congress will be blaming solar panels or irrigation pumps, unless some leader who has read a book suggests a conspiracy by fundamentalist AI robots sending secret satellite signals from a remote island. It is impossible to believe that sober Congress leaders give credence to such theory. But mature Congress leaders are sitting at home in sepulchral silence.

Which EVM batteries were to blame for the results in Jammu & Kashmir, where the National Conference swept the polls and Congress was swept away? Congress won only six of the 39 seats it contested; the alliance was saved by the National Conference, which won 42 of 50. The Congress vote in the state slipped to just 12 per cent, which was much lower than its share in the General Election in the summer. Why? Silly batteries or hostile voters?

The big story is the quick defenestration of Congress by its allies. They are disguising their reaction. The Trinamool Congress was pithy: Congress was arrogant, entitled and looked down on regional parties, “a recipe for disaster”. The Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut pointed out, quite correctly, that if Congress had kept its allies, it could have won. He added, for good measure, that BJP had fought a good election in Haryana. In Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah reached out to six independent MLAs, making Congress support irrelevant to a majority while asking his ally to find the reasons for its dismal performance within itself. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) told Congress to descend from its high pedestal, which in fact is not very high and wobbly as well. Akhilesh Yadav did not say anything, but his actions spoke. He announced the names of six candidates for by-elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP) without consulting his ally. Even the very faithful RJD in Bihar asked Congress to introspect and accommodate others. Introspect was the word of the day.

Congress responded by sending its Haryana leader Bhupinder Hooda plus posse to the Election Commission with a long face and a tall tale. Not a single ally believed the batteries story because they had not lost their mind. No one in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc likes the genetic arrogance of Congress, although they may have to live with it for political advancement.

If they feel that Congress has become a drag on electoral prospects, they will push back, as they are doing now.

The message to Congress from Bengal, Bihar, UP, Maharashtra and Kashmir is simple: stick to your small or limited corner, and keep your elbows in check. Haryana has punctured Congress expectations of a higher seat share in the next round of elections. AAP, which wanted just 10 seats out of 90 in Haryana, has already announced that it will go it alone in Delhi, so we now know which party will come third.

That continual exercise in unaccountable fabrication called opinion and exit polls pushed Congress into heartbreak house. While political parties might be unable to prevent exit polls, which are funded with that portion of media which has too much money, there are ways of dealing with this febrile phenomenon. There was some distance between the opinion polls and the eventual results of this year’s General Election, but no one in BJP blamed the Election Commission after the results. Congress seems to be in the grip of a group who cannot understand the electoral pulse because they have never fought an election. They do a disservice to Rahul Gandhi by feeding him fantastic alibis. He should not be gullible, but perhaps the need to save face means wearing a veil over your head.

There is one continuing lesson for the Indian political class in all elections. If the electorate feels that any political party has announced the results before it has voted, there is a surprise in store. Every election is sui generis. It would be a mistake for BJP to believe that just because it won Haryana, it will win Jharkhand. Every state is a different story. Every voter has their own calculus.

There are rational reasons why BJP got over 39 per cent of the vote in Haryana, or more than its percentage share in 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal is generally underestimated by his opponents. When he promises vikas people listen. The incumbency negative was also ameliorated by a counterproductive Congress decision. Its hopes of a landslide rested on what it routinely described as a Jat-Jatav coalition. If you are going to be dependent on a caste formula, then you must honour the equation. Congress was patronising and dismissive of the interests of the weaker caste.

The damage began with a remark by Rahul Gandhi during his celebratory visit to America which suggested that Congress would end reservations. He denied it, of course, but it stoked historic fears among the underprivileged that their constitutional entitlement was under threat. This was compounded by their regional leader Selja Kumari’s unwillingness to campaign for the Jat leader and chief minister-designate Bhupinder Hooda. Last-minute efforts to placate her were seen as tokenism. The Jat-Jatav combination collapsed because it takes two pillars to hold up a bridge. The Congress list of 90 candidates had 72 Hooda loyalists, which said enough. According to some reports, 15 of them were defeated in winning seats, making the difference. Selja Kumari, too, has asked for introspection. In her case, the meaning is quite definite: ‘Sack Hooda’. The 77-year-old Hooda has fought his last election.

BJP had taken the edge off farmers’ anger by conceding the demand for minimum support price (MSP). The urban voter in the state was apprehensive about a return to partisan government spending by an administration dominated by a single caste. BJP won seats which the commentariat-cum-polling class expected it to lose; such as the four seats in Gurugram. In Ambala city the veteran Anil Vij recovered mid-campaign to retain his seat. Finally, BJP cleared up any internal dissension through the logical process of accommodation. All factions understood the meaning of any disaster in Haryana, set aside their differences, and worked for the common good. It delivered.

The most important victor in this election was Jammu & Kashmir which has its first popular government after the abolition of Article 370. Dr Democracy heals every patient, if the patient has patience. Omar Abdullah has made a splendid beginning to his resurrection by reciprocating the prime minister’s felicitations with the promise of cooperation with Delhi. This is how India works.

About The Author

MJ Akbar

MJ Akbar is the author of, among several titles, Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan. His latest book is Gandhi: A Life in Three Campaigns

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