It’s Congress' Failure, More Than BJP’s Victory In Haryana

Remember, throughout the Haryana campaign, Rahul has been confidently talking about the Congress coming to power and not INDIA. This confidence turned out to be overconfidence. The Congress must accept defeat and move on

The jury is out. Though only trends of voting could be seen till around 3 PM on Tuesday, it was clear that the BJP was heading for a hat-trick in Haryana. This was much against the exit poll results by various agencies all of whom have projected a 40 to 45 seat comfortable margin for the Congress in the 90-member Haryana Legislative Assembly. The exit poll agencies have once again lost their credibility. Amid all this, Harnaya CM Nayab Singh Saini was on record saying the BJP has all the machinery and that the party will win. This was a bit intriguing but his forecast came true. The tide virtually turned from the time the initial trends showed the Congress in the lead and by noon, the BJP made a strong comeback.

One of the major lessons for the Congress is that all its narratives built by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remained in the air and they could not connect with the grassroot voter. Rahul did raise sensitive issues such as unemployment and the youth choosing the dunki route to reach the US illegally to find jobs. But it was probably a bit late.

The Congress was also marred by infighting as compared to the disciplined cadre-base approach by the BJP. Sample this: The BJP did not give tickets to one fourth of the sitting MLAs, whereas the Congress was forced to accommodate all its sitting MLAs. There was also a visible fight between Bhupender Singh Hooda (a Jat leader) and Kumari Sailaja (a Dalit) and the party could not project its CM candidate. The public show of the two holding hands aloft, after being brought together by Rahul Gandhi, appeared to be just a photo opportunity. It failed to cut the ice with the voter.

The results show that the Congress miserably failed to cash in on the BJP’s anti-incumbency factor and the issues such as water crisis, farmer problems, unemployment, price rise etc., The top party leadership’s messaging did not reach the voter and this was where the cadre, too failed, for whatever was the reason.

Has the Congress failed to strike coalitions? Yes, it failed to come to any pre-poll alliances with either the AAP, Jana Nayak Janata Party or for that matter the Indian National Lok Dal. These parties did eat into the Congress votes though they might not have been able to win a huge number of seats by any reckoning.

To this extent, the INDIA bloc remained on paper as far as Haryana is considered. This is where AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s statement that no election should be taken lightly. He also said do not fight, work together. This should be taken as a veiled advice to the Congress. Rahul went away to the US when discussions with the AAP on seat sharing were on.

Take Jammu & Kashmir where the Congress struck a deal with the National Conference and won the legislative assembly election comfortably. Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar also played a big role in the formation of INDIA block. In fact, at a Mumbai meeting held to pay homage to veteran socialist Madhu Dandavate, Farooq made it a point to mention that the opposition will have to unite if they are serious about posing a credible alternative to the BJP.

The Congress and the rest of INDIA must keep in mind that the BJP is always in an election mode. Now that the game is over in Haryana and J&K, it is time for Rahul and Co to focus on Maharashtra where Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray are already in an election mode.

As Haryana was voting, PM Narendra Modi was busy in Maharashtra dubbing the Congress as a party backed by urban Naxals and those opposed to the country’s progress. The Congress wants to divide and rule the country, keep the poor as poor for the party’s selfish interest and so on and so forth.

Earlier in Haryana, during one of his very few pre-poll rallies, Modi termed the Congress as the most corrupt which handed over the State to Dalaals and Damaads. This was not the first time that Modi attacked the Congress and its leaders. In fact, he has made it a habit. There is nothing wrong in democracy in making allegations and counter allegations. The problem arises only when the rhetoric turns into an overdose in boring speeches, and it creates problems for the leader who makes such allegations that too of the stature of the Prime Minister.

This series of allegations must be viewed in the context of the then existing double engine government’s inaction against the so-called corruption. Couldn’t the State of the Union governments jailed the Gandhis had the serious allegations been substantiated? What prevented them from filing cases particularly when the BJP government had (and still has) all the investigation agencies – CBI, ED and IT – at its command? So, why repeat the charges that you cannot substantiate?

There is one more point. The BJP government in Haryana had already submitted to the Punjab & Haryana High Court that there was nothing amiss in the Robert Vadra-DLF land deal in which the BJP earlier alleged corruption. “I had always and have always worked honestly and evolved with hard work and times…But false accusations from the BJP never stopped. Their agencies raided my companies even breaking walls assuming things were hidden in them! They questioned me for days, sent 100’s of notices, made illegal tax demands, else they would attach my assets and properties, took away over 20,000 documents and continue to send tax notice after notice since more than a decade…I continue to cooperate fully and provide all the information asked of me even though I know the truth,” Vadra wrote in his facebook post in April last year.

While the BJP has persisted with its Daamad jibe, the Gandhis chose to ignore it. Good. But the Congress Parivar needs to move beyond this. They need to present themselves as a team, beyond the Rahul-Piyanka entity.

Modi and Amit Shah have been visiting Maharashtra at least once a fortnight to galvanise the rank and file and keep reminding the voters that the BJP means serious business. Pawar-Uddhav combine too are making their points well. The Congress leadership must quickly foster a tripartite tie-up and take the INDIA dream ahead. Focus on issues that matter to people.

Remember, throughout the Haryana campaign, Rahul has been confidently talking about the Congress coming to power and not INDIA. This confidence turned out to be overconfidence. The Congress must accept defeat and move on.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)