It’s been two months since the embarrassing 2019 poll defeat and the Congress doesn’t seem to have learnt any lessons. Any other party would have been planning to get back with a bang.
Everybody is talking about the winners and losers of the just concluded general elections. However, nobody is talking about NOTA that got a significant vote share. Interestingly, not many people know that NOTA does not have any bearing on the vote counting. It is merely a feedback mechanism to register a voter’s disappointment.
General elections are round the corner. It’s that time of governance-cycle where suddenly the all-important (politician) becomes the common man and the common man becomes all-important. Basking in the glory of this transient attention that voters are getting, I thought of coming up with my own wish list of the top five things that I would want the next government to promise and hopefully deliver.
The recently concluded General Elections are special in more ways than one. The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party, the increasing participation of the common man and the shift of focus from casteism to development, are all welcome changes. Not only has the mood of the nation vis-a-vis the elections changed, but the medium has also changed drastically with the advent of the social media.
With the stupendous performance of the BJP in the recent state assembly elections, it is becoming clearer that the party, as expected by many, is likely to come out as the winner at the national level as well. How must the Congress be feeling right now? Is it still living in its ivory tower and cannot see the writing on the wall? Or can it actually see it, but refuses to acknowledge it publicly?
Given the current political scenario, to ‘not’ say that Narendra Modi is likely to be the next Prime Minister of our country, is to risk being discarded as ignorant and naïve. So, having established this as a foregone conclusion, let us look at what Modi’s plans or focus areas could be and should be, if he actually becomes the head of the next government at the centre.
The Congress party does not want to come back to power in 2014. At least so it seems. Otherwise, why else would it act the way it is acting right now? Why else would it turn complacent? Why else would it stay away from the ‘aam aadmi’ in whose very name it got elected? Why else would it sleep in its ivory tower?
Looking at the current scenario, to even suggest the possibility of the Congress or the UPA winning the 2014 general elections would seem preposterous. But, as they say, even a week is a long time in politics hence, anything can happen three years later. So, how can the Congress achieve this seemingly impossible goal?