During our late Prime Minister Indira Gandhiji’s time, she used one famous slogan to contest elections: ‘Karibi hatao’ [remove poverty] based on the election slogan of ‘roti, kapada aur makaan’ [food, cloth and shelter]. Later another slogan was used for the election in the name of progress ‘bijili, sadak aur pani’ [electricity (that too free), road and water]. But BJP brought a different kind of slogan, not openly but in a subtle way by inducing the spirit of [extreme] Nationalism. That even worked when they won the Parliament election. But when the same Nationalism was used in state and local (body) elections, it turned against them as common people vote wisely thinking their need in life is carried away by such ‘artificial’ spirit infused in their patriotism.
Nationalism is not a natural part of our Indian Worldview. It is imported from the west. However, like the artificial intelligence, which we now often hear, this imported Nationalism served its purpose to get our Independence from the British Raj. But it has its limitations. For example, after the Kargil war when our late Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayjii introduced Vijay Divas [or Kargil divas] to celebrate the victory of our soldier at Kargil defeating the Pakistani intruders at there, there was no spontaneous celebration in India. In fact, it has to be organized even by the State and [BJP] political parties. Similarly in Tamilnadu, when handful politicians tried to imbibe Tamil Nationalism during the election in the name of Sri Lankan Tamilians, it never gave the expected result. In fact the average people in Tamilnadu never bother about the problem of the Tamilian in Sri Lanka. In fact several Sri Lankan Tamil Leaders also requested these political leaders in Tamilnadu to leave them alone to work out their own solution and salvation for their problem in Sri Lanka. Because they realized well that in their name and Tamil Nationalism, these Tamil politicians not only were making a good living but also doing politics over their life.
We can safely say that there is a place for patriotism in our life. But when extreme Nationalism is used to create any negative sentiment in the minds of common people to divide them based on religious community, who live with other community members with a cordial relationship in everyday life, won’t bring the expected result and never yield political dividend. This is again proved by the Delhi debacle faced by the BJP in the recent election as Kijeriwal again proved how shrewd he is in politics. [Also see my previous article ‘Delhi Debacle posted after previous election at Delhi] He never hesitated to display his religious identity [by even chanting Hanuman Chalisa during election campaign]. At the same time, he very carefully used the anti-BJP sentiment of the minorities and the felt need of the common people who are more concerned about their ‘bijili aur pani’ [electricity and water] than other National issues which BJP used to win the Parliament election. I think political parties like BJP take the voters for granted. As they won all the Parliament seats in Delhi and also in civic body elections at local level then they thought that voters will exercise their franchise like a machine without thinking on their own.
Anyhow one good and positive thing which the BJP gained in this election is that it managed to gain few more seats in the Assembly and both APP and BJP managed to defeat the Congress that too losing deposit in all the 70 seats. Apart from this, this election also proved again that BJP is not manipulating the EVM [electronic voting machine] as propagated by several political parties, particularly by Congress against them to win the election? Even one of my close friends told me several times that with the help of Ambani, Modi tried to win the state elections as he won the Parliament election in 2019. But the State elections held at Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh proved how he and others were wrong as BJP was defeated in those states. And Delhi election endorsed the same again, though one of the AAP leaders before the counting of the vote propagated that with the help of the Delhi police Amit Shah tried to replace the EVM to win the election and I think he circulated some [fake] videos on this. Probably, he might have thought that it would help in case they couldn’t win the election.
Like Artificial Intelligence, [extreme] Nationalism has its own limitations. Cultivate patriotism with a positive spirit. But like the British, if the politicians try to divide and win the election based on Nationalism, it will bounce back to hit them to learn a good lesson. Anyhow when all other political parties try to learn and move ahead to plan their strategy for the next election only Congress continues to live based on its legacy of dynastic politics out of which it can never come out. Poor Chidambaram even congratulated AAP to defeat BJP while congress lost even deposit in all the 70 seats. We have to appreciate the resilience spirit of Congress. They can even CELEBRATE their defeat in the Delhi assembly poll by congratulating AAP to defeat BJP. But for that too, they need the shoulders of another political party to climb and proclaim the defeat of BJP. Well they should have heeded the advice of Mahatma Gandhi who asked for the abolition of that party after winning the Independence rather than facing such humiliation by the dynastic politics in the form of another Gandhi.
Come on Mr. Chidembaram, we need Congress as a strong opposition party to challenge BJP on pan-India level which no other regional parties can do at present. For this they should forsake dynastic politics—at least for five years. They might say that without the Sonia family Congress party will disintegrate as various regional parties. But already this has happened—in Bengal, Andhra, and Pondicherry. But if the Sonia family continues to hold the power of the party, then they cannot stop such humiliating defeat in various states. Anyhow they have to choose between the devil and deep sea. Why not give a chance for some other Indian leaders to run the party for at least five years and contest the next Parliament Party to become an official Opposition Party? If they fail, they can return back to the family party of Sonia again only blaming others in the Congress other than Sonia family with their usual formula of ‘if Congress wins, credit goes to Rahul; if defeated others are responsible for that.’ Otherwise, they cannot avoid the crutches of other political parties even to celebrate their defeat in the days to come.
Finally though I have my own reservation against this so-called [western imported] Nationalism, particularly the English word, still I cannot understand the difference between Patriotism and Nationalism the way it was practiced in the same spirit, where the line that divides between them was not straight. Well, this is the subject of another brainstorm.
13-2-2020
Note: Though Congress elected a non-Sonia family member as its President [Mallikarjuna Kargal], still control is with the same family. Even after winning the State Election in Karnataka, the waiting CM Siva Kumar pleads Sonia to come to Bangaluru to choose the CM [indirectly requesting her to install him as CM. Anyhow, as usual the final authority was given to the Present Congress President before the media [14-05-2023] , whereas as we all know well that it would be finalized in the Kitchen Cabinet of Sonia family behind the scene. The same is true with all the parties.
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