"India, home to more than 1.4 billion people, will begin its mammoth election on 19 April. Voting machines in such less accessible parts are carried on the backs of horses and elephants and for some, polling booths can be reached only by boat.
India also boasts the world’s highest polling booth, 15,256ft (4,650 metres) up in the Himalayan mountains." -- an article in 'The Guardian'
"Indian voters ought to think hard about giving Narendra Modi another popular mandate", says an edit in London's 'The Guardian' newspaper.
Pakistan's 'Dawn' carries a Reuters news agency story under the headline - "Modi critics migrate online as mainstream media stays deferential".
"YouTuber Dhruv Rathee has accused Modi of behaving like a dictator in a Hindi-language video with over 27 million views, citing what he called the silencing of critics, the use of federal investigation agencies to browbeat the opposition and the crushing of farmer protests," says the 'Dawn' article.
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| Namo with his NSA Doval |
Eight key parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh go to the polls on Friday, April 19. They are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit.
Out of 102 in the first phase of polling on April 19, ... BJP needs to win 67 and NDA 70 .. to achieve its 400 plus target
'The Guardian' editorial says:
"Unsurprising perhaps, as recent economic growth so disproportionately benefits the rich that India is more unequal today than under colonial rule. Holding elections burnishes India’s reputation as “the world’s largest democracy”, in contrast to China.
More importantly, Mr Modi needs a popular mandate to legitimise his rule.
Populist leaders run the risk of losing power to prevail over un-elected institutions that uphold the rule of law."
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| A cabbage farmer in Meghalaya |
Many meanings of Elections : Thy shall vote
.
New Delhi
Phase 1 of voting on April 18 will see 21 states and UTs head to the polls to elect 102 MPs.
The Congress party this year is contesting only 326 seats - lowest in its history.
The polling also will take place in Nagaland and other parts of the northeast. Outer Manipur is the only parliamentary segment in the country that will have two rounds of voting - one on Friday and the other during the second phase of voting.
A renowned global rights body, Civicus Monitor has stated in its latest (April 17) report - “India: Fundamental freedoms deteriorate further in Modi’s second term” -- that the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was used to implicate and imprison activists in politically motivated cases such as the Bhima Koregaon and Delhi riots.
Between 2015 and 2020, only three percent or 235 of the 8,371 people arrested were convicted of their charges, the study said citing a report by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties.
Among the arrested, rights activist Father Stan Swamy was denied bail multiple times and died in a hospital as an under-trial prisoner on July 5, 2021.
Ten years --- certainly a long period. In 2014, intellectuals and political commentators believed Narendra Modi as a chief challenger to power by ousting Manmohan Singh faced competition from becoming Prime Minister from Rahul Gandhi and also Arvind Kejriwal.
Today, circa 2024, the AAP boss is in jail and the Congress leader Rahul is trying to anchor an opposition alliance.
In fact, in 2024, in order to accommodate its coalition partners across India, the Congress is contesting only 326 seats. So far, it has released names of 282 candidates. It's the lowest number of seats the Congress would be contesting in its electoral history.
In 2004 -- Congress contested 417 -- and won 145 to return to power.
In 2009 Congress contested 440 -- and humbled L K Adavni-led BJP to win 206 seats to ensure return to power for the Manmohan SIngh government.
But in 2014 - while the grand old fielded 464 --- its tally came all time low 44
In 2019 - the Congress contested only 421 seats and its tally was 52 -- still less than 10 percent of total 543 seats in Lok Sabha.
Of course in between these years, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party also evolved. In 2017, Rahul became Congress president amid a lot of hard work that could have helped Congress snatch power in Gujarat.
In 2019, he quit as president after the Lok Sabha poll debacle and in 2023 Rahul undertook a nationwide tour called Bharat Jodo Yatra.
It is true for the first time probably, many say, the Congress has confronted the 'Hindu nationalist politics of the BJP'.
However, there are still skepticism as Congress still remains undecided about
many things including the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli.
The political metamorphosis, if any, got reflected in the Congress leader's own words: “Rahul Gandhi is in your mind. I have killed him. He is not there", the Wayanad MP had said himself.
But the past remains the political legacy to be discussed and debated.
The marginalisation of the Congress actually made AAP’s task easier in Delhi and
later in 2022 in Punjab. Even in Gujarat by 2022 end, the AAP gained ground at the cost of Congress.
In the real sense when the I.N.D.I alliance was formed -- the AAP and the Congress really had a test case of sleeping with the enemy.
One irony also was that the Muslim voters in Delhi in the 2020 assembly polls were helplessly drawn
towards Kejriwal’s party.
Final words:
The BJP may appear strong today. But in 2015 - Naredra Modi had lost two crucial battles in Delhi
and in Bihar. In 2016, barring Assam, the saffron party did not have any success.
The Prime Minister had complicated his journey further when he announced demonetisation
on Nov 8, 2016. Then the GST enforced from July 1, 2017 again agitated his support base.
The BJP almost lost Gujarat to Congress; but the opposition could not step up the assault.
Besides the Congress, most of the 'prime minister aspirants' from the opposition camp, including the likes of BSP chief Mayawati, suffered major setbacks in the 2014 and 2019 polls.
In Telangana, BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao nurtured such high ambitions. He even renamed his party but in 2024 he is out of power in the state. And worse, his daughter K Kavitha is behind bars on Delhi liquor policy scam.
In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP supremo N Chandrababu always played a key role in national politics. He is back in the BJP-led NDA fold. Nitish Kumar of JD-U has a similar legacy of love-hate relationship with Modi.
Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal still remains a strong competitor. But apparently stakes are high this year due to Sandeshkhali and allegations of corruption. In 2019, she gave away 18 seats to the BJP.
2014 article/blog
Mothers’ blind love for sons: Undoing of two Gandhis
THIS PIECE WAS ALSO RUN BY WWW.MATTERSINDIA.COM
Finding similarities between Rahul and his uncle Sanjay Gandhi!
In one of the historic and most crystal clear mandate since 1984, the BJP was handed over a landslide victory. “Politicians would soon run out of adjectives to describe the election outcome….,” wrote my Editor, Ravindra Kumar, for ‘The Statesman’ in his piece the next day.
The ‘Modi wave’ – dismissed by Congress and other regional players like Mamata, Nitish and Lalu Prasad – and which personified the anti-incumbency anguish, swept aside many previous records.
The Congress decimation has turned out to be worst in its 129-year-old history and in the 17th year of Sonia Gandhi’s career. Reduced to mere 44 just 7 seats more than Jayalalitha’s AIADMK and 10 seats more than Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, normally, with any party by now the clamour should have grown on what would happen to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi. Efforts have been made to protect the dynasty. Likes of Divijay Singh got into actions. The family retainer or so, Manishankar Aiyar called Narendra Modi ‘Adolf Hitler’ hours before he took over as the Prime Minister.
It’s the same Mani who in January 2014 screamed at the peak of his voice that Modi cannot ever become Indian Prime Minister and that he was free to distribute tea at the AICC session.
Today, Congress leaders in isolation and in separate pockets making noises especially against Rahul Gandhi. Even Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla, a Congressman of many years and a Christian himself, has lambasted the party leadership of the manner it has been handling the defeat.
His eloquent oneliners are more than the normal reactions from disgruntled Congressman.
Lal Thanhawla said the party “paid for its misdeeds” and it “does not know how to face defeat”. He added he has written to Sonia to refrain from blame-game in the party and rather introspect instead. “In that way, the defeat we faced is good for us,” he said.
Now where does this lead to? In my opinion, the Congress leaders’ disgruntlement is more against the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, whose ‘ability’ to deliver for the grand old party is now no longer a state secret.
An honest analysis of 2014 Mandate would make it amply clear that no single factor has contributed more to the downfall of Congress party in these elections than Rahul Gandhi and his flirting with failures.
As an ardent student of Indian elections, I find some similarity emerging between Rahul and his ‘illustrious’ uncle the Late Sanjay Gandhi though as personalities both are from diametrically different stocks.
So has Sonia Gandhi emulated her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi in displaying her unquestionable love for a son, who is today seen as a political liability?
The hapless Kerala Congressman TH Mustafa’s unceremonious suspension is a case in point.
Old timers would vouch with me that on the eve of 1977 elections when Indira Gandhi was cautioned by her coterie members like P N Haksar and Subhadra Joshi, Indira’s response used to be: “Those who attack Sanjay attack me”.
If inside reports from AICC are to be believed, Sonia almost took the same line when at the parliamentary party meeting she pulled up Milind Deora for speaking out of line when the former South Mumbai MP did some plain speaking!
So does it bring us back to the agonizing tale of a mother’s blind for her son?
In 2012, Time magazine had written acidly, "Nobody really knows what he is capable of, nor what he wishes to do should he ever attain power and responsibility. The suspicion is growing that Mr (Rahul) Gandhi himself does not know”.
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