THE COUNTING DAY - it’s the D-Day
of the last round of the electoral politics in India before the political
slugfest for the grand theatre of the Indian electoral panorama, the General
Elections of 2014, begins.
And it is coming on the expected
calculations. (Counting for Mizoram is tomorrow.)
It is just matter of time to say if it is 4-0
for BJP or 2-0 for BJP (taking Delhi and Rajasthan from Congress) or 3-0 for
BJP (let’s save the comment for final figures on Chhattisgarh) and vice versa -
0-2 or 0-1 for Congress.
And as expected, the debate on
Narendra Modi Vs Rahul Gandhi is on, relentlessly.
Congress’ decimation in
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi puts Rahul Gandhi squarely in the line of
fire but the neck to neck fight in Chhattisgarh gives some saving grace to talk
about, the much needed help to the most miserable of the Congress lot today –
the party spokespersons – facing a herculean task – they have to accept the
defeat while not sounding defeated – they have to defend the rout thus – and they
have to defend Rahul Gandhi and the Rahul Gandhi factor.
Likewise, the emergence on AAP in
Delhi and the neck to neck fight in Chhattisgarh is not allowing the BJP
leaders to go over the top in extolling the Narendra Modi factor.
And thankfully, the trends by now
are making the case for #AAP – even if the party cannot form the government in
Delhi, the huge gains in the national Capital of India are positively unprecedented
– so heartily welcomed it is.
And the most hard-hitting of all
this is Arvind Kejriwal defeating Sheila Dikshit, the three-term chief incumbent
chief minister, from the New Delhi assembly constituency, considered a Sheila
Dikshit stronghold.
As the trends say while writing
this, if Arvind Kejriwal succeeds in winning the New Delhi assembly
constituency from Sheila Dikshit, it will still be symbolically potent enough
to tell the political class that it is the time to change.
If a powerful and perceivably popular
chief minister loses to an entrant politician, it should be a message bold
enough to warn the existing league of political babudom.
The strength of the Symbolism of
the ‘politics of change’ must spread.
