RELATED POSTS:
MAHARASHTRA AND HARYANA VERDICTS AND MODI WAVE*
FACTORS AT PLAY IN MAHARASHTRA AND HARYANA: RULING PARTY/ALLIANCE CORRUPTION**
The discontent was telling. And
it was the 'most' popular sentiment in the just concluded elections.
In Maharashtra, the ruling
NCP-Congress combine was in government for 15 years, the last three terms. And
like the political dispensation has been in India so far, even if it bring some
development, it is riddled with corruption and allegations of corruption, as we
saw in case of Sheila Dikshit's government in Delhi. Sheila was Delhi's chief
minister for three terms, for 15 years.
Her government's track record on
development was good, but was not free of corruption. And as the terms went on,
from five years, to ten years, to fifteen years, the governance got riddled
with more and more allegations of mammoth levels of corruption. Yes, the Delhi
that we see today, that can claim substantial development during her terms,
kept on oiling the wheels of corruption as well, that put even her under the
scanner.
And Maharashtra could not claim
even of this front - development (with corruption).
Coupled with political arrogance
and insensitivity reflecting in political statements on issues of social
relevance, the lack of development or rather the lack of balanced development
created heaps of anti-incumbency against the ruling coalition government.
Then there were 'popular'
measures adding to the anti-incumbency, the discontent, like verbose talks even
if Vidarbha farm suicides continued unabated, like a chief minister on a Taj
Hotel tour with a filmmaker just after the 26/11 terror strike, like the
continued Maratha Vs Non-Maratha rants, like the consistently bad show of vital
social indicators, like the Maratha reservation card and so on. The list seems
pretty long.
The discontent had brewed to its
full 'ripeness'.
Similar is the story of Haryana.
A Congress ruled state for 10
years had a family sort of rule, of the Hooda family, a Jat leader from Rohtak
who never crossed the 'culturally backward Haryana' line on social evils like
Khap dictats and honour killings, a Jat leader whose rule was basically focused
on Jat dominated areas of Haryana, in and around his city Rohtak, who, as well,
played the reservation card, a Jat leader, who like other politicians, and in
typical Congress fashion, promoted interests of his family, his clan and the families
of his party members first. Allegations of widespread misappropriations in
recruitments were common and even the civil services were not left out.
And the Hooda government even bungled
the case of Gurgaon, the once dubbed Millennium City of India that is
increasingly being identified as a concrete jungle with unplanned development
on social indicators and a city of horrible crime rates.
Also, the associated corruption
that came with its lucrative real estate dealings did not leave even the first
political family of India. Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra is facing
allegations of corruption and misappropriation in land deals and former Haryana
chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is facing allegations of going out of the
way and mending rulebooks to help clear the Vadra land deals.
And naturally, these are not the standalone
cases where allegations have erupted. There are many on the lines of nepotism,
casteism and regionalism spread over the last 10 years - a perfect recipe for sky-high discontent.
And so, the anti-incumbency built
was huge and saw its desperate way out in the Modi Factor, as in Maharashtra, in
the promises made by Narendra Modi, in the day he has been able to add to the
development of Gujarat, a state Modi ruled for over around 14 years, a good
enough stretch of time to let the discontent and the associated anti-incumbency
creep in. But, anti-incumbency has never been an electoral factor all through
the Narendra Modi's tenure as the chief minister of Gujarat.
The huge anti-incumbency
reflected in the higher turnouts as well - highest ever in Haryana with 76%
voting and 64% in Maharashtra, fourth highest ever and 5% more than 2009
assembly elections - a measure of increasing 'popular discontent' against the
ruling establishment.
*http://severallyalone.blogspot.in/2014/10/maharashtra-and-haryana-verdicts-and.html
**http://severallyalone.blogspot.in/2014/10/factors-at-play-in-maharashtra-and.html
