THE INCONTROVERTIBLE VERDICT

Now that even cabinet has been formed, I do realize that the value of this piece of writing has depreciated. Nevertheless I felt it's better late than never!
So, ultimately proving all the speculations wrong , Congress has emerged as the winner in the Lok Sabha polls, much to my relief ! No , not because I am a diehard Congress supporter or am completely mesmerized by Rahul Gandhi’s charm , rather had BJP won I would have been left perplexed for next four years , wondering how can the verdict of voters of a secular country be in favour of a party which has grown with its roots in Hindutava soil .(I am still wondering ... how did it even manage to get 160 seats! )
I can only see BJP in the form of a party whose bigwigs are held responsible for the infamous Godhra incident , catastrophic Babri Masjid demolition (and thus losing 18% of total votes !) concomitant merciless killing of thousands of Muslims in India and Hindus in Bangladesh, a party , a party which has been sabotaging communal harmony ever since it came into existence, be it Ramjanmabhoomi issue or anti-Christian riots of kandhamal. I never understood , and probably wouldn’t ever ... why would a Hindu want a temple to be built at the cost of a mosque? Or rather who wants it, people or politicians? Obviously not an educated rational citizen! And if politician , then who provides them the reins to encourage such abominable acts in our democratic country? People , right? Unfortunately, it seems this religion and caste based attempts of polarising the electorate works. Otherwise Varun Gandhi and Kalyan Singh would not have won. And Lalu Prasad Yadav wouldn’t have reigned Bihar for fifteen years.

Instead of making development as the key issue, throughout the election campaign BJP did nothing other than accusing the UPA led government for having a weak candidate for the coveted PM post, terming UPA as 125 year old “budhhiya’ and projecting L K Advani as next prime minister. People were looking for a strong alternative , a party which could have promised them an eradication of poverty, a curb on burgeoning crime, a promise of an inclusive development and what they found was a pretentious party engrossed in abandoned mud-slinging!

Owing to all these deeds , its defeat was entirely inevitable! In the post-result analysis, some political pundits have attributed Congress’s success to NREGA, some to loan-waiver scheme and many to Rahul Gandhi’s assiduous work in Uttar Pradesh. Of course all these factors would have helped, but I simply view it as a rejection of a party supporting a particular religion in a secular nation. And there are quite a few optimists who have termed this victory as the end of the ”Mandal-Kamandal era”! Let’s just hope so...