By Buddhdev Pandya (18 May 2009)

The General Election in India once again dented the ego of the pundits who had predicated that the result will be neck and neck between the two major political parties. On the previous occasion they thought the BJP would win, but the Congress managed to place a hook at the power house of India. The Election Commission Sunday (May 17th 2009) announced results for all the 543 elected seats of the Lok Sabha, giving the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) a clear majority 262 seats.

Disastrous performance for the BJP

This election turned out to be a disastrous performance for the Bhartiya Janta Party lead by Mr Lal Krishna Advani who was touted as a PM in waiting! Post election post-mortem within the party has begun with fingers in some quarters being pointed at Shri Narendra Modi the Chief Minister of Gujarat State and Varun Gandhi. Though Varun tried to make his grand theatrical entry to stake a claim as a future youth leader, he used the old communal slogans which landed him jail during the crucial campaign period.

While the Modi factor was seen by many political commentators as a calculated risk due to his love-hate popularity in the upper layer of the party, Varun Gandhi seemed to be reading from an old song sheet that BJP leaders were attempting to put on back burners. The main party leaders refrained from sharing a platform with him but there was a clear indication that his political antics were kept alive for future use against his own family, namely Sonia and Rahul.

Election not marred by riots or communal friction

Notably, the election was not marred by riots or communal friction. BJP leadership failed to capture imagination of the voters by sticking to the issue such as ‘money in Swiss Banks they will bring back to make the country of ‘milk and honey’ for every one! Terrorism was flagged up but the BJP’s was swiftly reminded of its own performance during the attack on the Indian Parliament and dealings to resolve an incident of a plane jacking. The debate virtually brought the agenda down like a lead balloon. In India such issues are emotionally charged at the time of incident but the Congress had made its mark by swiftly removing the Home Minister and others in order to claim higher political moral grounds. It looked that BJP was gasping for issues.

Mr Advan was nick-named as 'man of inaction' by some of the factions in his own party. From the beginning, BJP seemed fragmented with one of his key players in the campaign team refusing to take part in a crucial meeting. At one press meeting Mr Advani was seen fumbling through papers giving a picture of confused leader. All these added to the chorus giving rise to the Narendra Modi factor which projected him being the ideal PM for India, eventually lead to more open accusations raising the questions of the suitability of Mr Advani as the next effective PM.

Their strategies defied the old conventions where in any election the opposition usually focus on local issues rather then international ones to win more grass-root support. Before the disarray had any chance to settle; the former PM and leader of BJP Mr Atalbhiari Bajpai saw the danger and came to the rescue Mr Advani and made a statement from his bedside hoping to clam the turmoil. It looked that the RSS supporters were keen to destabilise him for his misguided mission to Jhina’s tomb in Pakistan and a subsequent statement which landed him more troubled waters. No wonder that Varun was focused on the RSS backing and less bothered by the lack of enthusiasm from theBJP leadership for his campaign.

The BJP focus on mudding the image of the Congress party by making personal attacks on the leadership of Mr Manmohan Sign failed to solidify against Congress’ manifesto. Congress appeared to have scored more when it came to the claims of delivering their promises. BJP raised a number of issues but there was a niggling, “they had ten years to solve them”, defeated the argument. Congress was openly taunting the BJP leader Mr Advani with provocative questions, ‘when he was planning to build a temple at Ayodhya’,

The other parties were disfranchised by the voters as the start of their campaigns were flawed. They believed the polls that predicated a hung situation and began to horse-trade in the name of unity giving rise to the impression that they just wanted to negotiate places in the government with any party that was going win with stable majority. The three divas – Jaylalita, Mamta and Mayavati all "played cards close to their chests" for a long period but eventually become a somewhat insignificant. Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and Mulayam morcha was ill conceived and was less likely to have any potential to materialise in real power against these women.

Sanjay Dutt entertained the voters

The election campaign portrayed a colourful period with actors like Sanjay Dutt, known for his role in a film as ‘munnabhai’ who provided much needed entertainment. People turned out in numbers to see their hero actors and actresses from the Bollywood industry and, the political parties made full use of them, some even appearing for the rival parties. Voters saw senior figures distributing ‘money’ for votes and even threatening voters on the TV channels. Many candidates were given warnings and charge sheets by the Election Commission but, doubt any one will ever get punished beyond settling scores over the next few years.

For Mr Narendra Modi, a skilful administrator and politician, who had cleverly managed to position him self at the centre of the campaign at the right time when Mr Advani was emerging as a weak leader. It would have proved as a sharp move and may have proved a prime time for his career had the BJP managed to win the election.

Silver-spoon star in waiting

The outcome gave Mrs Sonia Gandhi - despite her Italian background - a public endorsement, re-establishing her moral authority as one of the most powerful leaders of India. The star indeed was Rahul Gandhi, the general Secretary of the Congress Party. He began a tour of India, provoking the younger generation to join his party. He succeeded in stirring up the youth in Gujarat and across many states. He focused on associating him self with the poor and challenged the political culture where politicians have four air-conditioning units installed on their stages while addressing their supporters who often sit in direct sunlight for more than five hours to hear them for just ten minutes.

Generating empathy with the needs of the common men-women he touched the core of the voters with a slogan, ‘There is going to be one India, belonging to all Hindu, Muslim, Christian, poor and rich all alike”. The legacy of this election is the stark contrast in political fortunes between the two cousins, Rahul & Varun, with a new political leader being born from the Gandhi Family. Meanwhile, the Singh is the King again.