Hardik Patel (age 24), Jignesh Mevani (35) and Alpesh Thakor (40) are all strong leaders of different castes who are very useful supporters for any political party during elections (it is another matter that they will demand their pound of flesh if voted to power). All of them supported the Congress in Gujarat Assembly elections. This by itself should have enabled Congress to wrest power from BJP. On top of this is intense anti-incumbency factor. Farmers' deep distress and increasing economic inequality 'caused by Gujarat Model of growth' should have catapulted Congress to two-thirds majority in the assembly.
This logical development did not come about because the two focal adversaries, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, did something in tandem : both of them stood in the way of Congress' march to power, the former through ostensible sincerity and the latter through apparent insincerity. When Modi raised the bogey of Congress aligning with Pakistan towards the end of campaign, voters lapped it up. When Rahul tried to assert that he is a janeu-dhari Shiv-bakht, he over-estimated the gullibility of voters. Rahul's expedient discovery and superficial claim that he is a Hindu distanced true believers in Hinduism from Congress. Religious polarisation has been patented by BJP with first-mover advantage. Rahul Gandhi's me-tooism in this respect boomeranged on his party's chances to race to power. Rahul's political ineptness showed up in his inability to run with the hare and hunt with the hound when he unsuccessfully tried to fuse together vikas and religiosity. Success in politics demands an ability to combine even more incompatible issues with greater ease.
Congress should not view the results as a welcome addition in its strength in the assembly. It should rather introspect over mishandling a favourable situation that any other political party would have easily leveraged to become the ruling party. A necessary corollary is to reconsider Rahul Gandhi's suitability for Congress presidentship.
This logical development did not come about because the two focal adversaries, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, did something in tandem : both of them stood in the way of Congress' march to power, the former through ostensible sincerity and the latter through apparent insincerity. When Modi raised the bogey of Congress aligning with Pakistan towards the end of campaign, voters lapped it up. When Rahul tried to assert that he is a janeu-dhari Shiv-bakht, he over-estimated the gullibility of voters. Rahul's expedient discovery and superficial claim that he is a Hindu distanced true believers in Hinduism from Congress. Religious polarisation has been patented by BJP with first-mover advantage. Rahul Gandhi's me-tooism in this respect boomeranged on his party's chances to race to power. Rahul's political ineptness showed up in his inability to run with the hare and hunt with the hound when he unsuccessfully tried to fuse together vikas and religiosity. Success in politics demands an ability to combine even more incompatible issues with greater ease.
Congress should not view the results as a welcome addition in its strength in the assembly. It should rather introspect over mishandling a favourable situation that any other political party would have easily leveraged to become the ruling party. A necessary corollary is to reconsider Rahul Gandhi's suitability for Congress presidentship.
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