New Dawn for UPA!!

The BJP, in particular, must seri­ously ponder over the reasons for its successive parliamentary election defeats. What should worry the party is its drubbing in several stronghold states (thanks to the anti-minority stance that it has taken) Biju Janata Dal’s Naveen Patnaik has delivered it an equally severe blow to the party by demonstrating in Orissa that the BJP, as an ally, is an avoidable pack. This fares ill for the BJP as the NDA it leads may no longer be an attractive proposition for ex­isting and potential future allies and JD(U) in particular in the near future.

Individually for the Congress, its performance in Uttar Pradesh, should be very satisfying. For almost two decades, the Congress leadership has been looking for that elusive sign of party's organisational revival in the state in election after election. The party has reasons to smile as it has doubled its tally of Lok Sabha seats from the state, partially crediting it to Mulayam’s idiotic stance and Rahul’s charisma relegating in the process its rival BJP to the fourth place. In fact, the Congress is not far behind the two strong parties - the BSP and SP.


The Con­gress, contrary to many projections, has also retained power in Andhra Pradesh assembly in an ebullient man­ner. The mandate gives the much needed sense of govern­mental stability the country needs in these testing times of economic slowdown. It should allow Manmohan Singh's second ministry to deal with many pressing con­cerns without having to yield to the unreasonable de­mands of the troublesome partners it had in the form of Left.

The pioneer of the econom­ic reforms programme that Singh is, he will have the challenging task of shielding the country's economy from the global recession and bring it to high growth trajectory to protect jobs and incomes. In the last year of its term, the UPA government was weighed down by the stock market meltdown, high inflation rate (mainly due to US meltdown). The looming general elections had, to some extent, constrict­ed his government's ability to boldly tackle the econom­ic challenges. Now, the emphatic nature of the renewed mandate should enable the ever cheering Singh to unveil a new deal for the nation.

Singh is King!!

The Indian voters have delivered a stunning mandate in favour of a decisive coalition government at the Centre headed by the Congress. It is a victory for the political stewardship of Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Ministership of Manmohan Singh. If the Congress, which ran the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for the last five years, was pleasantly surprised by the man­date it got in 2004 to rule at the Centre, the Saturday's clear-cut verdict is a reflection of the wisdom and matu­rity of the voters. The party's poll strategists did exude con­fidence of winning more than the 145 seats the Congress got five years ago, but their best case scenario for the par­ty was no more than 175 seats. The final tally has, howev­er, far exceeded the expectations, while the UPA as a com­bine has secured a near-majority in the 15th Lok Sabha. This mandate has effectively put an end to all pre-count­ing talks of wheeling and dealing to muster the magic number of 272 seats in the 543-member Lower House of Parliament.

In the process, the voters have rejected the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's case, if it had one at all, very convincingly, for a return to power. The rejection of the BJP-led NDA and its prime ministerial candidate L. K. Advani (Iron Man??) is as decisive as the endorsement for the Congress-led UPA. The intelligent voter has also severe­ly punished each one of the UPA constituent or partner who had deserted the UPA ship in the course of the last two years. On top of this list is the Left Front that had withdrawn support to the UPA government last year.

The Left suffered its first ever defeat in its West Bengal bas­tion in over 32 years, and the worst ever in Parliament elections during the same period. The CPM's disas­trous performance in West Bengal and Kerala is a seri­ous warning signal to the leadership headed by party general secretary Prakash fucking Karat. The PMK and MDMK, who too had quit the UPA, were made to bite the dust in Tamil Nadu. Lalu Prasad's RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Jan Shakti Party paid a heavy price in Bihar. Lalu and Paswan are no longer king­makers in Delhi. Indeed, Paswan even got a drubbing from the elec­torate. In Andhra Pradesh, the fate of the TRS - another erstwhile UPA ally - is no different. On the con­trary, the voters rewarded the DMK that remained with the UPA. It is time for all these parties and their leaders to honestly introspect.