Page 34 - EW July 2024

Expert Comment

General Election 2024:

Interpreting the Verdict

RASHEED KIDWAI

HE GENERAL ELECTION 2024 VERDICT HAS Perhaps the most significant outcome
something for everyone. While Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has successfully fashioned a 3.0 of General Election 2024 is that Rahul
Tgovernment by stitching a coalition NDA alliance Gandhi can now shed the failure tag.
with support from the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata
Dal (United), Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Uddhav His biggest contribution was that he
Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and Sharad Pawar have also improved Congress' national vote share
been rewarded for their grit and resilience. Together, they
provided strength to the INDIA alliance and gave PM Modi, from 19 to 22 percent
BJP, NDA and a section of hawkish media shivers down
their spines. In fact, the opposition has reasons to reflect This time round, BJP with barely 1 percent of vote share
upon missed chances to unseat the BJP at the Centre. in Andhra Pradesh did well to tie-up with the Telugu Desam
The BJP too made several tactical errors. The sidelining Party and Jana Sena, whereas INDIA alliance remained
of regional satraps like Vasundhara Raje Scindia in friendless despite chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy
Rajasthan, and other states proved costly. Also too many having been in the Congress parivar earlier.
last-minute changes in candidates selection and polarising Yet perhaps the most significant outcome of General
electioneering damaged it. Over-reliance on prime minister Election 2024 is that Rahul Gandhi can now shed the failure
Modi in the hustings should bother the BJP for a long tag. His biggest contribution wasn’t that he won from
time. The party became a victim of its own propaganda Wayanad and Rae Bareli, but that he improved Congress’
believing that the pran pratishta ceremony at the new Ram national vote share from 19 to 22 percent through his
Temple in Ayodhya, would give them a distinct electoral gruelling all-India yatras. His direct interaction with the
advantage in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous masses gave him the confidence that surprised many of his
and politically significant state. It also erroneously assumed party colleagues, friends and foes. Rahul has finally arrived
that the Mayawati-led BSP would split the INDIA alliance’s on the national scene earning the respect and dignity that
Dalit and Muslim votes. Instead, the BJP lost the Faizabad- he deserves. The Congress in turn, has found a leader whose
Ayodhya Lok Sabha seat and a CSDS post poll showed Rahul political instincts can be trusted.
Gandhi ahead of Modi in Uttar Pradesh as a preferred prime ow the bond between Gandhis and the Congress is
ministerial candidate. Nset to be further strengthened by the Priyanka factor.
Now the Modi-led BJP faces rather bleak prospects Congress leaders of all hues and shades are delighted that
in the Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu & Priyanka has emerged as an effective campaigner through
Kashmir assembly polls scheduled to be held in October. seven phases of electioneering. Her responses to PM Modi’s
The BJP is hoping for division within the MVA alliance in lines of attack were spontaneous, yet dignified. She has
Maharashtra, but Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and exhibited ability to gel with party leaders, act as crisis and
the Congress are confident that their seat-sharing formula party manager rolled into one. Her political equation with
and assembly election outcome will further rattle BJP. brother Rahul has been easy, friendly and accommodating,
Nevertheless, the Congress and INDIA alliance must negating any prospect of “rival camps” being created within
also be ruing missed opportunities in General Election the Congress ecosystem.
2024, particularly in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha where Senior party leaders say there aren’t many examples
tacit or tactical alliances were not sealed. In Odisha, Bihar of a political party worldwide where a brother-sister
chief minister Nitish Kumar then representing the INDIA combination has worked so well in a democratic polity. In
alliance had paid a visit to Bhubaneswar to request BJD the past three years, Priyanka has filled the role of Ahmed
chief Naveen Patnaik to join the alliance but after Kumar Patel in sorting out internal differences, conciliation and
defected to BJP/NDA, the negotiations were not followed turf wars. She is now set to contest the Wayanad Lok Sabha
up with BJD, resulting in the triumph of BJP-NDA. bypoll likely to be held simultaneously with assembly polls
In national coalition politics since the 1980s, Andhra in Haryana and Maharashtra. Her likely win will provide a
Pradesh and TDP have played a historic and crucial role. unique occasion when Parliament will have three members
In 1984, the TDP was the single largest opposition party in belonging to a family. Simultaneously, the Rahul-Priyanka-
the Lok Sabha. Actor-turned politician and Chandrababu Kharge Congress leadership is all set to call the shots in an
Naidu’s father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao emerged as the environment of harmony and mutual respect.
convenor of the National Front that enabled Congress rebel
Vishwanath Pratap Singh to win the office of prime minister
in 1989. The National Front-Left Front government was (Rasheed Kidwai is a Delhi-based columnist, author of Sonia A Biography
supported by BJP from the outside. and visiting fellow, Observer Research Foundation)

34 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2024