Why the BJP lost
Ꭿthing succeeds like success⠩s an old saying. All the reasons including those which did not contribute will now be counted as reasons for success of Congress party in the General Elections and all the reasons that may not have played any role will be counted as the reasons why BJP failed. But people need to beware of such a perverted analysis.
It is a common thing to expect that the vanquished BJP will find excuses for its failures. Daggers are out to kill each other. There are a number of factors (already highlighted in the media), which played their role in the non-performance of BJP in the general elections. But some of those factors, which perhaps may not be raised are highlighted below.
The first reason is the role of the octogenarian leader of respected Shri L K Advani ji. It was about a month before the general elections that some committed BJP voters were discussing about the prospect of BJP in the general elections. Surprisingly, a doubt confirmed by all that emerged was the quality of 82-year old Advaniji to lead the nation. Sure enough, he has a huge service background under his belt, but at 82 (notwithstanding the energy and euphoria which was projected), he is an old horse. He was always very tense in his speeches, did hardly smile or laugh or joked. It was in sharp contrast to the hallmark of his elder stalwart Shri Atal Bihari Vajpai ji. Even the most difficult situations were humorously dealt with by Vajpaiji. He had the knack of putting the audience to bursts of laughter. People travelled far and wide in the good old days to listen to Atal ji. But Advani ji could not repeat Atal jiⳠmagic.
Further, age was against Advani ji. At 82, he seems to be totally cut off from the dreams and aspirations of the younger generation. Between the age of 18 to 35, there are over 30 crore voters. Those voters felt no connection with a leader born three generations before them.
The second point was about the ᭡jboot neta⮠Unfortunately, there is not a single achievement credited specially in the name of Sh. L.K. Advani for which people can remember him as the messiah, even though Sh. L.K. Advani has remained in power between 1977-79 and from 1998 to 2004. This is in contrast with even State Chief Ministers like Shri Narendra Modi, Shri Nitish Kumar, Late Sh. Biju Pattanaik or even late Sh. Chiman Bhai Patel, who was the head of Gujarat in the mid 1980s and was credited for getting major investments in the state. Then how could electorate consider Advani ji as a majboot neta.
The winning formulae seem to be obvious: development plans, good law and order machinery and taking care of the under-privileged plus absence of factionalism. BJP had clear early warnings in the last assembly elections in Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttarakhand (where a marginal victory came). Yet it ignored the early warning signals emerging from the last assembly elections.
The next factor responsible for the defeat is the grip of the party in the hands of older elements and absence of a mechanism for promotion of younger breed within the partyⳠpower structure. Some of the younger leaders have been around for a while, but when will they get a chance, unless the older leaders retire? Can BJP as a national party claim that it offers a chance for a Ⴁrrack Obama⠡t 44 or ᔯny Blair⠡t 43 to emerge within the party to lead in a general election? Even now, some of the older stalwarts are brandishing their swords for occupying the vacant slot that may likely emerge at the top.
Now the BJP is looking for a change for future. The existence of BJP as a national party is in the interest of IndiaⳠdemocracy.
We suggest that BJP carry out reforms in a radical and innovative manner, if it wishes to recoup the lost ground and establish itself at center stage. For this, a benchmark model is already available- the way the party conduct their affairs in the Westminster model or in the US model. Their best practices should be adopted in reforming and revamping the party and power structure within the BJP. If this is adopted as a mechanism, the confusion and the uncertainties prevailing can be eliminated.
Electronic
media turns no power light
With the opening of airwaves, numerous private channels have come up in the last over decade and a half. However, there seems to be a shortage of content for such huge number of channels which are excessively concentrated on repeat programmes, bollywood type masala and their TRPⳮ
With the kind of programmes being displayed on numerous TV channels, the average viewer does not seem to be happy. But what the electronic media did at the election time demonstrates total failure of the media to behave responsibly for the benefit of the common man.
Electronic media is a good business. They are always the gainer whether the news is good, bad or ugly; be it and earth quick or flood disaster or swearing in ceremony of US President or an interview of a celebrity like Prince Charles or Amitabh Bachhan, the electronic media is always the gainer.
Conducting exit polls has been the favorite past time of the media and as bad luck would have it, they have always been proved wrong. For a full day this time, TV channels were telecasting first results of the exit polls with lot of enthusiasm and then for the next two days, they went on debating all sorts of combinations that could be feasible in the formation of the next government at the Centre, in the event of a hung parliament, which of course, according to them, was a foregone conclusion. All sorts of permutations and combinations were discussed in the government formation. No electronic channel in their wildest dreams could predict 262 seats for the UPA and a near rout for BJP and NDA. Some channels brought even some famous astrologers to predict the results and fate of eminent political leaders and nearly all of them were proved to be wrong.
A deep moral question arises about the responsibility of the electronic media in selling out lies and untruths, whatever be their source of collection and then continuously debating for days together hypothetical situations and possibilities.
The least the viewers deserve is an apology from all the channels individually and jointly to the people apologizing for sheer wastage of their time and in turn nations⠣ollective time.
It is high time that government took notice of the wastage of time, money and other resources in spreading and indulging in reckless behavior by the electronic media. Time has come for a code of conduct for regulating the behaviour of the electronic media. This would be safeguard for the media, otherwise who knows tomorrow Courts may recognize the possibility of a წass action suit⠡s in USA for doing the damage to the general public.
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