After the election results were announced on 23rd May, and by next morning it was clear that NDA is getting 350+ seats and BJP of its own are getting 300+ seats. There were enough articles/write-ups in the media about the elections and Modi’s fine victory, two articles caught my eye, the crux of which I would like to share :
The first article is about What makes Modi tick ?
PM Narendra Modi led from front to win the second term in 2019 General Elections, and the quantum of victory and share of seats took the detractors of Modi by surprise. He made it clear that he is hands-on leader, who never hesitates to publicise his successes rather than spending time on explaining his failures.
This election has clearly shown that for the opposition leaders/parties he continues to remain a riddle/mystery. If the opposition leaders want to survive then have to find an answer to the question, what makes Modi successful in electoral politics.
If you talk of brand building strategy, the opposition went wrong all the way, with their slogans like ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’. This only proved that opposition’s lack of strategic ideas to take on NDA’s PM on his weak points.
Modi is a very difficult person to understand, because some of his actions defy logic and wisdom. Imagine pulling a surprise on 130 Cr citizens in televised speech, and telling them about of high value currencies would become useless, unless it is accounted for, through the bank. These type of actions can only be taken by a leader who think of the solutions from out of the box, only leader with clarity of goal, self confidence, courage of conviction and trust in his team can only take risky decision. There was so much negativity against demonitisation, but for most of the voters it did not matter because they had trust in him.
In general, most of the political leaders are reluctant to think out of the box, they prefer tried and trusted methods. The fact is Modi’s strength lies in that he is not conventional politician. Generally successful politicians are situational leader. In Modi’s case, it was mixture of leadership charisma and decision making power, and executive skills that enabled him to repackage and expand upon many of the ill conceived, ill managed, social welfare schemes of the earlier govt.
Now what makes Modi tick ? The answer lies in two components : first as a leader with vision who can carry masses and secondly his ability to realise his vision through his decision making executive skills.
His style of closely monitoring the actions makes most of the bureaucrats uneasy, as they are used to files moving at snail’s pace. Modi’s rise seems to be based upon 3 pillars of learning : seeing much, suffering much and studying much.
In run upto the last General Elections in 2014, it was Modi’s charisma that drew lakhs of ordinary people who came to his rallies to hear his talks delivered with exceptional skills. They needed a narrative of action to add value to their lives. But in General elections of 2019, even the public appeared to have judged Modi on his performance rather than his oratory skills. So the massive popular vote is probably a validation of Modi not only as a leader plus a person who can do his job and deliver.
In my opinion, Modi is lacking in one issue- he has still not able to gather the full trust from minority communities-specially Muslim & Catholics.
The second article was ‘can the Opposition pick itself up?’
The people who are not in politics will never fully understand the meaning of loss of this magnitude. In normal people’s life, defeats and losses at work are mostly personal and if others know it because you have told them. But for politician in opposition, it is in the public arena. Then there is matter of having to face your adversary who has trounced you. In war, there is either a death or surrender for the defeated, but in politics the defeat is already in the past. It is the present that must be faced and you have to work with person and people that till yesterday you were abusing and being abused by.
The defeated leaders will not be short of advice, particularly from media who will tell them what went wrong and what to do now. The fact is nobody understands the cause of defeat and victory better than the defeated.
It should start with State by State and candidate by candidate, there should be an assessment of the present and where thing stand. There should be, in appreciation, and honest and un emotional estimation of the opponent Perhaps the best tool that leader and his manager has is the transparency. Openness is encouraging to supporters who are totally demoralised by a thrashing and joy in victorious camp. This would bring the losers together in spirit, and where they stand now.
Then there is issue of accountability. It would be easy for the leader to step down and go away, and perhaps that may be the right thing to do. But stepping down without the important & critical steps required to start bringing the shattered side back together would just be like a tantrum and act of ego. (Reference is being made of Rahul Gandhi)
In this election opposition buggered up from the beginning, because every opposition leader had the big size ego. They all messed tie up here and there.
Everything that the Opposition was faulted for — for example, not be aggressive, taking it easy, going off on vacations, not seeking alliances — all of this was addressed. If defeat still came, it was not for want of awareness or effort. Higher forces were at play.
Another thing that must be done is a gathering of allies and friends.
The Opposition has sympathy from civil society, meaning those groups like non-governmental organisations, who are also anti govt.
Many of these are grassroots organisations which have been struggling for decades. They will be of some value in both the assessment and in the rebuild.
The third last thing is that defeated parties, particularly older ones, should go back to their founding principles and examine how far or close the party is currently to them.
In my opinion, whatever mention above holds truth, but the Indian political parties are mainly now dynasty base except the BJP. These parties always think of their family first and then for the welfare of public.
Yes, the opposition might be able to revive themselves provided they place public and nation interest first rather than personal and dynastic preferences and interests. Secondly they have to bring the fresh ideas and young blood at the top level and relieve the old guards from their posts. See how effectively BJP did ,by making old guards as ‘Marg Darshaks’.
For democracy to survive, we need effective oppositions. The present opposition is there only to oppose whatever govt does, they are least bothered about people’s or national interest. Their issue is if we support the bill, then govt will take applauds and brownie points, and this might benefit the ruling party at the time of election, so therefore they oppose all the bills proposed by govt, which is not effective opposition. Sooner the opposition realises this ,it will better for them and country.
Waiting for your Views/comments/feed backs.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
28th May 2019.