The country recently witnessed two election results. One was the Karnataka election results, in which the Congress ousted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in the state, achieving unprecedented success. Another election result came on the same day, but its discussion got a little overshadowed by the din of Karnataka. This was the news of the spectacular victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election. Jalandhar has traditionally been an impregnable stronghold of the Congress. Congress has been in possession of this seat since 1999. As a non-Congress candidate, Indrakumar Gujral was successful in winning from here only in 1989 and 1998. In this election, Sushil Kumar Rinku of AAP defeated Amarinder Singh Raja of Congress and destroyed this strong fort of Congress. This victory has great meaning. This is a clear indication of what is going to happen in Punjab in the upcoming Lok Sabha. This result of Punjab seems to be giving a direction to the national politics, especially the 2024 general elections.
There is no doubt that the Congress has won the Karnataka elections. Ever since this victory, efforts are being made to interpret this election result as an indication for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Along with this, an attempt is being made to create a narrative that the center of opposition unity is the Congress. However, there does not seem to be any point in this. If we look at the mathematical and logical analysis of the Karnataka elections, the BJP's vote share has remained the same despite the strong anti-incumbency wave. This means that the Congress has failed to woo the core voters of the BJP. So this victory is more technical than permanent, as Muslim voters of Janata Dal Secular (JDS) have strategically voted for Congress this time to defeat BJP. Although these voters will always support, there is no guarantee that this victory is not the victory of the Congress or its ideology or its work.
In Karnataka, every section of the public was troubled by the 40 percent commissionerate and misrule of the BJP. Although this thing is also not very old, when the previous Siddaramaiah's regime was also infamous as a government of 20 percent commission. Then the Congress government had lost the election because of its misgovernance. This time, in order to win the elections, the Congress made a lot of promises. For this, the Congress took the support of the manifesto of the Aam Aadmi Party and not of any other party. Congress has included many promises of Aam Aadmi Party like free bus travel for women and basic income guarantee in its manifesto, but the intention to fulfill it is not visible from the beginning. DK on free bus travel for women Shivkumar has already clearly said that it is not possible to do so.
Secondly, the whole country saw the kind of drama that took place inside the Congress regarding the question of becoming the Chief Minister. Now Siddaramaiah may have become the Chief Minister again, but for the time being D.K. For how long will Shivkumar be with him, this question is worth considering. Along with this, in the midst of such internal tussle, how far the government will live up to the aspirations of the people, it will also be a matter to be seen.
With this victory of Karnataka, a section of the media is trying to create such a narrative that Congress is the only political party to give a fight to BJP and Rahul Gandhi is the only eligible candidate for the post of Prime Minister in the opposition camp, while the truth is that Karnataka That the public has voted for the Congress under compulsion. Election strategist Prashant Kishor has also advised the Congress not to harbor misconceptions. He has a point in this too. The Samajwadi Party (SP) was elected with an absolute majority in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, but two years later, the BJP won more than 70 out of 80 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. There are many such examples in many other states as well. The victory in the assembly does not guarantee the victory in the Lok Sabha also. The public repeats a government again and again only when there is actually strength in the functioning of the government.
Many political parties feel that the success of Arvind Kejriwal's AAP government is only because of providing free electricity and water. Such parties or analysts often ignore the excellent governance and well thought out financial management of Aam Aadmi Party. Most people do not understand this simple math that to fulfill election promises, honest government and efficient administrative management are needed. This is the reason why the Aam Aadmi Party not only won for the third consecutive time in Delhi, but also won in Punjab. Apart from this, elections in Goa, Gujarat and Karnataka may not have been won, but people have been forced to think about Aam Aadmi Party and its leader Arvind Kejriwal. Today crores of people are looking at AAP as an alternative. Even after being a new party, Aam Aadmi Party scares an established party like BJP in a state like Gujarat.
If the Aam Aadmi Party has become the fastest political party to achieve the status of a national party, it is because of good governance and pro-poor policies, besides its dedication to education and health as well as social harmony. Today those who are looking for an alternative to BJP in Congress, they probably do not remember the exploits of Congress before 2014. On the matter of corruption, the track record of both BJP and Congress is the same. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said on coming to power - I will neither eat nor let me eat. On the other hand, the reality is that at present BJP gets 90 percent of the total election donations.
Is the public so naive that they do not understand these things. In fact, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are not serious about solving fundamental problems like education, health, hunger and employment. Both these parties have promoted crony capitalism. Due to this, such a corrupt nexus has been formed, taking advantage of which only a few industrialists move forward. Due to these failures of Congress and BJP, the rapid and national expansion of Aam Aadmi Party has taken place. Aam Aadmi Party works on the policy of providing equal opportunities to all sections of the society. Also, due to giving representation to every section of the society, the public also feels a direct connection with it.
On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party was not only successful in forming a government in Punjab after Delhi, but also presented a unique model of good governance. The victory of Jalandhar has put a seal of faith on the Kejriwal model as well as on the one year work of the Bhagwant Mann government. AAP has proved that politics can be done without divisive issues like caste or religion. Such politics is also needed to make India number one.
It needs to be understood that the basic character of Congress and BJP is the same. Arun Shourie, a famous journalist and a strong leader of BJP, had once made such remarks in the comparative context of both the parties. This satire is actually a bitter reality. Regional parties are certainly doing the work of stopping Modi's Ashwamedha. However, the problem with these parties is that they are deeply entrenched in regional lines. These parties are confined to their own states. There are strong regional parties from West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh, but they could not grow beyond their states because they continued to represent regional aspirations. Because of this, his national character could not develop at all.
In fact, only that party can lead India, whose issues are national, whose thinking represents the overall Indian consciousness and which understands the role of issues like education, health, social justice and security in nation building. In such a situation, Congress can hardly be an honest alternative to BJP. Replacing BJP with Congress is like replacing Fanta with Coke. Significantly, both are harmful for the health of the country.
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