Why Congress Failed?

2019 General Elections Highlights:

If you can sum up this election in a few words, here is what I think it should be:

• Modi came back to power with higher vote share
• Congress Decimated
• Maha Gathbandhan Failed
• Rahul Lost in Amethi
• Modi Made in roads in West Bengal

Why It Happened?

•  Negative Campaigning by Opposition
• Lack of Leadership
• Poor Communication
• Lack of Coordination

 It is not fair to blame the Media or Polarization. Opposition parties had an upper hand as they were against incumbency. Job numbers were down, economy not doing great, small business yet to recover from the impact of Demonetization and GST yet to be fully accepted. These were all the opportunities available to the opposition party. All they needed was a untainted/Fresh face and a message that was around these opportunities and a coordinated communication to stay on the message.

What they did instead? They thought of NYAY!

NYAY Yojna

They could not come up with a strategy in time, they did launch NYAY but it was too late, wasn't properly communicated and was overshadowed their own negative campaigning against Modi. If Congress wanted to come to power based on a promise - Ab Hoga Nyay (not a big fan of the NYAY scheme). The scheme would have worked if it had a different face. Rahul Gandhi has just too much of legacy that transformation is the last thing he can convince. BJP found it easier to blame the legacy for the injustice/suffering in India, their heir apparent found it an uphill task to convince that he can save people from the suffering caused by his own legacy. Any new face (Amrinder Singh - after a great show in Punjab, though he is getting old, would have been a much better face for the Congress). Rahul was simply the wrong guy to convey the message.

That wasn't enough. He messed it up further by attacking Modi and calling Chawkidar Chor Hai

Chawkidar Fiasco

In the current environment where people don't have tendency of reading more than 160 character (I would say less than 5% of the readers of my blog would come down to this section), where people prefer to make decisions based on a tweet or a picture, where people would rather hear from someone else than to actually read themselves, the attention span is very limited. You there need to Focus. It is difficult to push one message through easily, trying to push multiple messages - Just didn't work

Another Problem - Legacy. Someone like Rahul Gandhi who's legacy is tainted by scams would find it difficult to call someone else a thief. It was no surprise that Modi's quick thinking (or his think tank) countered it easily and changed the narrative. Everyone became chawkidar and it back fired.

Pulwana Terrorist attack and Surgical Strike

When Modi was reeling under the pressure and opposition was getting overwhelmingly strong, came the terrorist attack. Modi did what he does the best, he used the opportunity to show how strong he is against Terror and Pakistan. It fired up its base. What did Opposition do? Squander the advantage

They could have simply left it alone as a National Security Measure and focused on their Message - Highlight Modi's Performance in terms of Jobs and Economy and their NYAY scheme. Just took the bait and paid for it. Now it was a complete mess. The opposition further alienated their support by appearing selfish, anti-national and soft against terror. Even worse their own narrative changed.

What happened was expected. A well oiled Election Machinery led by a smart team (Modi & Shah) against an Opposition that gave away its advantage and buckled under pressure. The opposition was able to snatch the defeat out of the jaws of Victory and handed it over to Modi on a platter.

 What Next?

Modi deserved to Win and he did. For the sake of democracy, it is always important to have a strong opposition to maintain checks and balances. We can see what has been happening in the US with President Trump v/s democrat congress (will cover it in a different post). It is healthy for a democracy to have an alternative. Since Congress doesn't have the courage to field a leader that is not tainted by the legacy, it should either dismantle the party and create an alternative (Nothing like AAP - Which was a big disaster) which is able to stay focused on the basic issues facing the country. Congress can play the role of RSS by providing the necessary support and guidance. I am not suggesting another Maha Gathbandan of the failed ideas. Something fresh, simple that doesn't reek of vote bank politics or minority appeasement. A simple idea like AAP (before it was tarnished by Mr. Jokeriwal) which can provide a good alternative, just to keep things interested. I have nothing against BJP or Modi (BTW - I voted for Modi and have been a BJP supporter all my life) but feel that giving all powers to one party might not be a very good idea in long run. If the government fails to deliver it should know that there is a rival who can grab the opportunity. In US there is a two party system that works (although there are independents and Libertarians but they too insignificant).

Unless something major changes, we can be rest assured that the next few decades will be all BJP. We might see a few elections where Maha Gathbandan with Congress might come to power but it will disintegrate and bring BJP back to power.

 The article was originally featured here on my Blog