THe Dance of Democracy

The Dance Of Democracy

This general election has been an extremely unexpected one in more than a few ways. Some say that democracy has been saved from the blade of ambition while others blame their own brothers as casteists. Some are afraid of the alleged kingmakers and their supposed pampering while others have publicly called for theocratic authoritarianism as the way ahead for the country.

Rather than dismissing them as ignorant comments or pretentious stances, I solemnly and quite strongly believe that the core crux of democracy is in entertaining, understanding and resolving the grievances of all. Going forth, I would try my level best to present a summary of the current Indian political situation and let the reader choose for themselves which ones to entertain or dismiss, understand or ignore.

For those unaware of the post election situation in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party has won a mere 240 seats while its NDA alliance has won a total of 292. These figures come to be less surprising than that of the Indian National Congress’s, who have won a staggering 99 Seats and its INDIA alliance has won 235 seats. Congress has managed to prove exit polls wrong by increasing its vote share by more than 110% as compared to the last General Elections, where it gained merely 44 seats across India. This result shattered a lot of the hopes and dreams held by PM Modi, as evident by the posture and expressions displayed during his first live address to the nation after the election results.

To analyze why exactly I called the INC’s 99 seats “staggering” but BJP’s 240 seats as “mere”, we have to delve into the past 40 years. The year is 1984. There is unrest in India. It is just a while back that the Golden Temple in Amritsar was quite literally bombarded with small mortars and tanks to flush out the Khalistani separatists.

It would turn out that the sikhs would respond with a lot more violence, and perhaps rightfully so rather than simply whining.

Two of Indira Gandhi’s closest bodyguards, the same ones that played badminton with Rahul Gandhi when he was but a child; shot her thrice. Moral complications aside, this nationwide tragedy had created an advantage for the grand old party. The 1984 General Elections saw Rajiv Gandhi elected as the prime minister of India with an astounding public mandate of 404 seats out of the 545 in the lok sabha. This win is largely accredited to the nationwide sympathy that the Congress party and more specifically the Gandhi family received after Indira Gandhi’s death. To compare this to the nationwide electoral performance of the INC in 2019 would be utterly depressing.

This once majestic party; which led the nation out of British rule and in many ways influenced the life we live today; the same party which led the nation for over 60 years; received a mere 44 seats in the Lok Sabha. Congress supporters and members described an apocalyptic scenario. They saw a nation that had delved into moral corruption and one which was slowly becoming a fascist ethnostate under the leadership of PN Modi. They weren't completely wrong. Modi’s NDA Juggernaut had absolutely demolished the 2019 General Elections. The BJP on its own had won 303 seats, while their partners had won about 70 more. We have seen throughout history that whenever man gets too much power, he is prone to moral corruptions. This would be especially bad seeing that the country would be at stake, which made this General Election a last stand for the INDIA alliance and Congress itself. The fate of whether the grand old party would be reduced to the ranks of a state party; or worse, become a modern day AIFB counterpart; was in the hands of this election.

The people did not disappoint the Congress and its supporters, in contrast to their counterparts. Exit polls ranged from 390 to as much as 410 for the incumbent government. A few days before the election results were announced a deathly pallor spread over prolific Congress members. In the final days before the announcements, a sense of defeat could be felt in their voice. The public, however, felt very differently to what Congress members could only dare to feel.

The BJP, who had previously won 303 seats, had won 240. This was considering the fact that in Surat, BJP won de facto because all other candidates withdrew their names. This fall of almost 63 seats must have felt like utter defeat to the party. Conversely, this wasn't really a loss for the Congress or the INDIA alliance.

Apart from their national performance, there were several unexpected and quite frankly thrilling changes on a state level.

In Maharashtra, most of the Lok Sabha seats were swept away by the INDIA alliance. This left the BJP and more humiliatingly, the Shiv Sena in the dust, as Shiv Sena UBT had managed to bag more seats. A similar story follows the NCP and Sharad Pawar’s group. The NCP won only one seat while Sharad Pawar’s group won eight. Maharashtra truly showed the difference between being the original party on the basis of legalities and being the original party within the eyes of the people.

As far as the Northeast is concerned, the BJP was able to form a government in Arunachal Pradesh while winning a grand total of zero seats in Sikkim. In the South, the Telugu Desam Party led by Chandrababu Naidu absolutely booted Jagan’s YSRCP. Jagan’s party lost a staggering 140 seats compared to the last Andhra Pradesh Vidhan Sabha elections.

The TDP made a grand comeback with 135 seats, while Pavan Kalyan’s JanaSena Party won in all 21 state assembly and 2 national assembly seats that it had stood in, a historic record of 100% electoral placements. Chandrababu Naidu has now replaced Jagan as the CM of Andhra Pradesh.

Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh was also humiliating for the BJP. Once being claimed that more than 74 of the 80 seats from UP would go to the NDA by none other than Yogi himself, the number had been reduced to 33. Moreover the unexpected comeback of Akhilesh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party, with an impressive 37 seats, was another stone pelted at the BJP and NDA. Smriti Irani, a prominent and well known minister of women and child departments had also lost from the Amethi seat to Kishori Lal Sharma of the INC. Losing Ayodhya’s seat to the Samajwadi Party was the final nail in BJP’s Uttar Pradesh coffin.

Last, but the most surprising, was Odisha’s results. Along with Arunachal, Andhra and Sikkim, It too had its Vidhan Sabha elections. BJP managed to do what no one had done in this millenia, dethrone BJD supremacy and Odisha’s synonymous leader Naveen Pattnaik, who had ruled over the state for the last 24 years. This comes as the BJP managed to win 78 seats, 55 more than last year while inflicting a crushing 62 seat loss to the BJD, who managed to garner only 51 seats. So decisive was the blow that Mr Pandian, the right hand man of Pattnaik, had to take a permanent sabbatical from politics. Amidst the speculations between Pradhan, Baijayant and Murmu, a relatively unknown Mohan Charan Majhi Became the new CM of the state.

As far as the general state of democracy goes, I suppose that everyone is content in some way. Congress saved its face and made a more than modest comeback. Samajwadi Party swept Uttar Pradesh. AITC and AAP were more than content with their performance at their home grounds. BJP is glad to be the largest party in the Lok Sabha with Modi as PM. The NDA partners are happy for their state wise performance and minstrel allocations while the INDIA alliance, for the time being, is fine with their state wise seat shares and the neck to neck competition it gave the NDA, proving their own capabilities to themselves. Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar remain as the great balance. The EIC, despite doing nothing, is happy that there are no allegations on EVM rigging this time, so they can peacefully recede into the background once more.