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23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Surname Wars

It seems that the Congress party has developed a remarkable talent that whenever it is handed a rare political victory, it treats it not as a mandate to govern but as an opportunity for collective nervous collapse. Having been reduced to a shrinking archipelago amid the BJP’s continental expansion, the party finally managed to secure Kerala this time. And yet, instead of focusing on issues, it has immediately begun heckling its own Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan over his surname. When...

Surname Wars

It seems that the Congress party has developed a remarkable talent that whenever it is handed a rare political victory, it treats it not as a mandate to govern but as an opportunity for collective nervous collapse. Having been reduced to a shrinking archipelago amid the BJP’s continental expansion, the party finally managed to secure Kerala this time. And yet, instead of focusing on issues, it has immediately begun heckling its own Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan over his surname. When Satheesan took oath using his full name - Vadasseri Damodara Menon Satheesan, a section of his own party erupted into moral panic. Apparently, uttering the wor “Menon” in public now qualifies as ideological deviation. One Congress leader performed ritual outrage on Facebook, solemnly explaining that he himself preferred not to use an elaborate caste identifier. Another advised the new CM to read more Ambedkar, as though Satheesan had just announced the restoration of feudal Travancore. The absurdity was almost operatic. Here was a man speaking emotionally about his deceased parents and saying he wanted to honour his father’s name and regretted not being able to mention his mother’s, and the Congress reaction was to launch a seminar on caste semiotics. In most functioning political parties, this would have passed as a personal moment. But in today’s Congress, it has become a prosecutorial inquiry. Parties in decline cease to distinguish between symbolism and substance. They begin policing atmospherics because they no longer possess the confidence to shape reality. The Congress, once India’s great umbrella party, increasingly resembles a debating society trapped in an endless postgraduate tutorial on identity etiquette while the country moves on without it. The irony is exquisite. The Congress likes to portray itself as the last bastion of pluralism against the BJP’s muscular ideological certainty. Yet it has become astonishingly inflexible in its own way. The row over the full rendition of ‘Vande Mataram’ during the swearing-in ceremony revealed the same pathology. Satheesan explained, plausibly enough, that the inclusion came from Raj Bhavan protocol and that he realised the full version was being sung only after standing up. Instead, the Congress’ ideological guardians immediately swung into action, warning that secularism itself had been imperilled. The Congress and the Left often seem incapable of understanding that most Indians do not experience patriotism and pluralism as mutually exclusive categories. They can stand respectfully during ‘Vande Mataram’ without secretly plotting majoritarian revolution. Kerala was supposed to offer the Congress a revival narrative, a sign that the party could still organise, campaign and govern. Instead, within hours of assuming office, its ecosystem descended into a quarrel so self-defeating that it bordered on parody. A party that once led the freedom struggle now seems unable to survive a swearing-in ceremony without accusing itself of ideological betrayal. One almost fears what might happen if it ever wins two states in a row.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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