Hindutva BJP returns to power in India - I  -DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL _______________

After a gap of 10 years of Congress rule, the Hindutva BJP returns to power in India, now with a bang, taking advantage of public indifference to and anger at Congress for uncontrolled high prices, corruption scams and rising unemployment.

The India election is the world's biggest exercise in democracy, with

814 million eligible voters.  India's parliament has 543 seats. The party or alliance which wins the majority forms the government. A total of 8,251 candidates stood for election. The poll started five weeks ago and was held in nine phases of the world’s biggest vote held between April 7 and May 12 for security and logistical reasons.  A total of 8,251 candidates, including 668 women and five transgenders, contested the Lok Sabha battle. The contestants included 3,234 independents. Counting centres – mostly in close proximity to EVM store rooms – were manned by the central paramilitary forces. Election officials were counting at 989 centers, with more than 1,100 observers supervising the process, Hundreds of thousands of security officers have also been deployed at counting centers; A total of 551 million votes have been cast, with a record 66.38%

BJP’s stunning victory is significant because Congress party led UPA regime guided the election process. As the BJP emerged as the singly powerful ruling party with a clear majority without the support of allies, the Congress party lost most seats it contested and became for the first time in Indian histry a pathetically looking party with a few seats in the parliament. Not only Congress party suffered huge defeats from Kanyakumari (even their BJP won with slender margin) but even its allies across the nation faced a survival predicament.  For instance, DMK party of veteran Karunadhi, an ally of Congress party with corrupt image,  lost every seat it contested in Tamil Nadu against the powerful Jaya wave and for the first time it has no MP in the parliament.

Even in Kerala where the Congress party rules, it fared  relatively better than elsewhere,  the ruling Congress party still has lost 4 seats to the Leftists who at national level  lost most of its seats in the outgoing parliament.

Interestingly, the Aam Aadmi Party which championed these popular causes could make any headway in the parliamentary poll eve in its own Delhi state which it ruled bifidly before quitting over anti-corruption bill issue.

Obviously, the  people of Delhi, who had overwhelmingly voted the new political party AAP to power in December for its sincere anti-corruption tirade against Congress rule both at centre and Delhi state, were not impressed with AAP abruptly leaving the government on Jan Lokpal bill issue without consulting them.

It is the Hindutva BJP which had been making all possible gimmicks to overtake Congress party that gained the most form Anna Hazare-Arvind Kejriwal’s aggressive struggle against rampant corruption perpetuated by the rulers for centuries, though it is also the cause the corruption malice in the system.

In fact, when Hazare-Kejriwal captured the mood of the nation, fed up with the ever-fast growing rich and corporate lords, the resultant rampant corruption and rising prices, the BJP seeking to outsmart the Congress party, made strenuous efforts to hijack the popular movement rocking not only Delhi but entire nation. But Hazare and Kejriwal denied the Hindutva forces any chance.

Even the ruling Congress party also used all tricks to get Hazare in its trap, also failed. So, Congress, pretending to help Hazare with the passage of the anti-corruption bill, tactfully joined the BJP and other national and regional corrupt political outfits to defeat the Lokpal bill in the parliament to make all corrupt people feel relaxed.

Apart from BJP, other big winners included J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, which led in 38 out of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which won 34 in West Bengal out of 42.

However, the BJP has made full use of the impact the Hazare-Kejriwal movement made on the people of India.

The anti-Congress mood prevailing in the country could not gauged by political parties accept the BJP. The sudden rise, rather the RSS/BJP/corporate discovery, of Narendara Modi was a challenge to national leaders to forge a united front. But they did not care.

Had Anna Hazare led the Aam Admi Party, or Kejriwal given the kind of leadership the nation sought to win India soul, obviously, the outcome of the 16th parliamentary poll would have been different.

While Hazare refused to play the political leadership role India expected, still expect, from one who exposed the corruption issue to national level, Kejriwal changed his strategy to leave Congress criticism to focus Modi and BJP. While Hazare needs to understand nothing can be changed in India without power or government support, Kejriwal should now fight for the people of India- even while targeting BJP or Congress party. AAP should not leave the common people to the mercy of corrupt politicians. .

The question: did Hazare deliberately let BJP reap all befits from his anti-corruption movement in Delhi and elsewhere?

Of course, the BJP with one of the largest national networks could successfully implement its poll strategy to make Congress irrelevant as its now suffers badly in the parliament where it is being denied the chance even to claim the main opposition leadership without the necessary seats or national vote percentage. .

More than 500 million people voted in what is the world's biggest exercise in democracy. Voter turnout in the mammoth nine-phase general election was a record 66.38%, beating the previous 1984 poll record.

Even as counting was progressing the analysts predicted that with their allies, the BJP party could achieve about 300 seats. But the final tally went much higher to a historic total.

Upon winning a majority of  seats in the parliament, the BJP has decided to form government  after  one decade and called its predicted landslide win in India's election a "people's victory". BJP president and a senior RSS practitioner Rajnath Singh said it marked "a new era"

for India.

The new prime minister will be Narendra Modi, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, who is seen as a no-nonsense, can-do leader who stands for development and muscular nationalism. He campaigned on promises he would revive the country's slowing economic growth. The 63-year-old chief minister of Gujarat, who grew up as a tea selling boy at a Gujarat railway station, celebrated with a visit to his elderly mother in Gandhinagar, the state capital of Gujarat, after

tweeting: "India has won. Good times ahead."

The triumph capped an amazing run for the 63-year-old Modi, who ran a high-voltage campaign that rewrote the political rulebook and caught his rivals napping. Modi, who won from both Vadodara and Varanasi, tweeted "India has won!"  and went to seek the blessings of his 90-year-old mother Hiraben in Ahmedabad.

The BJP alliance swept the electorally key state of Uttar Pradesh, winning in a stunning 72 out of 80 seats, its campaign orchestrated by Modi’s right hand man Amit Shah.  Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party, which runs the state government, was winning just a handful of seats.

In Bihar, the party made 28 out of 40 seats, and in the nation’s capital, the BJP won all seven seats, leaving the AAP to second place and Congress in a bad shape.

The most unexpected full mandate by the people for the BJP  was a surprise even for the BJP people. Workers at the flower-festooned New Delhi headquarters of the BJP had started chanting tributes. BJP people brought in two car-loads of fireworks, while confectioner Hari Gyan Singh told AFP he had prepared around 2.5 ton ‘laddoos’. “This is not just a victory, it is a big responsibility for us to live up to the expectations of the people,” said BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain.

(More to follow..)

 Hindutva BJP returns to power in India -II -DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL ____________

The 16th Lok Sabha elections have done is to change the rules of how polls are fought. The BJP gambled on turning this poll into a presidential one. A voter was not electing his MP as much as his PM.

There was one central figure in the election: Narendra Modi. From North to South and from West to East, Gujarat became a model state to be used by BJP to canvass for the parliament poll.

Jawaharlal Nehru in the 50s, Indira Gandhi in the 60s and 70s, and to some extent, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 90s did dominate the poll landscape. But never has an entire poll, through this diverse land, across geographies and communities, focused so extensively by media on a single individual.

Accepting defeat, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said: "We humbly respect the verdict of the people." The Congress Party spokesman, Shakil Ahmed, said: "We are accepting the people's verdict in all humility" The trends point out that the country has decided to vote against us," he was quoted by news agency AP as saying.

Even before the Congress party's announcement, there were scenes of jubilation outside the BJP's headquarters in Delhi. Firecrackers exploded and people handed out sweets.

The worst suffered party is obviously the Congress (INC) The mood was much more sombre at the Congress party's headquarters and regional party offices all over the country.

All indications point towards a very bad show for the Congress.

There's great excitement because the stock market has hit another record high.

The Congress’ incumbency problems were compounded by a listless showing from Rahul, who failed to grab the public imagination.

Congress conceded defeat, but carefully couched its comments to prevent blame falling on the Gandhi scion.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet will resign on Saturday.

The election result became a crushing blow to the Congress party, which is led by the Nehru-Gandhi family and supported by corporate lords as it has dominated Indian politics since independence. Many prominent Congress minister lost, including Sushilkumar Shinde, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Sachin Pilot. It reflects voter anger with Congress, which has been mired in serious corruption scandals and whose leadership has been considered ineffective in recent years.

Congress has been projected by BJP as the only embodiment of Indian corruption. The anti corruption moment  spearheaded by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal, which later  became a  political moment-party called Aam Admi Party  has now lead to the reemergence of communal Hindutva party BJP  at national stage to uproot the Congress ruled states and center.

The only satisfaction the Congress party derives from the poll is the wins of UPA supreme Sonia Gandhi and her son and the top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in UP where the BJP almost swept the poll.

Congress also can take some  pride  in  defeating a top BJP leaders Arun Jaitley who was a prominent loser on the BJP side, undone by anti-incumbency against the ruling Akali Dal in Amritsar.

India's outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who stood boldly by the corperates and  went so low to degrade the  status of Bharatratna  by offering  to a fake  and cricketer is not the only culprit in the Congress debacle earlier rang Modi to congratulate him on his victory.

A weak Rahul Gandhi against which RSS introduced a strong Modi could not succeed in blacking Modi phenomenon from coming to power to replace the Manmohan groups capitalists and corrupt ministers.

(More to follow..)

Hindutva BJP returns to power in India -III -DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL ____________

Some vague observations

The Hindutva organization RSS that gave birth to BJP and many more political parties has obtained the most resounding victory and simple majority in 30 years through BJP against secular politics of India, trouncing the outgoing Congress Party and putting an end to coalition politics.

Thanks to RSS support and guidance, the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a spectacular victory for the first time in his political history. However, it obtained only about 31 percent of Indian votes which is below the average school mark in subjects for a pass which is 35% but the party has secured more than half of the Parliamentary seats. The BJP has no worry of instability at least in the foreseeing future.

BJP and Modi successfully hijacked the anti-corruption movement led by Hazare and Kejriwal as they attacked forcefully the Congress corruption scams and the regime insensitiveness and arrogance.  Fruits of anti-corruption movement have been taken away by BJP and not by the Aam Aadmi party due mainly to their wrong strategy for the LS poll.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which stunned all top political parties and observers abroad by winning the Delhi assembly last year, made an encouraging Lok Sabha debut, winning 4 big seats in Punjab to represent the common people of India.

While the Congress became a powerful tool in the hands of multinationals and moved far away from the people of India, especially the common people whom it also considered as a cattle class to be used for the poll and abandoned soon after the polls, other political outfits  are not  different form Congress  position.  The BJP has never been the real representative of the common and poor people of the nation- they also promote the rich, high level people and multinationals.

The only aim of the BJP-RSS is to come to power somehow and keep the Congress party out of power.  The Hindutva moorings it pursued  from its inception under the Nehru regime have been  highly explosive and most effective  instrument  in its  communal hands to  make the Hindus  terrorized to prefer  the BJP  as their protector and the Muslims always feel vulnerable..

The real story was the expansion of the way political communication took place, with the use of new technology. It was not just TV and print, but 2014 was marked by the debut of social media. Leaders took to Twitter and Face book, communicating directly, cutting out intermediaries like the traditional media platforms.

And it was through innovative mediums that this message of the man in the reckoning was projected. The electronic media has been a feature – to varying degrees – in the past few elections. But there is now an unprecedented proliferation, with over 400 news channels. There was relentless live coverage of rallies, often provided by parties themselves; TV debates through the day entrenched the cast of characters in the popular consciousness. Social media was also used to track potential supporters in constituencies. Through 3D and Hologram, Modi was present in multiple locations virtually, giving a sense of novelty to audiences across the country and making them a part of his campaign. The party that communicated better, more innovatively, succeeded. All of this also made it arguably the most expensive election ever in India's history.

But while leadership and communication were distinct features, the nature of the discourse was disappointing. Personal attacks and acrimony marked the campaign; it often descended to rhetoric which polarised communities on religious and caste lines; and substantive issues took a back-seat. The development, governance, empowerment, and prosperity dream was sold by all parties in the fray. But rarely were these terms defined. Specific roadmaps about how public policy choices would be made were given a miss.

Congress party’s soft corner for Hindutva communal forces like RSS and its secret deals with BJP through the RSS for controlling Muslims have helped the RSS and finally made the BJP shine too much beyond its own capacity. Anti-Babri Mosque position taken by both these parties revel their affinity behind the doors, harming even genuine interests of ordinary Muslims. Rich Muslims are lucky to stay unaffected by political reverses Congress has suffered.  .

RSS and BJP with their joint tactics to make use of all possible political outfits to benefit in polls have not succeeded in Kerala so far in terms of seat wins. But they have steadily increased the vote share in poll after poll.

RSS long term social engineering strategy and alliance with other parties for polls. And finally, this election will be remembered for the way it altered traditional categories of identity. Social cleavages remain critical, but the consolidation of entire caste and religious groups is a myth. With education, urbanization, a commonality in material aspirations, and upward mobility, individual agency of voters is becoming more important.

The Congress party has betrayed the people, especially the besieged and fooled Muslims by double speaks, it not even blamed Manmohan regime for the political tsunami it suffered in history at the hand of its own protégé and secret communal ally BJP After a decade of rule by Congress, the BJP is expected to steer India sharply to the right by once for all abandoning the Hindutva politics mixed with hatred in the form of anti-Islamism, anti-Muslimism, anti-Kashmirism, anti-Babri Mosque gimmicks. .

Many Indians still have profound concerns over Modi because of claims he did little to stop the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, in which at least 1,000 people died, most of them Muslims - allegations he has always denied and over which he was never charged. How good new PM Modi rules India would shape the political apparatus of India, its democratic and secular outlook, the future of Congress and nation at large.

Narandra Modi has quit Gandhinagar CM post to assume power in New Delhi on 26th May in AAP style.. Hopefully Modi would not suffer the vulnerable situation the minority regimes before him had to face to survive destabilization of the government. He would not go ahead with Hindutva agenda as that would bring all parties together and could spell disaster to his  government, after all BJP  guys are not that ideological or patriotic as they openly claim .

As other political parties are still confused over the massive mandate the BJP got- call it the Modi wave of anti-corruption mood of the nation, the world as well as India is keenly watching the attitude and performance of the Hindutva Modi government.

Ideological battles will have to be redefined if Aam Admi Party has to stay relevant. The Indian polity will now have to catch up with changes in communalized Indian society.