'Rahul should have learnt so much in the last 20 years. But give him a mic and he begins to talk without thinking about its consequences.'
Dr Sant Kumar Tewari, assistant professor, department of political science at the Pandit Sunadrlal Sharma University, Bilaspur, explains the reasons behind Congress' rout in Chhattisgarh and BJP's astounding victory.
In the 2018 election, the BJP could win only 15 out of 90 MLAs as against the Congress's 68.
In 2023, the BJP romped home with 54 MLAs against 35 from the Congress, a huge 50 per cent drop from its showing in the 2018 election.
"The Congress and top leaders made no attempt to mingle among the people two-three days before polling day. There were no big rallies of Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi before polling day. They (Rahul Gandhi and the top Congress leadership) will have to climb down from their ivory towers," Dr Tewari tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.
Among all the defeats, isn't the Chhattisgarh loss the most surprising for the Congress?
It is surprising of course. Even the exit polls got this one (state) wrong. Everybody had predicted an easy win for the Congress in Chhattisgarh. It nevertheless, offers an opportunity for introspection, especially, for those who have lost power.
They (Congress) should introspect why they lost so badly despite doing so much good work for the people.
What worked for the BJP?
The biggest gain for the BJP is the astounding victory that people of the state handed to them.
Narendra Modi is the BJP's biggest and most powerful leader. Nobody has been able to dent his clean image. The Opposition is doing all it can to link him with such activities (corruption), but they have failed to even make a small dent on his clean image.
He has also got a very efficient team of leaders working under him.
The voters have undergone a huge change in the way they vote. The voters are more educated today. Gone are the days when victories were obtained by bribing voters at the last moment or promising them the moon and freebies.
Along with promises the voters today are also looking at a politician's image and Narendra Modi ranks right there at the top.
Their (Congress's) leader (Rahul Gandhi) seems to have learnt nothing despite being in politics for almost 20 years now. Any person, after spending over 20 years in any school or institution, would shine like the Kohinoor (diamond).
Look at the rise of Narendra Modi and look at Rahul Gandhi's graph. He (Rahul Gandhi) should have learnt so much in the last 20 years. But give him a mic and he begins to talk without thinking about its consequences.
During an election, even the smallest mistake made by a politician attains huge proportion.
Rahul Gandhi must focus now on building a solid team which would at least give him a good speech when he holds the mic in his hand. Whatever a person's stature, if he realises his follies, accepts them and makes efforts to improve upon them then he still can offer a formidable challenge to Narendra Modi.
You have been repeating the same mistake since the last 20 years as a result of which you are being rejected by the people time and again.
The BJP also fielded 47 new faces in the state. Did that help?
One must always remember that the respect people have for their elected MPs and MLAs start dwindling once they start losing a couple of consecutive elections.
I am not disrespecting the experience such leaders, have but I firmly believe that all the leaders who have crossed 50 and who are unable to win elections should start working for the party in an advisory role.
These leaders should hand over the reins of the party to the youth. Just consider the morale of the youth in your party who has been toiling for decades when they see that a few leaders, just because they have political mai-baap (godfathers) backing them, are getting tickets to contest the election despite defeat-after-defeat.
In the BJP, change happens quietly; even if a senior leader is sidelined, nobody raises an eyebrow and accepts the decision.
In the Congress, if you try to bring even a small change at the local level, then the party is faced with rebellion from here to Delhi.
While the Congress has won Telangana, it must not ignore how the BJP has increased its MLAs manifold. The best thing about the BJP is that once they decide to contest election from a state where they do not have a strong presence their entire team descends upon the state with all their might.
But Bhupesh Baghel has been quite a popular chief minister in the state.
Being from Chhattisgarh, I can tell you that Bhupesh Baghel made for an excellent chief minister. His work for the people is noteworthy.
When the results started swinging towards the BJP, I was quite stumped. But Baghelji too must introspect the reasons for the BJP's huge victory margin in this election. But then he can only do that much.
Interestingly, in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the BJP went to the hustings without declaring their chief ministerial face compared to the Congress. Despite this shortcoming, if the people of Chhattisgarh voted heavily against the Congress and in the BJP's favour, then the credit must go Narendra Modi.
The Congress and its overall leadership must try to figure out what is it that attracts the voters towards the BJP.
I think it is time for the Congress to change its leadership. The way the Congress's top leadership has failed to win the confidence of people in critical Hindi belt states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan now, and in Uttar Pradesh for almost three decades now is shocking.
These leaders, for some reason, are not able to win people's trust. These leaders have closed their eyes and ears to the public. They still consider themselves above the common people resulting in Congress getting alienated from the people.
One definitely got an impression before the election that the Congress would definitely win Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The Congress and top leaders in these two states made no attempt to mingle among the people two-three days before the polling day. There were no big rallies of Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi in these states before polling day.
They (Rahul Gandhi and the top Congress leadership) will have to climb down from their ivory towers and mill around with the common masses.
What went wrong for Congress in Bastar which voted for Congress in 2018? The tribals of Bastar seem to have voted for BJP. Why?
I have always stood by the opinion that the law and order of any state should always follow the rightful legal path; it should not depend on circumstances or change for select few.
The Congress did win sympathies of Bastar's tribals (in the 2018 election) after their leadership was killed in the region in 2013 (25 senior Congress leaders, including Nand Kumar Patel, Vidya Charan Shukla and Mahendra Karma were killed by Maoists in Bastar in 2013).
When the Congress came to power in 2018 they did pussy-foot with the Naxals instead of taking them head on. The Congress should have shown spine in dealing with the Maoists in Bastar.
Like, people would always say that Article 370 will never be abrogated in Kashmir; that it is a Constitutional guarantee given to the Kashmiris. But if you are firm on your decision then there is nothing that can stop you.
People don't look at the Congress leadership as firm and decisive as much as they consider Narendra Modi to be firm and decisive.
