When politicians, particularly senior ones, jump ship on the eve of elections, it is an indication of the public mood. Presently, with elections in motion in four states and a union territory, the BJP seems to be a favoured port of call. Losses are mostly being suffered by the Congress. This shows, above all, the huge organisational advantage the BJP has. Its decisions on political strategy evolve from the grassroots and local feedback, with the final approval granted by the High Command. On the contrary, much of the frustration expressed by those deserting the Congress is regarding the disconnect between what remains of the grassroots cadre and the party leadership. With almost all of the decisions having to be taken by the Gandhi family, there remains little scope for paying attention to the important minutiae.
As such, even where the BJP is not yet a major player, the Congress is failing to get its act together. In Keralam, where the ruling LDF should be suffering anti-incumbency after two successive terms, the Congress led alliance is showing little signs of recovery. Quite obviously, the lack of a clear ideological vision is leaving the voters unimpressed. In fact, going by the politics articulated by top leader Rahul Gandhi, what is on offer is an incoherent leftist ideology. So, if people can get the real thing, why should they go with the duplicate?
Considering the fact that a healthy democracy like India should have a viable opposition, the present situation seems a little lop-sided. The Congress celebrated its win in 99 Lok Sabha seats in the last general elections and the failure of the BJP to secure a majority on its own. But, with Rahul Gandhi having secured the post of Leader of the Opposition, the party seems to have left it only to him to carry the fight forward. Instead, it should have immediately worked to transform the euphoria into inner-party revitalisation. A new generation of leadership needed to be brought to the fore, but this is nowhere to be witnessed. Even leaders that have credibility with the people are being sidelined to the point that they are leaving the party. One needs only to look at the situation in Uttarakhand, where the same old faces are visible. As a result, even when opportunity arises, there are no credible leaders to take advantage. Overall, even the INDI Alliance has lost its heft, turning out to be not an ideological front but just an opportunistic coalition. The opposition really needs to do better if democracy is not to become entirely one-sided.
