In the past several years, the Congress has perfected the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The recently held Haryana polls were no different when everything was in the party’s favour, from perception to the ground level realities, but because of reasons, which are clear by now, the Congress lost the battle to the BJP, ensuring that the Saffron Brigade scored a hat-trict. However, full credit should be given to the BJP for this historic victory since it entailed superior strategy and some very cleaver electoral moves. The Congress has accepted the verdict under protest and has taken the matter to the Election Commission alleging that there had been tampering of the EVMs in multiple constituencies leading to the outcome which went against its nominees.
This unsubstantiated charge even if it is true, shall lead nowhere, since the result would stand. In the absence of any evidence, the ECI is sure to reject the claims. The Congress High Command which should be viewing its own role in the entire election is now ready to once again introspect in order to ascertain the reasons for this unexpected result. The supreme irony is that those responsible for the developments would themselves be looking for the factors that contributed to the debacle. On paper, the Congress and the BJP have an identical vote share but in reality, the number of seats the BJP has won is much more than that of its rival. The Congress High Command should first introspect and find out why it was unable to mollify rebels who were in the fray; in at least 18 constituencies, the dissidents polled more than the difference in the winning margins between the BJP and the Congress. In other words, had steps been taken to address this issue, the outcome would have been in favour of the grand old party. One fails to understand why after every election, the Congress undertakes the same exercise and continues to make the same mistakes even after knowing fully well what went wrong.
The BJP also had its rebels but they managed them better and they also ensured that the Congress dissidents did not withdraw themselves in the middle of the battle, thus enabling it to win yet another time. It is a fact that the BJP was on the defensive and was unable to make the election into Jats versus non-Jats. The mood of the people was for a change and all indicators pointed to a Congress win. Despite all these limitations, the BJP won in the end, largely because the Congress had no strategy to back its plans. The High Command needs to examine the role of its observers and the general secretary in-charge, who when the process was at its peak, chose to admit himself in the hospital. Despite the lack of support he was receiving, full marks to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who single handedly carried the battle into the enemy camp. He did so even as his opponents within the party like Kumari Selja, were giving avoidable statements to the media, claiming that they were being ignored. Obviously, Selja was being encouraged by some of the senior leaders who instead of admonishing her for making statements that were likely to affect the prospects of its candidates, preferred to remain silent themselves. On the day when Hooda landed his Helicopter in Sirsa (her constituency) to campaign, she was present at a function to mark the centenary of a leading newspaper in New Delhi.
There are reports that all the candidates recommended by Selja and by KC Venugopal, general secretary in-charge of Organization, lost. The media department was also virtually defunct and if the Congress message through Hooda’s interviews and bytes was carried throughout the state, it was due to his own set-up; his key aide, Shiv Bhatia, worked round the clock to spread the party’s programe in the media. The AICC media cell was busy with other things and its role was minimal, something which needs to be also examined by the so-called fact-finding committee. It should also be ascertained how many times did Ashok Gehlot, the party observer for Haryana visit the state along with his colleagues during the elections. Although the blame game has commenced, it is unlikely to lead anywhere.
The same or perhaps even greater mistakes would be committed during the Maharashtra polls, where the Congress would be now bargaining from a defensive position rather than a superior one. This would have been so, had it won in Haryana. The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge needs to take immediate steps to rectify the situation. He must without any delay appoint a political secretary, who is well versed with the national situation instead of leaving it on someone like KC Venugopal, who has failed in his job. He should also have a more responsible media head, who reacts to political developments in a political manner and on time. There needs to be a party overhaul of some departments, and the pending proposal to revive the Parliamentary Board must be again reconsidered. There are commentators who are claiming that there were BJP sleeper cells or moles within the Congress. This matter should not be dismissed but properly examined by the High Command to ascertain if there was any truth in these allegations. The elections may have also marked the final battle of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, whose nine and half years tenure as the Chief Minister (2005 to 2014) was arguably the best by any CM in the State that shall be celebrating the 58th anniversary of its formation on November 1. Time for Kharge and Gandhis to wake up.