The result of the 2011 Assembly elections came on 10 May, exactly one month back. One month is a good enough time for emotions to settle down and for better judgement to take control of politics-savvy minds. With such a perceived improvement in our judgement we can analyse the result of the Assembly Elections.
The April-May 2011 round of the assembly elections in the four states and one Union Territory had mixed results for all major parties in India, except BJP. Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam as well as Puducherry went for polls and in all places, except Assam, anti-incumbency factor played a major role in bringing down the ruling coalitions. However in Assam, the Congress ministry retained power and its leader Tarun Gogoi returned for a third consecutive time as Chief Minister. In Puducherry, ruling Congress suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of ex-Congress leader NR. Rangasamy led All India NR Congress (AINRC). In Kerala the UDF under the leadership of Congress has come to power with Oommen Chandy as the Chief Minister. In the 140 member Kerala assembly, UDF got a wafer thin majority of 72 seats, while the LDF under the leadership of CPI (M), which was the incumbent government, got 68 seats. In Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK decimated the DMK and snatched a landslide victory by ambushing the ruling front headed by DMK. AIADMK led Front, which has CPI (M), CPI and Vijayakant’s DMDK got 195 seats in the 234 member TN assembly. In a much awaited election result, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress demolished the left’s dilapidated fortress in West Bengal. In the 294 seats West Bengal Assembly, Trinamool led front got 227 seats and the combined left got only 67 seats.
One of the most important outcomes of this election is that the national parties have lost their prominence in these states and that many regional parties have gained a lot of seats as well as majority vote share. Congress, the CPI (M) and the BJP fared miserably in the election. Congress was able to win in Kerala by the skin of their teeth and they lost in Puducherry, got only few seats in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Already reeling under scores of corruption charges in the centre, the Congress party has gone down further back after the election results. In both Kerala and West Bengal the Congress party is under the mercy of their allies. In Kerala, though Congress is the major partner, it is particularly vulnerable to the pressures of their allies, the Muslim League and the Kerala Congress (M). At the same time, Congress is the minor partner in West Bengal, where Trinamool Congress has achieved a major victory. Congress is besieged with a lot of problems in the national level as well as in the regional level in most states. Corruption charges, lack of leadership and the problem of rebels are holding Congress back from regaining its lost position. Though the Congress is trying its best to come out of the cloud of corruption charges by taking legal actions against politicians like Suresh Kalmadi, A Raja and Kanimozhi, it doesn’t seems to be completely honest about dealing with corruption. The way in which the party is dragging its feet on the Lokpal issue and the fascist way in which it has responded to the fast conducted by Baba Ramdev, where police swooped on the protesters assembled at Baba Ramdev’s protest meeting, show the moral penury in which the Indian National Congress finds itself in. The party doesn’t seem to be interested to involve in political discourse, which is quite imperative in a working democracy.
The condition of the CPI (M) and the leftists at large has become pathetic after the elections. The Communist cadre had always been extremely proud of their great record in the West Bengal Assembly. In what turned out to be a historic election, the CPI (M) led Left front was swept out of power after a record seven consecutive terms in office. The left has mainly itself to blame for this result. The traditional left has always been arrogant and thought they were always right and looked at others with absolute disdain. They were never comfortable with criticisms and almost always responded to criticism with arrogance, which sometimes led to violent attacks on the critics. Intolerance, which has been the hallmark of many Communist regimes in the world (regimes of Stalin in Russia and Mao in China, being best examples), has led to an alienation of the party from the wishes and ideas of the people. They often forget that constructive criticism is important for the growth of any organised system and any absence of such criticism, or the intolerance towards criticism, will make an organised system morbid. To think that one is always right is not only foolish but is a prescription for disaster, as the left has found out in West Bengal. Though the CPI (M) was able to gain some lost ground in Kerala as a result of VS Achuthanandan’s perceived action against corruption, they were not able to regain power in the state (it is a matter of argument whether VS was against corruption as a social malady or was trying to gain some political points as he was acting only against corruption committed by his opponents, but stayed disgracefully mum on those done by his own party men). The left parties, particularly the CPI (M), have to do a serious introspection to find out the reasons for their defeat in Kerala and West Bengal. They have to see whether their failure has been in the organisational level or in the leadership level. They should also reassess their political priorities in the changing political and social landscape of the country. It is also important to be more responsive to the needs of the people and to not get struck up in their theoretical dogma. However the most important thing to do for the party, if it has to regain its lost position in the country, is to rein in the thuggish and violent party cadre who are always inclined to violence and hostility.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition in the country, is languishing in the oblivion of political India and in this assembly election they had no real role to play. However they have now an opportune time to lash out at the government in the centre, which is weighed down by many corruption charges. But instead of taking the lead in the agitations against the corrupt government, they are trying to support people like Baba Ramdev who has got no political ideals or democratic convictions. After the retirement of the legendary Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP was unable to bring an inspirational leader to guide it. Now that the Babri Masjid issue is not appealing to their support base, the BJP is trying to find out some other issues, but is failing miserably to come up with any.
Assembly Elections 2011 has made a lot of changes in the political landscape of the country. It must be seen what changes are going to happen in the country as the result of this elections. The new governments in the states have already started to make changes in the way in which the erstwhile governments were working. At the same time, as citizens of India we must ask ourselves whether we have matured enough as a political class after the elections. From the periphery it looks as if there had been a massive vote against political cynicism and superfluous populism.
