Hello friends, this is my first attempt to write on politics. I have been following politics from the day i started understanding. I have followed the elections of 1998, 1999, 2004 and now 2009. Not to mention about the numerous assembly elections held in between the years. The point of highlight in all the elections is that the graph (of no of seats) for BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) has come down in every election. It was 182 in 1998 and somewhere around 121-123 in 2009. Whereas for Congress, the graph is going up year by year. It was into lower 100's in 1996 and has crossed 200 in 2009.
I think the party need to accept the fact that "they have lost to congress" even after the later was in center for five years. Its time for the BJP to sit and analyse honestly what went wrong instead of finding out reasons for why congress won. Now i wonder what the party's strategist will analyse from this elections. However, if i was the strategist for the BJP i would have asked them to concentrate on following:
Good Bye Advani:
Everyone in the country knows that the election was fought in the name of Advani. So, he ultimately has to take the blame for the loss of the party in the elections. I know its very sad for a party to ask a person who has built the party from zero. The person, who, increased the seats for the party from 2 in 1984 to 182 in 1999. But fact is fact, and it will be good for the party to do it sooner than later. I am sorry Mr. Advani, but most of the country associate you directly with the Babri demolition in 1992 and that is one of the important reason for choosing Mr. Manmohan Singh against you in the election.
Need to fill Vajpayee's shoes
It was hearting to hear from Mr. Rajnath Singh, the president of BJP, that they felt the absence of Mr. Vajpayee. This shows that the party know that Advani is not as great as Vajpayee. Anyways, the party has to search a leader who can fill the place left vacant by the former Prime Minister (I know its a tough task, the leader like him comes once in centuries). But this is the need of time, they need a good orator, good negotiator, great leader like him.
Focus should be on Young leaders
When the country's 40% of the voters are under 40 years, you need to have young leaders. I think its time for all the 65+ leaders to spent time in making strategies and mentoring young candidates instead of fighting election. They should guide young candidates, and let them run this country.
Stop Party Infighting
"United we stand, Divided we fall". BJP should learn from this very old saying, if they want to win any elections in the future. Two big leaders Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitely had differences just before the elections. I think the leaders need to control their egos, if they want to win in the future. Ticket distribution should be only on the basis of candidate's profile and background.
Selection of issues in elections
Everyone said that there was no such issue in this election. But, I believe there were many, but the BJP was unable to project them properly.
What BJP should have chosen:
- Security: With several bomb blasts & 26/11 in mumbai in the UPA regime, the security of India was at stack. The party must have raised the issue of POTA
- Should have cleared its stand on the plane hijacking in Dec 2000.
- Development: Gujrat was rated as no. 1 state in India, Chattisgarh has improved considerably since its formation under BJP, Shivraj singh Chauhan's leadership in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar started on development road under BJP-JD(U) government. With development in so many states, one wonders why development was not made an issue in the election
- Economic Condition: The party should have come out with some plan to improve the economic condition of the country
- Price Rise: Yes price rise was an issue, the prices of necessary commodities have risen sharply in last five years. But the party was unable to project this
- BJP never came out strongly against Raj Thackrey's anti-North Mumbai campaign or against Muthalik in Karnataka. The party should have voice their opinion against Maharashtra government asking their stand against Raj Thackrey.
What BJP chose:
- Attack Manmohan Singh on being weak PM
- Attacking Sonia Gandhi on her foreign origin
- Attack nuclear deal
- Polarisation of votes (Varun Gandhi case)
- Article 370 & Ram Mandir issue
Well BJP should know that the electorates are getting mature day by day, for them Ram temple is not an issue. They don't have any problem with Sonia's origination until Manmohan is the PM. The country now wants good issues through which they can relate. They want Food, water, electricity, better roads, peace, harmony, job security. The party should understand that they need to focus on these issues and not on the issues mentioned above.
Creation of Vote Base
Even though you find crores of people voting online for Advani as PM, the real picture turned out to be different. I believe the party need to identify its vote base and should work rigorously towards it. They should have command over their voters, so much so that, the voter will come and vote for them in the election.
One important thing of this election was that, the percentage of vote polled for BJP was same as that of 2004 (maybe be 0.5% lesser), whereas the vote polled for congress increased by 7% in 2009 to that of 2004. This suggest that the new voter came out to vote for congress, whereas BJP had the same junk of people voting for them.
I believe if the party wants to win in 2014, they need to create their own vote base, which can come out and vote for their party in the election.
I think, BJP need to look forward by dumping the ghost of 2009 election. They need to make an start as early as possible (maybe today). The party need to create its base in the states from where they don't have any purchase.
All in all, Grow up BJP, have some fresh and young agendas, for the young India. Improve your communal image to a secular image. Get some fresh blood in the party and start moving on.
