People's Democracy

RAJASTHAN

BJP Defeated But No Win For Congress  CPI(M) Increases Its Strength In Assembly

Vasudev

IN the recently concluded state assembly elections, though the BJP was able to retain its power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, it failed to capture Delhi from the Congress party, which it was hoping. On the other hand, the BJP has lost Rajasthan to the Congress which was able to retain its power in Delhi and captured Mizoram from the MNF.

In Rajasthan, however, the people did defeat the BJP but it does not mean a victory for the Congress. In fact, the people here have given a fractured verdict by electing a good number of independents and the candidates from other parties. The Congress has won 96 seats in the 200-member assembly and the BJP 78, while 6 seats have gone to the BSP, 3 to the CPI(M), 1 each to the SP, JD(U) and LJP, while 14 independents have succeeded. In contrast, in the 2003 polls, the BJP had got 102 and the Congress 56 seats, while the CPI(M), BSP, LJP, NLDP and JD(U) had got 1, 2, 2, 4 and 2 seats respectively.

In the 2003 polls, the BJP had got 39.2 percent of the valid votes polled while it came down to 34.5 percent in 2008. The Congress votes rose from 35.7 to 36.9 percent and those for other parties from 25.1 to 28.6 percent. As for the CPI(M), its vote share went up from 0.79 to 1.62 percent in the same period. The BSP increased its share from 2 to 6 percent.

This time the personality of the outgoing chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia lacked the charisma which had defeated the government of Ashok Gehlot in 2003. On the contrary, there was large-scale disillusionment from the BJP because of a whole set of factors operating in the last five years. Some of these are as below:

--- growing repression on mass movements and the death of 110 persons in the record 57 instances of police firing,

--- sharp increase in power tariff leading to mass discontent among the peasantry,

--- anger against inadequate availability of irrigation water in the canal areas,

--- rampant anarchy and corruption in government machinery, and the accusation of corruption against every single minister,

--- creation of communal tension in more than 100 cities and towns by the RSS, BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal,

--- saffronisation of education and textbooks,

--- policy to make various castes fight among themselves, bloody battles between the Meenas and Gurjars, and the death of 72 Gurjars in police firing,

--- non-implementation of the promises made to the various castes five years ago,

--- feudal and lavish life styles of the chief ministers and her ministers, involving totally undue expenditures from the government exchequer, and their contemptuous attitude for the masses,

--- repression against the dalits and other weaker sections of society,

--- scandals involving plots of land worth billions of rupees, and

--- continued backwardness of the state and its people in the five years of BJP�s misgovernance.

All these factors exposed, mercilessly for the BJP, its claim of being a �party with a difference.� While the party boasted of having leaders with exemplary life styles, its ministers were found neck-deep in corruption and scandals. While three state BJP chiefs came and went away in this period, the whole power came to be concentrated in the chief minister who has been notorious for her feudal arrogance. It was she who cornered most of the tickets for her sycophants while the candidates with grassroots links were summarily ignored. Tickets were also sold for money. The result was that a number of BJP men contested as rebel candidates and upset the party�s applecart. The chief minister�s slogan that �Rajasthan won�t stop now� miserably failed to click. The situation of factionalism in the party is such that it is still not able to decide who would be the leader of opposition in the assembly.

But the Congress too could not reach the magical figure of 101 and had to rest content with 96 seats only, and too when there was no strong third force in the fray. The Congress did not worry to initiate a mass movement against the misgovernance of the BJP and its growing communal drive in the last five years. Nor could it utilise the forum of the assembly to expose the BJP. In fact, it has been in a state of paralysis and in the grip of the illusion that, fed up with the BJP, the people would have no option but to vote for the Congress. It was also in the grip of intra-party war --- state Congress president had to be changed four times and leader of opposition three times. It banked on the supposed charisma of the Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi and prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, but their participation in the election campaign failed to create any wave.

Despite the absence of an organised third alternative in the state, as many as 25.1 percent of the voters had voted against the Congress and the BJP in 2003. and the figure has gone up by 3.5 percent this time. This indicates hat the people are able to support a third alternative provided that it is credible. The BSP has increased its seat tally as well as vote percentage by changing its political platform from an anti-upper caste one to an all-inclusive one. The SP and LJP too have opened accounts in the state by winning 1 seats each. On the other hand, the BJP�s allies have lost --- the JD(U) has lost 1 seat while the INLD has lost all the 4 it had won last time. The CPI has failed to open its account.

Since 1964, it was the first time that the CPI(M) has won 3 seats in the assembly (it had only 1 representative in the outgoing assembly) and has increased its vote share by about 1 percent. The other 31 candidates of the party also received encouraging response from the people. This is the result of the mass movements which the party has waged and the sacrifices made by its cadre in the last five years. The party�s workers and supporters had to face unprecedented repression, several comrades courted martyrdom and many remained behind bars for long periods while fighting for the people�s cause. While the party waged protracted and vigorous struggles outside, its lone MLA played a commendable role giving voice to the people�s grievances in the assembly. The popular support garnered by the CPI(M) has only strengthened its face in the efficacy of mass struggles in winning the people�s demands.

While the CPI(M)�s Amra Ram has won for the fourth time, its Pema Ram defeated the state Congress president and heavyweight, Parasram Mordia, by 3,145 votes. This time, the Congress as well as the BJP indulged in a conspiracy to get the Dhodh seat declared as a reserved SC seat and thus to prevent from entering the assembly the highly popular CPI(M) leader, Amra Ram, who had won from this seat thrice earlier. But the people of the neighbouring Danta Ramgarh assembly constituency foiled this joint Congress-BJP conspiracy. For this seat, Amra Ram defeated by 4,919 votes another Congress heavyweight and former state Congress president, Narayan Singh, who was a weighty claimant for the chief minister�s post as a Jat leader. This proves that a leader steeled in mass struggles and always standing by the people gets the latter�s support and affection everywhere.

The CPI(M) nominee, Pawan Duggal�s victory in the Anupgarh seat by a huge margin of 21,570 votes proves the same thing about mass struggles. Duggal was arrested in the first phase of the peasants� struggle in the Indira Gandhi canal area, the police administered him inhuman tortures and the state government dismissed him from the chairmanship of the Anupgarh panchayat samiti, the biggest panchayat samiti of Rajasthan, for his role in developing the mass movement. But the people have now given a strong rebuff to the Congress and BJP by choosing Duggal by a very, very impressive margin.

The CPI(M) lost the Lakshmangarh seat by only about 2,000 votes. Hetram Beniwal, its nominee, got defeated because of the abhorrent caste politics as well as because of the Dera Sachcha Sauda�s fatwa in favour of the Congress.

The party got more than 20,000 votes in 3 constituencies, from 14,000 to 19,665 votes in 5 others and from 7,042 to 9,490 votes in 7 other constituencies. It received less than 1,000 votes in 3 seats and 1,000 to 5,000 votes in the remaining 13 seats. Of the total 2,40,16,428 votes polled in the states, the CPI(M) got 3,90,440, which comes to 1.62 percent, while its vote share was 0.77 percent in 2003.

The results confirm the analysis made and conclusion derived by the CPI(M)�s last state conference --- that the BJP would be defeated but it would not be a victory for the Congress while the CPI(M) would increase its strength. After the first general elections in 1952, late Comrade E M S Namboodiripad had said, �At the national level, it should be noted that the party�s performance was the best in those states and regions where the party had led militant struggles.� One fondly recalls this statement after the recent polls in Rajasthan where the CPI(M) cadre are now teeming with renewed enthusiasm that the party can and will score absolute majority in near future.

Rajasthan Elections 2008

CPI(M)�s Position

Seats Won

Other Seats

Grand Total: 3,91,597