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Editor’s Note

It’s official: Hyper-nationalism

alone would not win elections!

The BJP and the Shiv Sena alliance poles apart on many parameters show that people
has retained power in Maharashtra are yearning for an alternative and that is why after
and the saffron party has emerged earlier electrical dribbles, the lifeless opposition has
as the single largest party in still got a lifeline.
Haryana but has fallen short of Thanks to a fightback from the NCP, the Congress-
the lofty claims. NCP alliance has won 98 seats in Maharashtra and in
The plank of national se- Haryana, the Congress, has surprised everyone,
curity had done the trick for the winning 31 seats, more than double of the 15 it did
BJP in this year’s Lok Sabha polls in the in 2014.
backdrop of the Pulwama terror attack and the There are messages galore in the results and the
Balakot airstrikes than addressing the concerns of biggest message is that Indian democracy is again
different sections avoiding any serious discussion on coming alive and that there is still political space for the
the economy and livelihood issues. opposition.
The results show that issues like Kashmir and The so-called exit polls, analysts and psephologists
national security would be more effective in nation- have gone wrong making it clear that voters don’t give
al elections. Euphoric over its landslide win in 2019 their minds to anyone and smarter than politicians. The
General Election, the BJP had perhaps written off the trio-Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and the BJP could be
opposition and was expecting a walkover. invincible at the national level but at the State’s level,
However, the opposition-exceeded expectation in local issues and local leaders matter.
both States while the ruling party’s tally has dropped. However, after two State Assembly elections, it
It is a wake-up call for the BJP that had become would not be wise to find fault with the Modi doctrine
complacent thinking that there was a co-relation and praise the winner.
between General Election and Assembly election. In Most Haryana ministers have lost, again proving
Haryana, the BJP has to cobble together a majority. that hyper-nationalism is no counter to the lack of
Three leaders to watch are Sharad Pawar, the NCP governance.
patriarch in Maharashtra and Bhupinder Singh Hooda The Congress could have faired even better had it
of Congress and Jannayak Janata Party’s young leader, not been the leadership of Rahul Gandhi who has failed
Dushyant Chautala in Haryana. to usher in an alternative politics imbibing new ideas
The BJP needs the support of at least six MLAs for acceptable to masses.
a simple majority. The results from two states that are chARAnjIt AhujA

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Volume 16, Issue no. 21, 1-15 no Vember 2019, RELEASEd on 1 noVember, numbER oF pAgES IncLudIng covER 68
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