People's mandate: It's freedom from Cong

Like the August 9, 1942, message for the British to leave India, December 8, 2013, will go down in Indian history as a day when people decided to make India ‘Congress free’.

The unprecedented Modi phenomenon that mesmerised common voters, especially the young, dreamy-eyed and the ziddi generation must be complimented for achieving what seemed to be a difficult task.

It’s unbelievable how Narendra Modi created a climate of change and held a national audience spellbound. That spell made every channel air his speeches live, from north to south and east to west, as if that was a sure recipe for increased TRP ratings.

Can anyone recall such a phenomenon earlier? The sincere state leadership that had a grip on the local cadre and which knew the pulse of their region solidly complemented it.

Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan and Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan in MP redefined political popularity and will certainly not be confined to their regional geographies now.

If it was spectacular in Rajasthan and MP, in Chhattisgarh, in spite of a strong anti-incumbency factor and the negative impact of the Naxal attacks which saw a very popular and dedicated politician from Congress, Mahendra Karma, lose his life, the humble charm of Raman Singh saved the day. Delhi was unambiguous about its decision- throw the Congress out.

In Delhi, the BJP was able to create a new hope and offered a new language of confidence, coupled with a show of collective leadership that helped it rejuvenate and regain lost ground.

The ever-effervescent presence of Delhi’s trusted national leaders like Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley did contribute tremendously to boost the morale of workers and soften the disadvantageous corners within the organisation.

AAP, like a loose group of experimenting mavericks, was single- minded in its opposition to the Congress rule, made focused attacks on Sheila Dikshit’s governance and let loose a series of new, out-of-the-box electoral shows that made it look different and an ally of the marginalised commoner.

They had nothing to lose after having lost the blessings of their creator and guru and trusted lieutenants like Kiran Bedi. But they certainly worked like crazy, young game-changers and stunned everyone by winning as many as 28 seats in their first attempt. The frustrations of the youth with the lazy, arrogant netas found an expression in the new, identifiable creed of ‘no sayers’.
And we must not feel sad to see this. It’s good to see a fossilised polity jolted and it may add to a new genre that is fast shaping India’s democratic journey through Raisina risings.

And it’s a challenge to the larger parties too, which have a pan- India presence. When vastly spread-out national parties, with huge resources, well-oiled infrastructure and supported by strategically placed and groomed workers, stick to archaic methodologies and fatigued sloganeering, a new language and idiom, however disorderly and anarchic it might be, try to shake the old order.

Come what may, we are in to see a new, emerging Modified India with a new language of the young.

The author is a Rajya Sabha MP. His views are personal