The gravitational force of Karma is sinking the Congress Party deeper into the swamp of irrelevance.
Three of its wise men -Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath, and Mukul Wasnik - had to flee from Shillong in the afternoon of March 4. Their front paw, Mukul Sangma, was smitten by Conrad Sangma, son of late PA Sangma and leader of the National People's Party(NPP).
The Congress's loss of Meghalaya may be seen similar to one it had to bear in Manipur in 2017 where it had the lead but lost the government formation opportunity to the BJP.
Having lost even Meghalaya, the Congress is left with no bastion in the Northeast. The BJP has already stormed the communist citadel of Tripura and the Christian-dominated Nagaland. And the Congress has shot itself in the foot by its Karma.
In Nagaland, where the Congress polled 25% votes in 2013 assembly elections is reduced to 2% in 2018. The BJP has grown from one assembly seat & 1.75% vote share in 2013 to 12 MLAs with 14.4% votes in 2018. This is despite the Church openly calling to vote against the BJP in the Christian majority state.
In Tripura, the story is not very different. Congress polled 35.6% votes winning 10 assembly seats in the 2013 elections. It was the main opposition party in the state. In 2018, with less than 2% votes, it has not won even one assembly seat. On the other hand, the Left party has more or less retained its core vote bank. It polled 42.60% votes in 2018; lower than 48.11% it had polled in 2013, and thus considerably reduced to 16 MLAs now from 50 MLAs in the previous Assembly.
Most impressive growth is of BJP: from 1.5% in 2013 when it lost deposit in all 49 ACs out of 50 it contested, in 2018, it polled 43.00% (contested 51 ACs) votes winning 35 ACs. The BJP+IPFT alliance got 50.5% votes & won in 43 ACs. This growth has clearly occurred at the expenses of Congress. Tripura has 30% Tribal/Indigenous population & Non-Tribal Bengali Hindus are 66%. These Hindus have largely come from Bangladesh during & after 1971 war. They effortlessly boarded a political Hindu platform, where BJP carefully avoided any reference or commitment for a Tribal state demanded by IPFT.
The tribals hold the key to 20 ACs. These were crucial to wrest the State from Left, this explains the relevance of ITFP. Yogi's campaign amongst Hindus reverberated well & brought votes. One major factor for majority Hindu Bengalis was Amendment in the Citizenship Act of 1955 to make religion as the basis for citizenship for illegal immigrants; almost all of them are Hindus. On the other hand, BJP was able to convince ITFP and Tribals that the amendment would not impact the present demography of the State. To placate Bengali Hindus, it did not commit itself to separate Tribal State demand by IPFT.
The Northeast results may or may not cast their shadow on the forthcoming state elections this year. But they clearly indicate that there is a great trust deficit between the people and Congress party leaders at this given point in time.
On the other hand, the BJP and its leader Naren Modi is viewed as someone seriously interested in the uplift of the ordinary people with their welfare schemes like free gas connection, increasing coverage of the Aadhar-based old-age pension as well as MNREGA wages payment. So, despite messing up and fouling its relations with the country's peasantry, the NaMo administration is seen cleaner in its intent than its opponents, and hence the public support.
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G-force of Karma sinks Congress in Northeast
By IndianMandarins - 2018-03-05 01:02:27
The gravitational force of Karma is sinking the Congress Party deeper into the swamp of irrelevance.
Three of its wise men -Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath, and Mukul Wasnik - had to flee from Shillong in the afternoon of March 4. Their front paw, Mukul Sangma, was smitten by Conrad Sangma, son of late PA Sangma and leader of the National People's Party(NPP).
The Congress's loss of Meghalaya may be seen similar to one it had to bear in Manipur in 2017 where it had the lead but lost the government formation opportunity to the BJP.
Having lost even Meghalaya, the Congress is left with no bastion in the Northeast. The BJP has already stormed the communist citadel of Tripura and the Christian-dominated Nagaland. And the Congress has shot itself in the foot by its Karma.
In Nagaland, where the Congress polled 25% votes in 2013 assembly elections is reduced to 2% in 2018. The BJP has grown from one assembly seat & 1.75% vote share in 2013 to 12 MLAs with 14.4% votes in 2018. This is despite the Church openly calling to vote against the BJP in the Christian majority state.
In Tripura, the story is not very different. Congress polled 35.6% votes winning 10 assembly seats in the 2013 elections. It was the main opposition party in the state. In 2018, with less than 2% votes, it has not won even one assembly seat. On the other hand, the Left party has more or less retained its core vote bank. It polled 42.60% votes in 2018; lower than 48.11% it had polled in 2013, and thus considerably reduced to 16 MLAs now from 50 MLAs in the previous Assembly.
Most impressive growth is of BJP: from 1.5% in 2013 when it lost deposit in all 49 ACs out of 50 it contested, in 2018, it polled 43.00% (contested 51 ACs) votes winning 35 ACs. The BJP+IPFT alliance got 50.5% votes & won in 43 ACs. This growth has clearly occurred at the expenses of Congress. Tripura has 30% Tribal/Indigenous population & Non-Tribal Bengali Hindus are 66%. These Hindus have largely come from Bangladesh during & after 1971 war. They effortlessly boarded a political Hindu platform, where BJP carefully avoided any reference or commitment for a Tribal state demanded by IPFT.
The tribals hold the key to 20 ACs. These were crucial to wrest the State from Left, this explains the relevance of ITFP. Yogi's campaign amongst Hindus reverberated well & brought votes. One major factor for majority Hindu Bengalis was Amendment in the Citizenship Act of 1955 to make religion as the basis for citizenship for illegal immigrants; almost all of them are Hindus. On the other hand, BJP was able to convince ITFP and Tribals that the amendment would not impact the present demography of the State. To placate Bengali Hindus, it did not commit itself to separate Tribal State demand by IPFT.
The Northeast results may or may not cast their shadow on the forthcoming state elections this year. But they clearly indicate that there is a great trust deficit between the people and Congress party leaders at this given point in time.
On the other hand, the BJP and its leader Naren Modi is viewed as someone seriously interested in the uplift of the ordinary people with their welfare schemes like free gas connection, increasing coverage of the Aadhar-based old-age pension as well as MNREGA wages payment. So, despite messing up and fouling its relations with the country's peasantry, the NaMo administration is seen cleaner in its intent than its opponents, and hence the public support.
