The biggest beneficiary of the Congress’ “vote-chori” narrative has been the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar. Even the Congress’ alliance partners in Bihar, particularly the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), were not convinced about this narrative. They wanted to focus more on the failures and shortcomings of the Nitish Kumar–led NDA government. The “vote-chori” narrative completely shifted focus away from the twenty-year-long Nitish fatigue.
As long as the Congress overlooks the real issues and problems it needs to address and instead hides behind excuses like “vote-chori,” the NDA will continue to have a comfortable advantage by taking up the real issues. Even Rahul Gandhi’s “Hydrogen Bomb revelations” about the Haryana elections, made just a day ahead of the Bihar elections, did not find any takers.
That the Congress does not want to come out of its “vote-chori” obsession, even after facing an almost total wipeout, became evident from the way its senior leader and chairman of the party’s communication department, Jairam Ramesh, reacted to the results. In his characteristic verbose style, he said, “No doubt the election results in Bihar reflect vote chori on a gigantic scale, masterminded by the PM, the HM, and the Election Commission… The Indian National Congress renews its resolve to continue with greater strength its campaign to protect the Constitution and save our democracy.”
Ramesh tweeted this after 8 pm, precisely at 8:54 pm. It is understandable what state of mind he was in, as the entire Congress leadership seemed shocked and in a voluntary state of suspended animation.
Actually it was not the “shocked reaction”, but a well-thought and calculated one. No doubt Mallikarjun Kharge happens to be the Congress president, but it is no secret as to who runs the Congress. To protect “the leadership” and deflect all questions and criticism, the Chief Spokesperson of the party came out with the defence of his leader saying, the party would not have lost had it not been for the “vote chori on a gigantic scale”. Hence “the leader” remains sheltered and protected from any criticism or accountability.
While Gandhi gets an excuse, the BJP gets a reason to celebrate the Congress’ persistence about ‘vote chori’ allegations. These allegations do not resonate with common people, not even with most Congressmen, so the BJP remains at an advantage. Plus, if the Congress comes out of this obsession, it will focus on the real issues concerning the nation, which could actually put the BJP on defensive mode. After all, it is not that the BJP is infallible. The party has its own weaknesses and shortcomings that can be confronted and cornered on multiple issues.
When the Congress levels charges like ‘vote chori’ and “the Constitution is in danger” against the BJP, these allegations do not connect with the masses. Because, neither there are any visible signs of the “vote theft”, nor any indications of “attack on the Constitution and democracy” that people can relate to.
There is no point for the Congress leaders to shout in their own echo chambers as long as the public is not convinced about what they say.
Rather for the Congress, people like Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar openly deride the north Indians. As if they were not enough, Chief Minister of Telangana Revant Reddy crossed all limits, by saying, “Congress means Muslims and Muslims mean Congress”. All this happened in the midst of the Bihar campaign. It would be naïve to imagine that these things did not influence the voting patterns.
In a way, Bihar is the microcosm of India. It is diverse in terms of caste and religion, with about 16 percent Muslim population. If the NDA has managed to retain it, despite such a malicious campaign against the BJP, there is something clearly wrong in the Congress understanding. Its argument that the BJP was against the minorities, the Muslims in particular, does not seem to find any traction anywhere.
One of the important factors was that unlike the NDA, the Mahagathbandhan lacked cohesion from day one. From seat sharing to the announcement of the Chief Ministerial candidate, the Mahagathbandhan partners could hardly find peace amongst themselves. So much so, they ended up fighting against each other in several assembly segments, thus dividing their own votes to the NDA’s advantage.
Even the NDA faced the pre-election seat sharing pangs, but these were deftly handled by Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with Nitish Kumar and other leaders. They accorded full respect to the smaller alliance partners like Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi. It was a cohesive alliance unlike the Mahagathbandhan which betrayed the mutual mistrust in public.
If the Congress still believes that the Mahagathbandhan lost because of the ‘vote theft’, then nobody can really save the party and the alliance. Even the RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has started saying that their alliance lost due to vote theft, when the general consensus across the board is to the contrary.
Crime and corruption, the RJD is notoriously identified with, has been the Mahagatbhandhan’s fatal undoing, no matter how vigorously they cry about the “vote theft”. Somebody needs to tell the Congress and the RJD that it was not the “vote chori’, but the “jungle raj” that found resonance among the masses.
Also Read: Not many buyers for Rahul’s ‘vote chori’ charges
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