The return to power of the Congress-NCP in Maharashtra—on top of the Congress’ predicted wins in Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh—hides a smaller but more substantial subtext: the defeat of the BJP-Shiv Sena combine and their combined failure to overthrow the ruling coalition.
By all accounts, Maharashtra, one of India’s richest States but also one of its worst governed, has been ravaged by farmer suicides, power scarcity, water scarcity, mind-numbing corruption, poor administration, terrorist attacks, and worse for years, if not nearly a decade. Yet, the BJP-Sena combine was unable to overcome the so-called “anti-incumbency” wave that usually consumes ruling dispensations.
Coming on top of the BJP’s loss in the general elections in May, and the succession battle which has seen much blood-letting, the question: is it all over the BJP’s brand of politics? Is it merely missing a leader or is the trouble much deeper? Has its ideology run its course? Or, is it too early to write its obituary?
Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: Will the BJP ever come to power?
CHURUMURI POLL: Is the BJP in total disarray?
‘The only person to blame for BJP defeat is L.K. Advani‘
churumuri 
No. it will never be over for BJP.
But the truth is party needs a very quick revival. otherwise it might end up in ruling only in hindi heartland states.
Problem is ,not only indian voters but also BJP leaders and politicians confused with exact stand, ideology and vision of BJP. Nobosy is aware what BJP stands for ; what is the relation ship between RSS: who rules who between RSS and BJP.
Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on RSS can support any party was really horrific to imagine how 2 terms of without power has rocked both organizations. One this is sure. BJP needs RSS and RSS needs BJP. Its not possible for anyone to move apart from other. So the best approch for the revival is to REVIVE THE IDEOLOGY. ideology should be only aimed at making india a developed country with respect to both economically, defensive and socially. Dont come up with ideology for winning the elections but come up with upbringing eveyone in the country barring caste , creed and religion. it may sound like too idealistic to work out, but i guess only way out to ensure 272 seats by ur own. Then put a brave and dynamic leader as president of BJP and back him at every step.
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When you have a party run by lawyers and journalists you can not expect too much of anything but narcissism and analysis to the point of paralysis.
Time for the lotus to wilt in the mud from which it arose. There will be a new lotus bud – let’s hope it is without the lawyers and the anally retentive
journalists of The Pioneer kind.
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Still holds good:
http://suhanasafarwithme.blogspot.com/2009/08/reinvent-bjp.html
:D
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@Pseudo Chomsky,
Sir Mark Tully told me the same thing just an hour ago! He said ‘ There are too many lawyers, journalists and ‘ leaders ‘ in that party.
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Why media in this country is after BJP? I don’t understand why the media praises a family for all the good things in this country?
Media in this country is doing a organized brain washing of the people..
Its high time that common man understands the things beyond his life…and spares a bit of time to understand the happenings in this country..
The hell thing is people in this country watch English channels and take those facts as the truth…
People must go beyond these news channels to know the truth…
Mera Bharath mahan…Mere bhaaratiya??? I don’t know…
Finally BJP should have had better campaigning…Its high time that they
forget their individual difference and put the party first…
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BJP is now reduced to a national party with regional presence.
Or call it regional party with national presence.
BJP has lost all three assembly polls
BJP has lost considerable seats in all three assemblypolls
BJP has lost considerable vote share in all three assembly polls
This is just a sequel to the general elections in 2009 May
More disasters are in the making.
Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and other such states will soon follow within 2 years – where BJP has zilch chance of winning.
My prediction:
JDU will offer BJP a small clutch of seats in Bihar. BJP will play hardball.
JDU will not blink. It says Nitesh is responsible for the LS victory. Nitish’s popularity is at all time high, therefore BJP should settle for less seats.
BJP will eventually part ways with Nitish at the time of the next assembly polls.
Nitesh will do a Naveen patnaik on BJP
Nitesh may or may not join hands with Cong
Either ways BJP loses one more state.
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Every political party will go through a time of turmoil and BJP is no exception to this. From being a parties in power, we have seen how DMK/AIADMK gets reduced to a meagre presence in Tamil Nadu. Chandrababu Naidu has experienced the same in Andhra.
In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned how Congress got reduced to 114 seats in Loksabha. Compared to that, even with all the drawbacks that BJP baiters can think of, the party has won 116 seats!!!
As regards the over importance being given to Nitish, let us be clear about one thing. It is not Nitish’s persona alone which has made him so popular. The misdeeds of Lalu/Rabri combine also made him a darling of the Bihar public. Therefore in one sense, he reaped the benefit of this negative vote.
Yes. BJP needs to do a lot of things right. It takes sometime before they can get this done. The path is painful. But if they do it right, they will bounce back with vengeance!
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perhaps frends of bjp shud rethink their positions.shud they remain frends of bjp or frends of the ppl the bjp is supposed to fight and stand up for? if the bjp feels it shud speak and fight for “all sections” of this country then we shud just vote congress.
fact is the bjp is dead.it has no chance of living until modi or likes of him take over.
all this debate about numbers and seats is simply a prostitution of civilisational values that any truly national party is expected to protect.
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All the better!
Do what what Swatantra Party could not achieve, build a good opposition then take on Congress!
Political parties have always been run by lawyers and journalists!
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You need to add one more option here, it should read, ‘I HOPE SO’ ;)
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Yes every political party goes through bad times. BJP could have avoided the kind of people who had no ideology, no discipline and really created all the mess in the party. BJP was out to commit Harakiri. It is not too late now. The RSS should come in and crack the whip. That seems to be the only way out of the mess the party has got itself into.
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*DPS saar*
WOW, thaavu Sir Mark Tully avara jotheyella shoulders rub maDtheera sir? I bow to you, O important one.
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It can never be “all over” for an ideology, whether Hindutva or Communism. Eventually the BJP may die or morph, but ideologies by their nature are perpetual. Ideologies are ideas. Similarly, the communist parties may have lost, but communism can never die.
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RSS and BJP should understand that it is not china, pak which are threat
to the country, but corruption alone.
The faster they understand, the longer they will be around
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You are trying to reason out a mass hysteria called elections. Anybody can win anytime. All that you need is a little social engineering, a little cult persona, a surname Gandhi and a little luck. Do not try to rationalize Indian elections. By the dumb, for the dumber and of the dumbest.
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One needs to see this in the proper perspective. The BJP was never a serious contender in any of the 3 states that went to the polls recently. In Maharashtra it was the junior partner and if the combine had to come to power, a larger responsibility fell on its partner in that state. In this state the vote share of the combine was seriously undercut by the MNS.
In Haryana it had very few seats and in Arunachal it had but a token presence. The best the party could have hoped for was for a slight improvement in seats and vote share. That did not happen but the loss was not terrible.
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Unfortunately, I tend to concur with the heading of this blog :((
Such a nice party with ideology of uniting India is now in tatters. It hurts to see such a party being run by a group of leaders (who cannot manage each other). Sometimes, I do think, if this is because we were subjects to Autocratic rule before we got our Independence.
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Is it all over for BJP?
Nope, Not untill the BJP feel the “operation swift Hand” in karnataka for Operation kamala. Reddy brothers are weighing their options and htheir business partner Junior YSR is willing to do anything to get the CM seat in Andhra.
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Faldo,
you are right. the loss is not terrible.
Losers can’t lose any more. BJP had a small presence anyway in all the three states.
The moot point is: from from being able to grow in these three states the BJP is decaying. It has stagnated.
It shows that the BJP is going the communist way. Stick to a few states and get decimated in the rest of the country
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Simpleji,
What is your take on the mobile phone spectrum scandal? If you find the question very embarrassing to answer while you continue to hold forth on the virtues of UPA, that is OK. For some one who reels off the do’s and don’ts for every party except for the UPA, I am interested to hear from you.
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In the above post of DB’s, if Simpleji is replaced by Churumuriji, the question is still valid.
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I don’t think that it’s all over for BJP. It has the potential to bounce back and I hope it will in the larger interests of effective democracy in this country. However I hope BJP revamps itself radically pretty quickly.
Congress was down in the dumps not long ago with Sitaram Kesri et al running amok. Pretty much every one had written them off especially with BJP/NDA on a great run and seemingly unstoppable. Haven’t they bounced back rather spectacularly in the last 6-8 years?
What they did to stage a comeback? From layman’s simple perspective, I would say they did atleast 2 things right.
1. Change in leadership. Now however much one may dislike Gandhi-Nehru family, they have proved to be effective leaders who could keep the party united and reasonably adept as vote-catchers.
2. Image make-over or change of tack. From a popular perception of power-hunger, nepotism and corruption, they changed boats and caught the ‘aam admi’ plank. That seems to have served them well. It’s not to say that Cong is now cleansed of power-hunger, nepotism, corruption etc. However more and more people seem to believe more in the ‘Aam Admi’ image of this party.
BJP could do well to learn from the revival of Congress. To begin with it could junk its current leadership and bring in new blood. Secondly I do hopw they get out of the ghetto they have themselves dug into – that of exclusivity politics that borders on being communal. That turns off lot of anti-Congress voters who would have voted for a liberal, anti-dynasty politics, progressive and right-of-center alternative to Congress. Now without such an alternative Congress thrives on TINA factor.
BJP would really do well if they model themselves on a nationalistic, market-friendly plank that’s inclusive of all sections of the country. Being nationalistic shouldn’t and wouldn’t mean hatred or contempt for any section of the society.
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You cheddis need someone to counter Rahul.
For all the hate you show for him, there is no one visible from the BJP/RSS camp who projects the positive image he does (for whatever reason).
People want someone who invokes some hope for the future. The current inflexible, holier-than-thou BJP leaders dont have it.
Do something about it, even if it means having to give up on some of your beloved old fogeys and inflexible ideas on caste and religion.
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anonymous guy avre…pls can you enlighten me on inflexible ideas of caste and religion wrt cheddis? maybe you can show ur famed scientific temper and be meticulous about it? u know, like making sure ur argument cannot be kicked into mud types
im sure lots of ppl wil wait eagerly to hear u. pls dont disappoint ah?
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Palahalli,
Sorry cant solve your problems. You need to indulge in one of your famed chintan bhaitaks to figure this one out yourself.
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anonymous guy avre, pls to get my handle correctly. next i did not say there was a problem. why is it that u keep coming up with these problems that u cannot even describe properly? care to explain?
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