The Congress Would Do Well To Desist From Making Wild Allegations
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2024-06-04 02:20:16
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The Congress party has always been a bad loser. After the exit polls predicted a huge majority for NDA and a record third term for Narendra Modi, the party was looking for issues to spoil the party. But the topic which senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh chose, that of senior BJP leader and home minister Amit Shah calling up more than 150 DMs and 'threatening' them ahead of counting day, was not appropriate.
As home minister, Amit Shah is entitled to call any number of District Magistrates who are in-charge of maintaining law and order during the counting process to ensure there is no trouble and everything goes smoothly. It is his duty to ensure the election process is completed transparently following due process. It shows his commitment to his job that he sought feedback from such a large number of officials. To allege that he 'threatened' them, without any proof, is bad politics. The Election Commission did well not to allow extra time for Ramesh to prove his allegations. The point is if he did not have proof in hand, why did he make such a serious allegation?
The Congress, after doing a flip-flop on participating in television debates on the exit polls, has sought to rubbish the exit poll predictions. It still claims that these are 'paid' polls and some of the agencies are owned by BJP leaders. It also claims that people have voted against the BJP and the NDA and the opposition INDI alliance will get 295 seats. The day before counting of votes, Sonia Gandhi said the party was 'very hopeful' that the actual results will ne 'totally opposite' of what the exit polls have predicted. The party is entitled to its opinion and it is good to be hopeful but the fact is that such a large number of exit polls cannot go totally wrong. There might be an error of 5 to 15 percent but the simple fact is that the BJP-led NDA is coming back for a third term.
Instead of introspecting what went wrong even though the opposition stitched together a largely workable alliance, the Congress is looking for escape routes. The party will, as usual, not blame the top leadership for the loss and will continue to think that the TINA factor will work in its favour once the people get disillusioned with the BJP. Yes, as the only other (apart from the BJP) party with a national presence, the Congress is the party which people will turn to once they seek an alternative. But with regional parties getting stronger in some states, the Congress foot print is getting reduced every passing election. The party has to now seriously think of revamping its set up to connect with the voters.
