Predictable, predictable

 

You don¿t say!

Darius Nakhoonwala

 

After a long hiatus, there was a topic on which everyone could comment: the outcome of the Karnataka assembly election in which the BJP won against all liberal expectations. Did I say all? Well, the Hindustan Times didn¿t, not on Monday at least which was the day after the results became known. Amazing, is it not? Was someone sulking? Or does not the paper comment immediately on a Congress defeat?

 

As can be expected, as a staunch BJP supporter, The Pioneer was cock-a-hoop. But it started with a gloat. "More than anything else, the results of the Karnataka Assembly election are a resounding rebuff to lazy, Delhi-based political punditry and psephology." It also took a swipe at H D Deve Gowda. "The entity that has been squeezed out is the Janata Dal (Secular), the party of Mr HD Deve Gowda, a one-time regional strongman but in recent years only a cynical blackmailer." Its bottom-line, literally, was that it is only a matter of time that the BJP is returned to power at the Centre. "Can State elections anticipate the national mood?" it asked and said yes, the UPA has been put on notice.

 

The Telegraph, which is pro-Congress, wrote a very sensible analysis, focusing on the key elements. "No amount of loan waivers for farmers or the Sachar report on the minority community seems to have helped. The Congress in Karnataka had also built its hopes on the fact that the BJP¿s base was confined to the Lingayat community; as a kind of anti-Lingayat front it had among its leaders and candidates not just Vokkaligas, but Kurubas, Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Brahmins too. But the vote was evidently not cast on community or caste lines. It was something else that Karnataka… was looking for, something that the Congress missed." It failed to add, though, that Sonia Gandhi should take the blame for the defeat.

 

The Hindu said the BJP had gained at the cost of the JD (S). But that is only partly true even if the "the Congress, which fought hard to overcome factionalism in its ranks, recorded gains compared to 2004." So? "Karnataka is still nowhere close to moving towards a situation of polarisation between the two national parties."

 

Then it betrayed its loyalties. The following sentences are as good an example of sophistry as you will ever get, so read them carefully. "Governor Rameshwar Thakur, a former Congress Union Minister… should invite the BJP to form the government, unless of course the Congress and the JD(S) are able to quickly secure letters of support from at least 113 members, which would include five of the six independents." But it added that "the proper course for the two parties will be to bide their time…" Bide their time for what? The next election or toppling, as the edit said a few sentences earlier that the BJP was three short of a simple majority?

 

The Asian Age gave a clean chit to the BJP as it "has won an election without resorting to its traditional winning trick of polarising the electorate on communal lines or whipping up sectarian and parochial sentiments." Why did not the other papers say this?

 

The Indian Express made an interesting point about the BJP¿s strategy in the state. "This time round, however, the party allowed B.S. Yeddyurappa… to take charge of the campaign as a local leader, without being burdened by its national compulsions." It added that "Indian voters are now sorting out the crowded field and trimming the political contest to a narrowed fray of two alternatives. Unlike the BJP, which nonetheless is still struggling with mixed signals in, say, Madhya Pradesh, the Congress has been slow to read this mood."