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Daily Vocab Capsule 14th October 2019

No Contest Elections?

Maharashtra and Haryana poll campaigns show why Congress needs to reinvent itself.

Maharashtra and Haryana will be voting in ten days. At this point in the poll cycle the air is usually thick with

political speculation, gossip and delicious imponderables that define an Indian election. Yet, in both these two

states, which until 2014 were Congress citadels, the most striking thing about the current political discourse is a

visible lack of enthusiasm or excitement among non-partisan voters.

This disinterest and sense of ennui is an outcome of the disarray and public churning of internal discontent that

seems to have engulfed Congress, the principal opposition party. Less than a year ago, Congress looked like it

was getting its act back together with an alternative narrative of change, taking the fight to BJP by wresting back

control over major Hindi heartland states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Now, five months

after its comprehensive electoral rout in the Lok Sabha elections, the party has gone into a tailspin with a

leadership vacuum at the top.

Each day seems to bring with it a new headline about internal dissension, defections or unhappy public

soulsearching by top leaders. The latest salvo is from Salman Khurshid who said the “biggest problem” is that

Rahul Gandhi “walked away” after the Lok Sabha defeat, which “left a vacuum”. This was closely followed by

Madhya Pradesh satrap and young gun Jyotiraditya Scindia also calling for an “introspection”. Khurshid’s

comments refocused attention on the Gandhi scion again travelling out of the country on a private visit as his

party is gearing up for crucial elections.

With a directionless drift at the top, Congress has also been engulfed by dissensions in the election states. In

Mumbai, Congress leader and former leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil defected, former state home

minister Kripa Shankar Singh quit and Sanjay Nirupam is unhappy. In Haryana, the party has been hamstrung

by several factions: former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, Randeep Singh Surjewala, former state

unit chief Ashok Tanwar (who has quit) and Kuldeep Bishnoi. Instead of uniting to challenge incumbent BJP

governments, Congress state units in both Haryana and Maharashtra have been focused on local fixing of scores

and turf protection.

Contrast this to BJP’s targeted and structured campaign on the other side of the political aisle. While Sonia Gandhi

and Rahul are likely to start their campaign rallies this weekend, BJP president Amit Shah sounded the poll bugle

on Dussehra in Maharashtra and Haryana. At his Dussehra rally in Marathwada’s Beed, for instance, he was

welcomed by the symbolism of 370 cannon shots and 370 flags being waved as BJP puts the nullification of

Article 370 at the center stage of its political campaign. Ideology aside, the contrast between the ground game of

both parties is striking, with Congress struggling to construct a viable narrative of change or renewal.

While Maharashtra and Haryana are very different in their politics, similar patterns are emerging in both states.

First, both states were Congress bastions until just five years ago. In Haryana, BJP barely existed till 2009 when

it won just 9 of 90 assembly seats with a 9.1% vote share. Yet, it almost quadrupled its vote share to 33.2% in

2014, riding on the first Modi wave; rising thereafter to an astounding 58% vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha

elections. Under a non-Jat chief minister, BJP has constructed a new social coalition in Haryana, upending

traditional assumptions about Jat vs non-Jat politics in the state. Despite Congress having ruled Haryana for a

decade before BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar emerged as chief minister, it has a huge vote gap to surmount.

Somewhat similarly, in Maharashtra, BJP was always a junior partner to its ally Shiv Sena until 2014. It had never

won more than 65 seats in the 288 member Maharashtra assembly after 1995 – mostly hovering at the 45-56 seat-

mark. By going it alone in 2014 and winning 122/288 seats (27.8% votes), compared to Shiv Sena’s 63 (19.3%

votes), Amit Shah upended the state’s traditional political calculus.

BJP will now be contesting 164 seats compared to Shiv Sena’s 124. In a telling signal of the power shift, many

BJP candidates will be contesting from erstwhile Sena strongholds in places like Mumbai and Pune. Like in

Haryana, BJP went against conventional political wisdom in Mumbai with a non-Maratha chief minister in

Devendra Fadnavis. As in Haryana, electoral data from the Lokniti-CSDS surveys shows that in Maharashtra too

BJP has been building a new social coalition, eating into the Maratha base of the NCP-Congress alliance as well

as significantly improving in SC/ST areas.

Second, in both states, BJP has benefited from opposition disunity. In Haryana, the collapse of Indian National

Lok Dal (INLD) directly contributed to a BJP surge. INLD itself is now split: Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by

Dushyant Chautala is aligned with AAP, while a weakened INLD has aligned with Shiromani Akali Dal. In

Maharashtra, BJP made serious inroads into NCP strongholds of Vidarbha and Marathwada. It also benefited

from the nowbroken alliance between Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM and Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA which split

anti-BJP votes.

Third, in both states, opposition leaders have been defecting in droves to BJP. In Haryana, 19 opposition MLAs

(about 21%) have defected to BJP. In Maharashtra too, BJP’s candidate list is full of turncoats from NCP and

Congress. The party has also denied tickets to several sitting MLAs, enhancing the internal authority of its sitting

chief ministers.

With BJP building a political dominance not seen since Nehru’s Congress in the 1950s, Congress clearly needs a

reboot. Simply relying on a glorious past will be a grievous mistake. In the interest of Indian democracy, Congress

needs radical surgery to become a robust opposition.

Courtesy:The Times of India (National)

1. Imponderable (Noun): Meaning: Something that cannot be guessed or calculated because it is completely

unknown. (रहस्य, अज्ञात चीज़)

Synonyms: Unknown, Mystery, Paradox, Enigma

Antonyms: Certainty, Likelihood

Example: There are too many imponderables to make an accurate forecast.

2. Partisan (Adjective): Meaning: strongly supporting a person, principle, or political party, often without

considering or judging the matter very carefully. (पक्षपातपूर्ण, कट्टर)

Synonyms: Biased, Prejudiced, Opinionated, Bigoted

Antonyms: Impartial, Objective, Non-Partisan, Disinterested

Example: He is clearly too partisan to be a referee.

3. Ennui (Noun): Meaning: a feeling of being bored and mentally tired caused by having nothing interesting or

exciting to do. (नीरसता, ऊब)

Synonyms: Boredom, Languor, Tedium, Monotony

Antonyms: Excitement, Exhilaration, Vigour, Animation

Example: You too would suffer from ennui if you had to spend months in a hospital bed.

4. Hamstring (verb): Meaning: to limit the amount of something that can be done or the ability or power of

someone to do something. (बाधा डालना; अक्षम बनाना)

Synonyms: Constrain, Handicap, Cripple, Hamper

Antonyms: Help, Succour, Aid, Pitch In

Example: The project was hamstrung by lack of funds.

5. Surmount (verb): Meaning: To deal successfully with a difficulty or problem. (काबू पा लेना, जीतना)

Synonyms: Overcome, Transcend, Conquer, Get Through

Antonyms: Fail, Yield, Give In, Forfeit, Lose To

Example: We had many problems to surmount before we could start the project.

6. Upend (verb): Meaning: Set or turn (something) on its end or upside down. (पलटना)

Synonyms: Overturn, Upset, Topple, Flip Over, Invert

Antonyms: Right, Redress, Rectify, Restore, Correct

Example: His sudden reappearance upended all those efforts.

7. Turncoat (Noun): Meaning: A person who changes from one opinion to an opposite one in a way that shows

they are not loyal to people who share the original opinion. (दलबदलू; गद्दार)

Synonyms: Deserter, Defector, Renegade, Apostate

Antonyms: Adherent, Disciple, Devotee, Stalwart

Example: One of those no votes had been cast by Vernon Holloway, a turncoat from Miami.

8. Grievous (adjective): Meaning: (Of something bad) very severe or serious. (जघन्य)

Synonyms: Terrible, Grave, Peracute, Dreadful

Antonyms: Trivial, Mild, Bearable, Tolerable

Example: He had been the victim of a grievous injustice.

9. Dissension (Noun): Meaning: arguments and disagreement, especially in an organization, group, political

party, etc. (कलह, मतभेद)

Synonyms: Disagreement, Variance, Discordance, Contention

Antonyms: Harmony, Concord, Unison, Concurrence

Example: Father's will caused much dissension between his children.

10. Disarray (Noun): Meaning: the state of being confused and having no organization or of being untidy.

(अव्यवस्था)

Synonyms: Disorder, Chaos, Clutter, Muddle

Antonyms: Organisation, Uniformity, Symmetry, Harmony

Example: The news had thrown his plans into disarray.