Congress (R)

Elections are a historical event. Whatever be the level, the time, the people involved. Though, their importance varies. This year's elections came at a point when the country was starting to show the ill-effect that the global recession has had on it. The UPA government, even under such an able person as Dr. Manmohan Singh, was unable to take any consequential steps in any direction. Most of its time went in appeasing its allies, specially, the left. That's over. The results are out.

India is back in the hands of the Nehru-Gandhi family, or well, we can use the word Dynasty.

Did you just sit up straight and start to say, "But Manmohan Singh is the PM..."?

If that is the case, think again. The electorate has not voted for Manmohan Singh. As much as the educated class may want to believe, that is not the case. It has also not voted for governance. Was that even discussed during the pre-poll rallies in earnest? The mandate is quite clearly to the Congress because of two main factors.

The first factor is pro-incumbency. Which, at the scale at which it has happened, is a surprise. Except probably in the case of Bihar and Gujarat, good governance cannot be single out as a reason for this pro-incumbency, and Congress(or UPA) is not in power in either of the two! The reason probably is that the non-incumbent leaders were not up to the mark. Like Advani vs. Manmohan Singh(or, should one say Sonia Gandhi).

The second factor which is clearly coming to the fore is Rahul Gandhi. Even though a lot of us believe and publicly state that he is not competent enough, that is probably not what the electorate, in general, thinks. Indians wanted a demi-god. And who is better to be accorded that status than someone who belongs to a family of demi-gods! His age and 'charm'(and that of Mrs Vadra) also helped him to win the youth over, at least that's what the political punditry has to say, that he won over the youth vote for the Congress.

Sonia Gandhi is going to hold her promise and we'll have Manmohan Singh as the PM. But for how long? It won't be a surprise if somewhere in the middle of the term Manmohan Singh, directed by 10 Janpath, takes retirement citing something like health(he'll be an octogenarian in about 2 years) and clears the way for Rahul Gandhi. And it won't be surprising if soon after we have the Congress(I) renamed to Congress(R). My suggestion to Rahul would be to take some time and learn the tricks of the trade. He has some brilliant people around to learn from. If he has the patience, he may end up doing something good not only for himself, but also for the country. The country which has put it's faith in him.

If only the Gandhis, who are any how in power and everyone knows that, decide to be generous and let able men take the official designations(at least), one and one is sure a lot of his friends also would be quite grateful to them. And this brings us to P Chidambaram. He almost lost his MP status thanks to wrong counting. It was hilarious to know that he had lost, it was worse to know that the counting went wrong even with the EVMs. If this could happen to political stalwarts like Maneka Gandhi and P Chidambaram, one can only wonder at how many other places the same has happened and the mistake remains uncorrected.

Hail the Gandhis! They are back in power, and in style.

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Apart from the return of the Gandhis there are other reasons which make these elections and the results historical.

The first and the foremost is the use of EVMs all over. This is the first major step taken by the election commission towards bringing technological advancement into the elections process. Though, at the same time, it is quite disheartening to know that even with EVMs there were mistakes in the counting process. One is not a conspiracy theorist but this is clearly a sign of something wrong somewhere.

Second is the participation of the youth. Both as candidates and as voters. It is encouraging to know that the youth of the country is finally becoming actively involved in the matters of the country.

Third would be the unprecedented defeat suffered by the left. They have virtually been routed in West Bengal. This was a shocker for everyone. Something that no one had predicted. Though this is good for the country in the sense that the UPA does not need them anymore. This may actually turn out to be quite bad because, as one of the panelists in some discussion on some news channel pointed out, the left is probably the only party which seriously discusses Economy.

Fourth would be the defeat suffered by Laloo, Paswan, and others of the 'prime-ministerial aspirants' category.

Then, the UPA getting 260 odd votes. A single figure is not being quoted because even now different channels are showing different figures. What this means that no one would be in a position to blackmail the UPA. After a long time we have a government with such a strong mandate. And that being the case the expectations are also pretty high. The market is already Circuited out for the day showing the emphatic reaction of the traders. And if the news channels are to be believed that Montek Singh Ahluwalia is being appointed the Finance Minister and that Laloo has been refused a ministry than these are steps in the right direction by the PM, and indicates the occurrence of some serious governance in the years to come. This is what the country needs and, hopefully, will get.

And, of course, Manmohan Singh becomes the first Prime Minister after Jawahar Lal Nehru to serve successive terms. Hopefully, he will complete his term.

In the end we can just hope that the UPA uses this opportunity to do some good to the country and not fall prey to sycophants. Something that the Congress led governments have been particularly prone to.