Karnataka & After

Of all the states that the Congress party has lost to the BJP in recent history, two have bothered them the most. One is Gujarat and the other is Karnataka. States like MP, Chattisgarh or Rajasthan haven’t upset them that much. All the last three named were often included in the BIMARU states and are not major cash cows for Congress hence lesser worries. This is not true of Gujarat and Karnataka, both big cash cows.

Over 15 years the Congress has tried every trick in the book to dislodge the BJP from Gujarat, especially since Narendra Modi became CM. They filed bogus cases through proxy NGOs, used media houses like NDTV, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today and their group outlets to throw muck against Modi but couldn’t manage to dislodge him. When the BJP returned to power in Karnataka in 2008 there was a danger that it could go the Gujarat way and Congress may never be able to recover that state. Therefore, Congress, their parrots in the media and a few handpicked officials set out in earnest to undo BS Yedurappa. Even the Governor Bharadwaj was playing his part. Santosh Hegde managed for the Congis what no one could manage against Modi. He linked him to some corruption cases and Yedurappa resigned in August 2011 and was even arrested under the Lok Ayukta police. That the Congress cause was helped by the BJP top leadership is also noted by people. LK Advani and Ananth Kumar have increasingly become unpopular for the mess in Karnataka. The churning in the party in Karnataka finally cost them the recent elections.

The vote in Karnataka against BJP is being peddled by the media as a vote against corruption. This is a BIG LIE being deliberately perpetrated by channels like NDTV, CNN-IBN and their sisters. Their attempt is to somehow balance the BJP as a party that is as corrupt as the Congress, like the sheep in the pic (via @Surnell). It is simply impossible for any party on earth in any democracy to be as corrupt as Congress. Sonia Gandhi has now surpassed the likes of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Albert Fujimori, the late Marcos couple of Philippines or the late Saddam Hussein in corruption by her party. It is not just corruption, Sonia Gandhi & Co have destroyed many institutions in the country. The Supreme Court has called the CBI a “caged parrot” of the Congress govt. The only one that can match Congress in terms of corruption in India is our MSM. Naturally, the Barkhas, Sagarikas, Nidhis, Rajdeeps, Chaubeys & Co. were more thrilled than the Congress that the BJP was defeated in Karnataka. Maya Sharma of NDTV Bangalore was glowing and resplendent with smiles since the morning of May 8.  I’m not joking, she looked happier than she has in months.

I have written earlier in Breaking Rules that people have a gut feeling of whether there is progress and whether there is development. It’s not corruption but the fact that the internal wrangling in the BJP led to a break down in governance that appears to have cost them the elections. One must also note that for all the screaming from people like Rajdeep, Sagarika Sreenivasan Jain and Barkha about corruption in Karnataka they have never even remotely covered the corruption by YSR in Andhra Pradesh. YSR was easily the most corrupt CM running the most corrupt state govt ever in the history of India. His corruption story could easily run over 1Lakh crores. The proof of YSR’s outrageous loot remains his son Jagan Reddy, who reportedly acquired assets over 40000 crores from nothing, and is being prosecuted after YSR’s death. In Karnataka, from what I gather, people were simply fed up with the frequent theatre in the BJP govt and changing CMs. This was too much political capital spent on achieving too little for the state. NDTV even has a tie-up with Jagan’s media house for consultancy which pays them a handsome return. It says a lot when a media house has ties with a man being prosecuted for corruption, doesn’t it?

The pic from a programme on CNN-IBN says it all when the bimbo anchor asks the question if corruption is the main concern for voter. Sure, corruption is indeed a concern but I doubt that was the case in Karnataka. At least, for a change it is nice to see the usually dour Manish Tiwari smile. He is smiling not because of the Karnataka win but the Congress has brazened it out over Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal. Corruption becomes a bigger concern in the national elections as has been seen in 1977 and 1989. In the states there are multiple local issues that dictate the outcomes of an election along with corruption.  

History has it that when the Congress has been pushed out of a state it has rarely managed a comeback. It has been wiped out in Tamil Nadu, in Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, in Orissa and even MP and Chattisgarh are having second terms of a Non-Congress govt. In Bengal, although they claim to be part of the ruling coalition the Congress is really not in the reckoning at all for 35 years and TMC doesn’t need them. Even Punjab broke with history by giving the BJP-Akali a second term. Congress has been wiped out in Gujarat too. It is this fear of the same happening in Karnataka that has seen the huge media campaign against the BJP in Karnataka. The bigger danger for the media is the Congress losing out at the Centre in the next general elections. The lives that the media celebs now live through generous doles may come to an end if Congress loses the centre. Is that really so hard to fathom? Does it take an Einstein?

Thus, the media has to paint the only challenger to the Congress as an equally corrupt party which is a big lie. None of the regional parties like SP, AIADMK, DMK, BJD, JDU, TMC and others pose a serious threat to the Congress. Not like the BJP does. Therefore, the task assigned to the media is to destroy the BJP by hook or crook. Paint them as corrupt, communal, and fascist and use all kinds of tags. For the Congress, parties like the TMC or the SP are “manageable”, especially by using CBI so far. In fact, most of the regional parties in the Congress alliance have had a fair share in the corruption and loot. 2G, CWG, Coalgate are all part of shared loot. And then if the BJP has to be destroyed, it is natural that the media targets the strongest BJP leader that threatens the Congress and the Gandhis; Narendra Modi. Therefore, every media channel has proclaimed Modi magic has failed in Karnataka. They are desperate to imply that Narendra Modi does not have a national appeal and thus dissipate the threat he poses to the Congress. Fact is BJP did better in areas where Modi campaigned in Karnataka in a short burst but that is hardly important. BJP was bound to lose even if Jesus and Moses had come down to campaign for the party. And which channel screams most about it? Of course, the Congress bureau called NDTV. Take a look at this headline:

Desperate to show some win for Rahul Gandhi after all his failed campaigns in major states, NDTV (which is a specialist in “evolving” the Gandhi through Barkha Dutt) puts up his pic and that of Narendra Modi as if they were the main contenders in the Karnataka race. Hilariously, NDTV even puts up a “Purple Lotus” for the BJP. Looks like the anchors beat up the flower so much that it turned purple. It would have been nice if they had shown Modi with a black eye too… No? Well, you might see that in the next round of elections in Delhi in October or in MP, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan at the year end. People who have permanently thrown out the Congress from their state have realised that the party does precious little in terms of governance or development. Their only election winning tactic is plenty of doles for the poor under schemes named after the Nehru-Gandhi family and creating more monuments in their names as a “brand” reminder for people. I jokingly tweeted that ‘Namma Metro’ in Bangalore may now be renamed ‘Rajiv Gandhi Amma Metro’.

It is not so much that the Congress defeated the BJP in Karnataka but the BJP defeated itself. Most fair observers agree with that. Consequently, the party needs to sack those responsible from top positions. Their top leaders have to prove they are not the “Saffron Gandhis” and non-performers have to pay a price. As for the media, the ghost of a corrupt Congress is not going anywhere because of Karnataka. Where ever RahulG or SoniaG campaigned in Karnataka attendance was sparse. That national mood against the Congress doesn’t look reversible and that is bad news for NDTV, CNN-IBN and their unholy trinity.