CONgress once again licks its wounds and blames the electronic voting machine as it loses Haryana to BJP for the third time in a row…. Krishnan and I did not watch the news at all on Oct 8th till we were sure that BJP is winning in Haryana. The reason is very simple – we didnt want to feel disappointed incase the results were not in favour of the BJP.
Every Psephologist, and particularly Salim aka YoYa aka Yogendra Yadav were frothing at the mouth about Haryana and how CONgress would win hands down. Well, their leader and his sis have flown out to relax in some foreign destination while the minions are left behind holding the shit can. There is much muck for the CONgress to mop up and it stinks.
Is it just luck that BJP won for the third time in a row ? Well, everyone needs a little bit of luck but without the hardwork, luck does NOT work. Actually luck only turns around when you put in the hardwork.
When Krishnan and I went to vote, I was asked by some local news station as to what were the major issues on which I was voting. I started to say that “look at the roads, the garbage etc”, and then just said that “I’ll vote for the party that won’t sell India”.
The BJP may not get everything right, but they won’t sell out Bharat ever. Especially with Mr. Modi at the helm of affairs, several decisions may go wrong, but his intention is never to sell out Bharat.
We have been living in Haryana since 2002. It was CONgress and its ilk that ruled the roost here till 2014. Some of the things that have changed since BJP came to power –
- Safety – Is Gurgaon the safest city in the world? Heck no. But it has become safer. We see very few young men walking around or driving around with guns in their hands :(.
- Direct Benefit Transfer – Whatever anyone wants to claim, the DBT ensures that government subsidies and benefits reach the intended beneficiaries without any middleman eating them away !! Haryana has benefitted tremendously from the DBT scheme.
- Sports – Haryana has always given Bharat many sports stars, starting with my all time favourite, Kapil Dev. But in the last 10 years, the emphasis on developing sports people has been very good. Lots of cash incentives to the athletes from the government has made up for not-so-great sports infrastructure. Also Wrestling and Kabbadi are part of the culture of Haryana. With Neeraj Chopra winning the gold in the Tokyo Olympics and a silver in the Paris Olympics, there is a lot of buzz. The fact that Manu Bhaker, the shooting superstar at the Paris Olympics is also from Haryana, adds to developing sports stars. Govt jobs are assured when athletes win a medal in Olympics or other prestigious sporting events.
- The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign has helped in improving the sex ratio at birth for Haryana. From an abysmal 834 in 2011, it improved to 923 in 2016 and is currently hovering around 917. Most importantly the gender testing clinics are nearly non-existent in Haryana. Way back in 2012 there was a movie titled Jalpari which spoke of the terrible female foeticide practices in Haryana. The state has come a long way from those dark days but still has a long way to go but at least the trend is in the right direction.
Do read a blog that I wrote way back in 2012 on this issue – Lakshmi is a girl too. Note: for those wanting to ask me why we never bothered to celebrate “Diwali” and other Hindu festivals then and why we insist on celebrating them now, our short answer is, we were “Indian secular” fools then. Now we know better !
Caste-Religion Politics
CONgress learnt well at the feet of India’s colonial masters – divide and rule. They always work on the fissures in the society to get votes. The other nicer name for caste politics or religion politics is vote bank politics, but both are divisive and dangerous.
The Jat agitation that was fuelled before the 2019 elections, farmers protests, the constant harping on “Jaati” by the clown prince all these are to ensure Hindus get divided along caste lines and the overall population gets divided on religion. Thankfully it didnt work in this election and hopefully doesn’t work in any election.
Do watch this humorous clip on RaGa and his favourite word “Jaati”
Back to my question – did luck work for the BJP in the Haryana elections or was it hardwork ? In my opinion it’s the hardwork first and then luck in the form of good campaigns, finding the themes that work for the voters, and importantly the CONgress and its leader making blunders.
Well, happy that the BJP won. Hope that they fix the roads and continue their development agenda, particularly with respect to women empowerment.
Using the Jat regiment’s war cry – Jat Balwan, Jai Bhagwan to close !