http://www.tehelka.com/story_main30.asp?filename=Ne260507Future_shock_PRO.asp
CURRENT AFFAIRS Pros & Cons FUTURE SHOCK The most grim lessons from UP are for the Congress to learn Sankarshan Thakur If anyone appears to be celebrating in Uttar Pradesh other than the BSP, it is, strangely and rather foolishly, the Congress. We wanted the "goonda raj" of the Samajwadi Party (SP) over, we wanted the BJP kept from power, both goals have been achieved. It seems barely to have struck the party that it has just logged one of its worst tallies in the state Assembly. And that, after playing its trump card through the campaign. It is almost as if the Congress were resigned to playing chronic loser, as if its chosen aspiration in UP was to be a bystander who could do no more than applaud or jeer. The Congress should have reason to be pleased with the fate the BJP and SP have met, but it will do the party no good to emphasise the losses of others when it has been handed a worse drubbing. In fact, the Congress needs to get down to immediate and sombre introspection over what has just happened in UP. Celebrating Mayawati's victory is about the last thing the party should be doing. If the BSP threatens any party in the long term, it is the Congress. And not merely in UP but across the northern states. Mayawati has got a majority just the way the Congress used to get them — by constructing a rainbow coalition of castes. Brahmins, Dalits, Muslims. That is what used to form the core of the Congress base. The only difference in Mayawati's case is that Dalits drive her coalition rather than being at the nether end of it. Now that she is in power, Mayawati has all the instruments and opportunities to consolidate and expand her coalition of castes. Were she to handle her mandate maturely, a new constituency could develop faith in her across the north, from Bihar to Rajasthan, from Punjab down to Madhya Pradesh. If only minimally, she has a presence in all of these states and reports coming in from other capitals suggest that the BSP is struck by a new enthusiasm. Much will, of course, depend on how sagaciously Mayawati perceives the import of her victory. If she gets bogged in the state — involved in persecuting Mulayam Singh and cutting deals for short-term gains — she will remain a state-level leader who had the potential to grow but did not make good the opportunity. If she is able to rise above state politics and aim at a larger stage, she might turn a potential prime minister. All of that should worry the Congress most. It has already had its base stolen in UP. It rides Laloo Yadav's tail in Bihar. If Mayawati enters Bihar and other parts, the Congress could become an even lesser entity. Indeed, Mayawati could dwarf all major northern players, just like the Congress used to be able to in its heyday. When the UP results were rolling in, for a short while it did not appear that Mayawati will coast to a majority on her own, and the Congress extended a hand of support to her. Congress leaders should thank their stars Mayawati did not need them, for then, the Congress would have become in UP what it is to Laloo Yadav in Bihar — a piddly piggybacker. It has been spared that fate, now it is upon the party's leaders to devise a better one. It will not come from celebrating others' losses and gains. May 26 , 2007 -- Subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a BLANK email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
