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Statistics can often be stranger than fiction. Here’s a political quiz that I am sure most of you will flunk.
Three chances up, guys, you failed to give the right answer. It’s now Computerji’s turn.
And the sahi jawab (correct answer), hold your breath, is Dr Manmohan Singh! He got re-elected in 2009 by increasing his previous mandate of 2004 by a gravity-defying 45 percent (from 141 to 206 seats).
I told you, statistics can be stranger than fiction.
You know what, while the polls of 1996, 1998 and 1999 have been analysed and modelled to death by the pundits, the discontinuities thrown up by the 2009 polls were astonishing:
I concede that these were primary causes of Congress’ victory. But very short shrift is given to what, in my opinion, was the elemental reason, ie, that people simply loved Singh’s act of political defiance over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
They saw in him a status quo defying politician who could herald change on a massive scale for an electorate tired of cliché’ spewing leaders. Singh was Nuclear King!
Let’s go back to July 2008: Unfortunately for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his Left coalition partners saw red over the Indo-US nuclear agreement, and withdrew support in Parliament, pushing the government into minority.
Singh’s own Congress baulked. Opposing spin masters tried to paint Singh as an “American lackey” who was also “anti-Muslim.” But he stood firm.
He had pulled off a diplomatic coup which enhanced India’s soft and hard power across the globe. He sought a vote of confidence in Parliament for his minority government.
Some deft political management saw the Congress get new allies on board, including Samajwadi Party.
When the vote was counted late at night on 22 July 2008, Singh had won 275-256. His beaming face and exultant V wave became Singh’s political signature for the 2009 polls; across the country, he was feted as “Singh is King” (the title of a blockbuster Hindi film).
Alas, the Congress misread its mandate and harked back to the stasis of garibi hatao (poverty) politics, handing a neat walk-over to Narendra Modi in 2014, who instinctively understood the political message of 2009 better than the victors themselves.
We will vote you in, provided you can deliver real and discontinuous change to us. We were promised this in 2009, and again in 2014. But we were let down by both Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. So for 2019, please go to your drawing boards and figure it out!
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: 17 Mar 2018,08:20 AM IST