'Overconfidence Caused Congress Defeat In Haryana'

'Congress leaders are ready to lose the election and not form the government, but are never ready to share seats with others.'

IMAGE: Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini celebrates the Bharatiya Janata Party's triumph in the Haryana assembly election in Kurukshetra, October 8, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

The Haryana election results have shocked all pollsters as well as the victorious Bharatiya Janata Party.

Till counting day no one gave BJP a chance to form the government in Haryana, but at the end of Tuesday, that's exactly what the party did.

The BJP scored an electoral hat-trick in the state, bagging an unprecedented third term in office.

This election came in the aftermath of Prime Minister Narendra D Modi introducing, and withdrawing, three farm laws in 2021.

Between the introduction of the legislation and its withdrawal hundreds of farmers died in protests, thus setting off a movement of anger against the BJP.

The BJP did suffer in the 2024 general elections as it won only five out of the 10 Lok Saba seats in the state -- against all the 10 seats it had won five years ago.

The assembly elections, thus, were expected to proceed in the same direction, giving a setback to the BJP.

But when the election results were announced, the BJP won 49 of the 90 seats in the state, scoring a simple majority.

So what happened to the farmers' anger and anti-incumbency vote which was to work against the BJP?

Why did the Congress fail so spectacularly?

Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Pushpendra Singh, president, Kisan Shakti Sangh, on the outcome of the Haryana elections.

Every exit poll said the Congress was winning Haryana and yet it lost. Is this not very surprising?

The reason is overconfidence of the Congress party. They did not accommodate any other party in their alliance. Had they given only 10 seats to other like-mind parties the results would have been very different.

What the Congress should have done specifically?

They should have given some seats to other parties like te Aam Aadmi Party. They should have convinced AAP to contest from four seats with them in alliance and things would have been different.

Again, they could have given five seats to the Indian National Lok Dal of Abhay Chautala who damaged the Congress by taking away a chunk of votes.

All these votes should not have got split, but since they got split the Congress lost. The Congress lost the election because of overconfidence.

But we thought with the farmers of Haryana upset with the BJP it looked imminent that the Congress would form a government in Haryana.

The tragedy is that the Congress did not bother to give tickets to even two or three farmer leaders who agitated against the central government.

These farmer leaders brought the central government to its knees, yet the Congress didn't think it was important to give them election tickets.

The farmers in this belt of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting against the BJP from 2021, yet the Congress neither gave them tickets in the 2022 UP assembly elections nor in the 2024 Haryana assembly elections.

The Congress only wants farmers, Dalits and Muslims to die for them.

And when the government is formed or ticket distribution is done, it is only for Congressis.

Where did the Congress fail?

Forget farmers, they did not give tickets to Yadavs too who have a presence in the Ahirwal belt of Haryana. They should have given tickets to some Yadavs and called Akhilesh Yadav to campaign for the party, but they did not do so.

A classic example of leadership failure of the Congress party can be seen in the Ambala Cantonment seat. Chitra Sarwara was the most promising candidate to take on minister Anil Vij of the BJP, but she did not get a ticket.

The Congress got Parvinder Pal Pari as its candidate. Now, when the results are out, you can see Chitra came second as an Independent candidate and got 52,438 votes vis a vis Vij's 59,686 votes. Chitra, an Independent candidate, lost by only 7,248 votes.

In the same seat the Congress candidate Pari bagged 14,469 votes. This seat everyone knew Chitra could have won on a Congress ticket, but then she was not given a ticket and she became a rebel candidate of the Congress. And look at the end result: Vij who would have lost his seat won.

In short, the Congress ignored good candidates in Haryana by not giving them tickets.

Congress leaders are ready to lose the election and not form the government, but are never ready to share seats with others.

They then call other parties as 'vote katwa'.

Why do you do that? You don't accommodate other parties and then have the audacity to call them 'vote katwa'.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and BJP national President J P Nadda greet party workers at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, October 8, 2024. Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo

Why does the Opposition vote gets divided whereas the BJP's vote does not?

The BJP will dig up a stone buried deep to find a good party worker who has been honestly working for the party for years.

They will give him postings and make him powerful by giving political power.

On the other hand, if a Congress worker is shining like a star among the public they will not bother to inquire about his or her popularity.

I just gave you the example of Chitra in my previous answer. Honest workers don't get respect in the Congress party.

In terms of vote percentage the BJP and Congress are neck and neck and the difference between them is 12 seats due to which the BJP is able to form the government.

The BJP got 39.94 percent vote share whereas Congress got 39.09 percent vote share. AAP got 1.79 percent votes, and INLD got 4.14 percent vote share.

In an ideal situation for the Congress this Opposition vote share should not have split. Even Independents took some chunk of votes.

Take the example of the Gohana seat where the third position candidate was an Independent, Harsh Chhikara. He was a very popular candidate and the Congress should have given him a ticket, but they didn't. Now, Harsh got 14,761 votes and did not win, but he ensured that Congress candidate Jagbir Singh Malik lost the elections as he was defeated by 10,429 votes.

Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satypal Malik, who is a known opponent of the BJP, called Bhupinder Hooda that he would campaign for the Congress, but Hooda did not even bother to take his help. It was with great difficulty that a meeting was arranged with Malik, but only once.

Will you blame Bhupinder Hooda for the Congress defeat as he did not patch up with Kumari Selja and took unilateral decisions in the election?

Hooda did not accommodate other people to ensure the Congress victory in Haryana.

He did not want anyone else to take credit for the victory in Haryana so he kept sidelining all others.

On the other hand the beauty of BJP is that if I praise them for six months they will ensure that in the seventh month I will be in their party with plum postings.

And in the Congress you keep praising the party and abusing the BJP for 10 years but not a single party leader of stature will call you to thank you for your work.

IMAGE: BJP supporters celebrate the party's leads in the Haryana assembly elections at the party headquarters in New Delhi, October 8, 2024. Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo

What about Ram Rahim? Did this factor favour the BJP?

It was not a factor for the Congress defeat.

The main reason is the overconfidence of the Congress party leaders of Haryana. They thought the BJP ran the state for 10 years and there was anti-incumbency vote against them, ensuring their victory.

In 2014, the BJP got 46 seats and in 2019 they dropped to 40 seats and had to take outside help to form the government. So, the Congress was sure of the BJP's defeat.

Now at least the Congress must learn the lessons of Haryana so that they do not repeat the same mistake in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

Where is Rahul Gandhi failing?

He is a great leader and keeps good values in today's politics. Now, he must be able to spot good Congress leaders who are popular among the public and have political aspirations. He is not using those Congress leaders well for party work.

He should have got all INDIA partners on one platform and done a joint rally to send a strong message against the BJP in Haryana. He didn't do that.