How Party Politics Destroys Our Education and Culture
This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-114, Sep-Oct 1999)
There seems to be widespread consensus in the country that nobody really wanted the elections we just witnessed, including those in the opposition parties who pulled down the government. The results show that the electorate does not consider any of the national parties worth trusting with a clear cut majority vote. The voters also refused to be swayed by exaggerated claims: the Kargil ‘victory’ failed to curry favour for the BJP, while the flaunted ‘dynastic magic’ of the Congress failed to catapult them
back into power.
The BJP has not been able to increase its strength in any significant way, as it gained only one additional seat getting a total of 182 seats in the present Lok Sabha. However, it is noteworthy that its alliance partners have come back with greater numerical and political clout than last time. From 257 seats, the NDA alliance has increased its tally to 300 plus including National Conference. In contrast, the Congress party has given its worst ever electoral performance since 1952. It won even less seats than in the post- Emergency election of 1977, when Indira Gandhi suffered a crushing defeat. The mere 112 seats it secured are mostly from states
where the Congress gained from the electorate’s disenchantment with the ruling coalition of BJP and its allies, as for example in Punjab…