The results of Assembly elections in five States have opened up a fresh debate – who is the real winner and who is the real loser? While the Congress, no doubt, has made a comeback by emerging triumphant in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and by almost touching the winning line in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP, which has lost power in these States, has not faced such a huge defeat. The vote margins are very thin and people have neither strongly supported the Congress or rejected the BJP. In other words, they have left messages for both national parties which are getting ready for the Lok Sabha elections.
If the mood of the people in these five States is any indication, they are not too happy with the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party. At the same time, they are not ready to rely heavily on the Congress due to past experiences. Taking a cue from the results, both parties should work hard to win the confidence of the people at the earliest, since just months are left for parliamentary polls.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, “We accept people’s mandate with humility,” and added, “Today’s results will further our resolve to serve people and work even harder for the development of India,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi, reacting to his party’s performance in the just-concluded elections, said people have lost confidence in the BJP and “Modi taught me what not to do.” But people are the real masters who teach lessons to politicians time and again and it is from them that both leaders should learn.