New normal in politics

Last couple of years has been defined by sweeping changes in Indian politics. The primary theme of that change is driven by a weakning Congress and a not so willing Congress future leadership to take control and drive the organization. This is leading to major vacuum in the Indian political landscape and is getting filled fast by other players, notably BJP and AAP. Equally strong are many major regional players.

The normal of India was Congress and to a large extent Gandhi family. However the ship has started showing cracks lately. Apparently it looks like the leadership has still not come in terms with the new reality. They are still expecting the same story to repeat, as has happened many times in past. A fractured next election in 2019 and Congress will get an opportunity to cobble together a jamboree and be able to rule the country again. However what they are failing to realize is that the tide is turning down below. BJP has been able to firmly put itself as the number one party with a very decisive and committed leadership on top. It will not be difficult for BJP to play the game what Congress had played umpteen times in the past.

This is new era of Indian politics and if things do not change soon in Congress stable, it might as well turn out to be a post-Congress era. The other new normal of the society is the speed with which the new ideas are embraced and rejected in a so well connected society. There was a time when the power change at center, the news took generation to reach to remote part of the country.  Also there is generation change with a large proportion of youths, who are not so committed to a particular philosophy, not yet.

Even if Congress is able to get its act together, it still would be a hurricane task from now on to maintain a grip on power. This is a new society which probably can't be bought on cult politics. It might work for a while but not for long. People are very particular about their choices and evaluate things on how it impacts them. 

Couple of years back, I used to see the politician hoardings and the common word here in Pune used to be "Hriday Samrat". A person who is a king of your hearts. That's how the politicians wanted to represent themselves. Lately the things have changed. "Hriday Samrat" has been replaced with "Karya Samrat". Karya Samrat means the King of work. A person who is known for this deeds. 

The way to survive in new age politics is to make sure that one do work and people see a change happening in life. Caste politics is not going to go away soon but is becoming harder. Also the caste arithmetic is known by everyone so it's not so easy to play around it. It's like a poker with every player knowing each others hand.  The differentiator is and will be the work done. Yes, there is scope of political maneuvering but is becoming hard and harder with everyone expert in complete political science.