Exit polls indicate Congress campaign issues did not click
The prediction by exit polls about the dismal performance of the Congress suggests that the party got it all wrong and issues like the Rafale deal, NYAY, unemployment and alleged “arrogance” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised by it during the election campaign failed to impress the voters.
The exit poll results indicate
that not only did the Congress get the poll plank wrong, it also made strategic mistakes like being late in stitching an alliance in Bihar and failing to be a part of the ‘gathbandhan’ (alliance) of Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal in Uttar Pradesh, where the maximum number of 80 seats were at stake.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s thrust on nationalism, performance and delivery seem to have scored heavily over the Congress, whose campaign focused primarily on the prime minister and economic issues.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi repeatedly raised the issue of alleged corruption in Rafale fighter jet deal, unemployment and the Modi government’s “attack’ on constitutional institutions even as the prime minister kept changing tack to keep a fresh line of attack and set the narrative, with the focus on nationalism and ‘strong government’.
Gandhi apparently believed he was eroding the credibility of Modi but exit polls indicate that his strategy may not have succeeded and the issues apparently did not resonate at the grassroots level.
The Congress could not set the narrative during the elections and did not come up with a sustained agitation on any of its favourite issues to chip at Modi’s “strong leader” image.
The party’s campaign against the government on the Rafale deal was also hit when Gandhi misquoted the Supreme Court for which the top court forced him to apologise.
A Congress leader acknowledged that the party’s campaign was damaged by Gandhi’s apology to the Supreme Court for wrongly attributing his “chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief ) slogan to the court over his allegations of corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal.
“It happened in the middle of the election campaign,” said the leader, who did not want to be named. And the BJP used it appropriately in its favour.
An opposition leader, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Gandhi should not have endlessly referred to Modi as “chor” as such remarks are not appreciated by people.
“I think he started too early with this kind of attack. He could have attacked Modi in other ways,” the leader said.
A Congress leader said that Uttar Pradesh appears to have remained a weak spot for the party as it was not part of the ‘gathbandhan’.
However, he said the party had no option but to fight alone as SP and BSP did not talk to the Congress before announcing their alliance.
In Bihar, it was wrestling for seats with the Rashtriya Janata Dal which delayed the announcement of alliance. The alliance was also riddled with fissures. The RJD put up a candidate against Congress in a seat in Jharkhand and Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, who was later suspended, also entered the fray as an independent from Madhubani.