END OF AN ERA?

A resurgent BJP may have hurt the Congress, but it has also belittled the importance of regional and smaller parties in national politics

- Rakhi Bose

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, the second time as farce" -Karl Marx

BIJAPUR resident, activist and first-time Vidhan Sabha candidate Ashok Talandi couldn’t sleep the night before the election results. Most exit polls had predicted a return of the Congress in Chhattisgarh. On the ground though, Talandi, fighting the elections under the newly-formed Hamar Raj Party (HRP), knew that change was in the air and even felt hopeful. For the last two years, Bijapur had seen massive anti-incumbency and Adivasi protests against the sitting Congress MLA, Vikram Mandavi. And the Congress appeared to be losing ground in several tribal seats. Could Talandi, who had been campaigning about Adivasi rights and PESA implementation, have an actual shot? After all, the BJP candidate, Mahesh Gagde, not unlike him, came from a social-work background and had a “clean image”, but no political clout. A few rounds of counting, however, were enough for Talandi to feel that he hadn’t made it. Mandavi eventually won the seat after a close contest with the BJP, with just over 2,000 votes. “Despite the BJP not having a strong face and Congress’ MLAs facing anti-incumbency, the fight became bipolar. The other candidates, despite being locally popular, barely got any votes, which means that voters did not vote for the candidate, but the party,” he says.