Gimmicks may backfire!

POLITICAL parties often indulge in gimmicks, especially during elections, with an eye to garner more votes and divert the attention of the electorate from the real issues. Sometimes the gimmicks pay. But more often than not such steps become counter-productive. Yet the parties do not refrain from this practice. The most common political gimmick, practiced by all cutting across political lines, is to indulge in caste and religion-based politics during elections. The nominees are not decided simply on merit. Caste and religion also play a crucial role in the selection of candidates. How deep-rooted the problem is can be judged from the fact that there have been demands by sections of the Assam Congress to field minority candidates in four Lok Sabha constituencies in the State for the forthcoming polls, where the minority voters are either in majority or will play a decisive role. Whether the Congress fields minority candidates or not, the party has already committed a grave mi stake by nominating former Chhattishgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi to campaign for the party in the North-East. The reason behind this move is not difficult to understand. The  Congress is trying to woo the tribal and the Christian voters, who are in majority in the North-East, through Mr Jogi. But will Mr Jogi be able to deliver? Only time can tell. But the fact remains that the choice of the campaigner clearly proves that the Congress is eyeing for immediate gains rather than trying to consolidate its base among the tribals and the Christians. The North-East has traditionally been a Congress stronghold as the tribals and the Christians had supported the party. But a crack has appeared in the bastion as the Congress has failed to deliver the goods over the years. It seems of late, that a section of tribal and Christian population in the North-East are shifting their loyalty towards other parties and if this trend continues, sooner than later, the party is bound to suffer heav y losses in the region. A strong allegation, gaining momentum in the North-East these days, is that the Congress had all along used the tribals and the Christians as vote-bank ignoring their genuine grievances. The best way for the Congress to set the house in order is to introspect and find remedial measures to prevent the growing disillusionment among its supporters. Unfortunately the party did not go through such a laborious process and instead choose Ajit Jogi for the damage control. It’s an irony that the party has chosen a person as its damage controller who, not so long ago, considerably damaged the party’s image by bribing some BJP MLAs in an effort to capture power in Chattishgarh through backdoor after being rejected by the people last December during the assembly polls. The choice clearly shows that Mr Jogi has been selected as a campaigner in the NE for reasons other than his credentials. Sonia Gandhi and her advisors might turn a blind eye to Mr Jogi’s deeds. But  the North-Eastern voters might think otherwise. After all, gimmicks do not always pay, sometimes they may backfire.

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