Gujarat 2012: Here are some lessons for the Congress

In the run up to the Gujarat elections, the Congress party’s campaign strategists threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at Narendra Modi. They brought up 2002 once more, they spoke about how the growth of Gujarat was a myth, almost a sleight of hand, they ranted about farmers being neglected and suggested that the minorities were ignored and terrorised. Perhaps all of this is true and perhaps some of this is true. Twenty years ago, with such accusations coming from towering and visible leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi, the electorate might have bought the story hook, line and sinker. [caption id=“attachment_561365” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A woman gets her finger marked with indelible ink before casting vote at a polling station for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in Ahmedabad. PTI[/caption] Unfortunately for the Congress, it’s not 1992, it’s 2012. It’s a new age, where communication (admittedly in large part thanks to the Congress) is both easy and cheap. So the voter is able to check what the situation is in Congress-ruled states such as Maharashtra, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, to name a few. Is the situation any better? Is the local transport in Delhi more efficient? Is the corruption in Maharashtra less? Is the lot of minorities in Hyderabad better? What is the electricity situation in Congress ruled states? What of the water? Why are farmers committing suicide in Vidarbha? How corrupt is the Delhi government, the Maharashtra government, the Andhra government? These were but illustrations to point out that answers to these questions are available in minutes – and the Congress doesn’t look good at all when you hear them. If the age of blind claims is over (not just for the Congress, but for all political parties), so is the issue of anti-incumbency. Voters will vote in the existing government if the government has performed – that’s the only yardstick that they care about any more. Voters will hesitate to vote in a new government –as they seem to have done in Gujarat – unless they are satisfied that the new government will outperform the existing one. The Congress seems to be under the mistaken notion that anti-incumbency is an advantage that can be leveraged by spin, PR messaging, clever slogans and advertising. The greatest of advertising and PR cannot convince consumers to buy a bad product over an extended period of time. The only solution is to improve the product to a point where the consumer embraces it. The Congress is focusing on the image while their product gets worse by every passing day. It might be that their competitors are on the same slippery slope, with their products getting worse by the day as well, but as long as the competition is better than the Congress, the Congress is up the creek without a paddle. Narendra Modi, many will say, is a spinmeister. Be that as it may, the Gujarat electorate thinks his spin is closer to the truth than the Congress’ spin.