BJP: Two states, one verdict

The verdict in Maharashtra and Haryana carries a powerful message for the Congress, one that should reach Rahul Gandhi in Odisha, provided he wants to listen.

Two of the most properous states in the country were being run by old style politics. It was the politics of patronage, where politicians stole land and water from the people, benefiting a small circle of pals, but also the High Command. One state has the country's oldest global capital, Mumbai, which has become a BJP city after the Ocotber elections. The other state had Gurgaon, a modern global city, with some of the headquarters of the biggest international companies. Yet in both cities, infrastructure is in terminal decline and politicians are venal, hypocritical and corrupt.

Lurching from one corrupt CM to another, finally settling on a well meaning but totally indecisive clone of his former boss, Manmohan Singh, Maharashtra was a laboratory of Congress' mai baap politics which Rahul Gandhi had promised to change in ways we could not imagine. That change did not happen and the state continued to be controlled by dolts like RR Patil who thought nothing of airing his regressive views and dadas like Ajit Pawar suggesting he could urinate to fill up empty dams in what we only hope was jest. The shadow of Sharad Pawar was ever present, a powerful man who has for long wanted to be prime minister, and has an interest in almost every business related to politics, including cricket.

Haryana, where Bhupinder Hooda made it his business to give doles to the rich and well connected, was another state where Congress could have retained power if it had cultivate a new leadership that was not necessarily dynastic and that was not steeped in the old ethos of trickle down corruption (make money and let others make money too). The BJP cut through the complex caste equation of the state by promising clean governance and Narendra Modi, in his whirlwind tours, reminded voters that the business of politicians is not business but governance.

The BJP now has to build on the momentum of change by handing the leadership to a new generation, men like Devendra Fadnavis and Captain Abhimanyu, who have good ideas and many years. Fadnavis has worked his way through the party, as mayor and MLA. Captain Abhimanyu has been in the Army and an entrepreneur. Both are doers.

This is the transformation the Congress has been waiting for from Rahul Gandhi. A new kind of politics, where performers will be rewarded and laggards axed. As Modi remakes BJP into the image of Indira's Congress, it is appropriate that he continues the task her grandson had envisaged for the Congress - create a new kind of politics of accountability and transparency.