Chandan Mitra Interview
Rediff has an interview with Chandan Mitra, Editor of The Pioneer, and a member of the Rajya Sabha and BJP supporter. Excerpt:
What were the factors that worked against the BJP in Election 2009?
There was a strong urban disconnect. We couldn’t reach out to the urban middle class, especially the younger voters. In 2004 too, we had lost in Mumbai, Delhi and other major cities. This time, even as the election was in progress, we were getting signals that the younger voter was not enthused.
The Congress was able to put up a much younger, more forward looking face.
Mind you, 40 per cent of India is urbanised and 60 per cent of the voters are below the age of 35. Obviously, if you have not been able to connect with the youth and the urban population, you have a very serious problem.
The second is a historical problem and I’m afraid we didn’t do enough to handle it. The BJP has not been able to build its base in certain big states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala. Together, these states account for nearly 150 seats. So BJP has to win, or come close to winning, from just about 400 seats, whereas the Congress has a much wider spread.
How long can you, on the basis of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, keep hoping to come back to power? After some time, a degree of anti-incumbency is bound to set in. In-fighting happens.
Nevertheless, the fact that we have won 120 seats against 138 last time showed there has not been any great erosion in the BJP’s base. What we needed to do was go forward. In that we failed completely.
Comments
7 Responses to “Chandan Mitra Interview”
one very big factor was working against bjp includes atitudr of differences between ArunJaitly and parti president,fighting between om mathur and vashundra raje.attack by shekhawat and late attention by national leadearship to settel it.secand big factor was poor handeling of media which was allout against bjp
Destroy the English media in India completely before it destroys India completely.
Destroy the English media in India completely before it destroys India completely…
New York,
Are you a message board troll? It seems like your comments are always - how should I put it - crazy. Life should not be about destruction but about construction.
Bappa Chowdhury :
We have done everything honestly for Good Governance,in fact BJP taught what good Governance is from the days of Kalyan Singh in U.P. We now have to do only [b]One thing Attack the Media Hard[/b].
What is more hurting is why does the BJP appears so weak before the Media. They seem to behave like a rejected lover trying hard to woo his beloved once more and his beloved is thinking of only betraying and humiliating him.
Why a strong party like BJP with Government in so many states can’t humiliate and attack Media when smaller parties like Samajwadi party and RJD can take a hard stance against Media.
BJP Leaders should be given some crash courses by Professor Amar Singh. The way he is aatacking Barkha Dutt and Veer Sanghvi is really Music to ears. I wish our leaders can do that. We have to finish the credibility of Media. All 60 years of dirty politics will become clear before the public and in particular of last 8 years.
BJP has always handled Media very badly. Probbaly like othe middle Class guys they got carried away by the English speaking skills and sophistication of Media. ironically BJP Govt only started 24/7 News concept. Not only English Media there is Hindi version of NDTV/CNN-IBN and even Star News.
They are equally Anti-BJP.
Media has fooled them in Kandhar issue,Gujrat Riots issue,Varun issue and they easily fell Pray for it.Why did they get moved by crying relatives popped up by Media(NDTV),so that this could be used as symbol of weakness later.
Mr. Mitra is right in his analysis. The BJP need to reenrgise its youth organisation, and should start increasing its base amongst youth, women and different class of society through different constructive programmes in hindi belt of UP, and Bihar.
If BJP is in governement with its alliance partner in any state it should not become just the alliance partner but should increase its base in that state also otherwise there could be repetition like orrisa in bihar also. The lead of NDA in bihar is not only due to MR. Nitish kumar, but due to a great support base of BJP. so BJP should increase its base BIhar.
It should not be destruction of Media as suggested by some people, these people should be convinced and must be stopped using such word against media or any one in the society.
Instead of blaming media BJP’s spokesprson should be trained properly to handle the media.
sometimes its leaders show the arrogane and sometime they dont answer properly.
So dont blame the media, But stick to core principle of BJP policies. BJP stands for cultural nationalism and it should be presented before the country in true context.
All the core issues like Ram Mandir, Conversion of religion, population control, should be presented in a civilised manner. so the People of the country will realize importance of these issues.
The top leaders should come out of the drawing room discussion and start connecting to mass, and increase its base in all parts of india. To rule the country BJP needs to have its presence in all part ot the country.
What i understand and learn from the past 3 weeks happening is that “Working at extremes wont serve the purpose, we have to work in between the extremes.”