Rajya Sabha polls: Ahmed Patel won in Gujarat, not the Congress
persists, but it seems likely that Sharad Pawar’s party abandoned the Congress. The loss of Nitish Kumar in Bihar and the Nationalist Congress Party in Gujarat could have a domino effect among other regional players. The inability of the Congress to internalise a new reality and shed its entitled attitude to power has led it to over-assert for seats and influence with regional players. Gujarat must teach it otherwise.
Finally, the party will be stuck in the same morass unless it abandons the ‘high command’ culture and idiom. Its Delhi-centric political feudalism (where state leaders have to wait eons to even get the attention of the leadership) will have to move to intraparty federalism if it has to survive. In a state where the Congress has been out of power for three decades, leaders like ShaktiSinh Gohil showed a remarkable appetite for a good fight. Will he be empowered or flung aside as so many others have been before him?
In the end the Congress will have to script a new narrative and be willing to take a backseat to allow other, more rooted leaders to shine in the spotlight. Otherwise, in the long term, Patel’s victory will become more about survival than winning. here tonight,” he told his fans in Ohio, suggesting he is almost proud of the strangeness of his presidency. These rallies provide Trump all the affirmation that his chronically low approval ratings (36.9% at last check) cannot. They offer the veneer of strength and momentum when in fact his administration is plagued by infighting. He attacks the media for stymying his agenda, when he has really been thwarted by divisions within his own Republican party.
But most importantly, these rallies help cement Trump’s position among the minority of Americans who remain firmly in his camp. His rallies are like the passion plays of medieval Europe, figuring a virtuous hero against forces of evil in a quest for the redemption of the people. By some calculations, 25% of voters are committed Trump loyalists. Their support for the president has not been dented by the ongoing investigations into his campaign’s links to Russia, nor by the chaos of his White House, nor by his failure so far to pass any of the major reforms and measures he promised, nor by his dangerous brinksmanship with North Korea. They see themselves as participants in a greater struggle, removed from the boring detail of politics, a struggle for the spirit of the nation.
I’ve never felt the appeal of a political figure in this emotional way, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the power of these spectacles and what they represent. By conventional political standards, Trump is a shambolic leader. His presidency so far has been inept to the point of farce. And yet he retains a core following who believe in him at a level beyond politics itself. His opponents may find it hard to topple him if they can’t inspire that same faith.