One of the earliest historical examples of a scorched earth policy was during the Peloponnesian war nearly 2,500 years ago. The Athenians, facing an invasion by the Spartans, burned and destroyed their own countryside and retreated behind their fortified city walls.
Students of history will recognise the similarities of those tactics with what the Congress is now attempting in its agitation against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Its response to losing three successive national elections has not been introspection and a strategic reboot. Instead, the party has kept doubling down on its failed strategies, while also retreating behind the fortified walls of its few remaining demographic fortresses.
The current Congress campaign represents a double doubling down of earlier failed tactics. The current attempt to sully Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name with disproved or unsubstantiated allegations is an almost unvarnished revival of the 2019 “chowkidar” attacks on him. Not only did those allegations around the procurement of Rafale fighter jets fail, it led to a Congress rout. When it comes to personal image, for over two decades in public life, the prime minister has continued to enjoy a teflon-coated reputation for incorruptibility.
The second doubling down currently is the Congress attack on the ECI. For years, it persisted with allegations against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) that did not resonate with voters. That was partly because the Congress found fault with EVMs only when it lost, and had no issues with them whenever and wherever it won. It was also because no one has ever been able to demonstrate an EVM being hacked, despite the ECI having repeatedly held open challenges to test their integrity.
There are several odd aspects in the Congress stand. For instance, its denigration of the electoral rolls in Karnataka is unreal, since it is in government there and appoints the state election commission. Second, it blithely contradicts the claim of anomalies in the electoral rolls by opposing the Bihar SIR, which is the ECI’s drive to remove such anomalies.
In fact, right from the very first elections in 1952, it has been understood and acknowledged that anomalies would inevitably creep into the electoral rolls of the largest democracy in human history, and thus measures have been put in place for periodic corrections. Apart from annual exercises for this purpose, SIRs have been conducted more than a dozen times since 1952.
The reality is that electoral rolls regularly see both purges and additions to improve their accuracy, for which there are well established provisions and procedures. In fact, any adult citizen of India is entitled to request additions and deletions of voter names via specified forms, which are then thoroughly verified and acted upon by the ECI.
Many NGOs, activists, political party workers and others regularly avail of these provisions to seek such changes. It is part and parcel of the ECI’s regular work to deal with such requests, and there is nothing mysterious or controversial about it. Unless, of course, such requests are made only via press conferences, without filing the statutory paperwork.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s unrelenting attacks on the ECI, despite the allegations being debunked, is characteristic. It is just the latest example of his stubborn persistence with whimsically determined strategies, without regard to data, evidence, facts, or, indeed, the results they yield.
Such a scorched earth policy is highly unlikely to boost the traction of an election campaign, and at best might serve only as an excuse to justify its failure.
Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda is National Vice President of the BJP and a member of the Lok Sabha.