THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-March 13, 2017- Topic 2
First among
unequals (Part – II)
If Uttarakhand, as in the case of Uttar Pradesh, stuck to the
2014 script, Punjab voted very differently. The BJP was only a junior
partner in the alliance led by the Shiromani Akali Dal. Also, the alliance
suffered greatly from the anti-incumbency factor, having completed two terms in
office. Actually, Punjab was more important for the Congress than it was for
the BJP.
A loss to the emerging Aam Aadmi Party would have been disastrous,
with long-term implications across the country. But the fact that the party
held off the challenge from Arvind Kejriwal’s party is in no small measure
thanks to Captain Amarinder Singh, its chief ministerial candidate. In recent
years, the Congress and the BJP have reversed their roles. The Congress, which
once boasted of strong national leaders and little-known regional satraps, is
now in a situation where it needs strong leaders at the State level to make up
for Rahul Gandhi’s relative lack of charismatic appeal at the national level.
The Congress cannot afford to be in the hands of a small and insular coterie.
If it is to replicate elsewhere its success in Punjab, the party needs to learn
from Amarinder Singh, who was much more alive to the threat from the AAP than
the national leadership was. As the BJP concentrates power in the hands of one
person, a risky as well as undesirable approach to adopt for any party, the
Congress needs to do exactly the opposite. No matter what it believes of
itself, the Congress is no longer the natural party of government. It is the
BJP that has emerged to occupy this space in the altered political environment.
Whether the party likes it or not, the Congress will have to build a credible
opposition to the BJP, little by little, State by State, instead of trying to
pit Mr. Gandhi against the vastly more experienced Mr. Modi in what is clearly
an unequal battle.
For the Congress, there is little comfort to be had in
finishing as the single largest party in Manipur and Goa.Given that the BJP is in power at the Centre, the smaller
parties might be more inclined to back a non-Congress government in the two
States. Even if it does manage to form the government in one or both States,
the Congress will find it difficult to ensure political stability. That the BJP
was able to substantially increase its presence in Manipur is perhaps an
indication of things to come in the rest of northeastern India. However, while
it can claim it did well in Manipur despite finishing behind the Congress, the
BJP will be hard put to explain its somewhat lacklustre performance in Goa,
where it was in power and suffered a steep fall in votes in comparison to 2014.
But even if the Modi magic has its limits and cannot work at the same level
everywhere, 2017 showed that 2014 was no flash in the pan. The BJP is now the
natural party of government, and the performance of the Congress will depend on
how well it is able to combine with other Opposition parties.
Vocabulary
Alliance: a union or association formed for mutual benefit,
especially between countries or organizations.
Example: A defensive
alliance between Australia and New Zealand
Synonyms: association, union, league, confederation, federation
Disastrous: causing great damage.
Example: A disastrous fire
swept through the museum
Synonyms: catastrophic, calamitous, cataclysmic, tragic
Boasted: talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction
about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.
Example: Ted used to boast,
“I manage ten people”
Synonyms: brag, crow, swagger, swank, gloat, show
off, exaggerate
Satrap: a provincial governor in the ancient Persian
empire.
Example: From the end of
the 370s Persia also faced a series of satrap revolts
Charismatic: exercising a compelling charm that inspires
devotion in others.
Example: A charismatic
leader
Synonyms: charming, fascinating, strong
in character, magnetic
Coterie: a small group of people with shared interests or
tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people.
Example: A coterie of friends
and advisers
Synonyms: clique, set, circle, inner circle, crowd, in-crowd
Replicate: make an exact copy of; reproduce.
Example: It might be
impractical to replicate eastern culture in the west
Synonyms: copy, reproduce, duplicate, recreate, repeat
Altered: change or cause to change in character or
composition, typically in a comparatively small but significant way.
Example: Eliot was
persuaded to alter the passage
Synonyms: change, make
changes to, make different, make alterations to
Lacklustre: lacking in vitality, force, or conviction.
Example: No excuses were
made for the team's lackluster performance
Synonyms: uninspired, uninspiring, unimaginative, dull, humdrum, uninvolving