We have to think big like BJP to succeed, says Congress leader Salman Khurshid
Bengaluru, May 17: Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid wants his party to think big like the BJP, and refuse to accept "pessimistic view" that the outfit has now become too small, weak and cannot regain its lost ground.
"One take-away that I have from (West) Bengal and Assam (Assembly elections) is: You should never, never accept that you are too small, you are too weak and that you can't make it big in a particular region or State", he told P T I in an interview on Monday.
"I think, BJP has done that (think-big strategy) where they had no existence at all. They tried to do it in other places where they still don't have any existence," Khurshid said.
The Congress, the former Union Minister insisted, should not accept the "pessimistic view" that it has lost too much ground and it cannot now regain.
"I think with determination and confidence, we can and that's what we should do."
Khurshid agreed with analysis in some quarters that there was tactical voting in the recent Assembly elections in West Bengal, where the Congress and the Left were "wiped out".
"That's true. One analyst said the extent of tactical voting that happened in Bengal may not have happened in Assam but obviously tactical voting happened in both the places," he said.
"...what do you do with it (tactical voting) as a party for the future, it's something that we will have to consider".
Khurshid was asked about his take on assessment by some of his party leaders who blamed a tie-up with Indian Secular Front contributing to the rout in West Bengal and those who claimed that the partnership with AIUDF cost the party dearly in Assam.
"Whenever you don't succeed, this is the kind of explanation that you are given; when you succeed, you are given a different explanation," he said.
"So, I don't think post-hoc explanations are sensible although they help you analyse your decision-making process and merits of that decision. All I can say is: much can be said on both sides."
Khurshid also said that the Congress manifesto for Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, due next year, would be a manifesto "from amongst" the people.
"Idea is to be a little more analytical about what is it that people want and see if we can give it," he said.
Khurshid added: "Of course, we continue to face that problem of irrational division along castes and communities, and that will get resolved over a period. That (the division) can't be something which can be wished away. It will get resolved over a period."
In the Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on May two, the Congress was decimated in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress won with a tally of 213 of 294 seats.
The Congress also failed to defeat incumbent governments in Kerala and Assam.
In Puducherry, the party was defeated by the NR Congress-led National Democratic Alliance.
However, in Tamil Nadu, the Congress was a constituent of the winningDravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance.
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A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Indonesia's Java Island, felt in Jakarta
Jakarta, Apr 27: A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia's main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning.
High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook strongly in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta's satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi. The quake was also felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.
The agency warned of possible aftershocks.
Earthquakes are frequent across the sprawling archipelago nation, but they are rarely felt in Jakarta.
Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2022 killed at least 602 people in West Java's Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people.
In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.
