“In the last winter of discontent there is one undisputed truth: the stench of Congress cadaver, spread across three States, has become unbearable except in certain history-proof addresses in Delhi. The deferred shame in Chhattisgarh apart, Verdict 2013 is a measure of India’s anger against its oldest party.” This is the opening paragraph of the lead article in India Today early this morning clearly signalling that the bell tolls for the Congress Party’s misgovernance especially in its second tenure.

The anger of the people of the Indian Republic has periodically surfaced in my earlier Columns of the last few years and also in many media publications. The Congress High Command could not be said to have not been conscious of India’s growing anger on the Congress Party and its Government, but it seems that the Congress Party was in a state of denial.

Missing in yesterday’s day-long TV panel debates analysing the election results were the arrogant loose cannons of the Congress Party whose sole contribution to on-going political debates was negativism.

The biggest lesson for all Indian political parties, including the BJP as the present beneficiary, is not to take the citizens of the Indian Republic for granted. India both urban and rural is presently widely awake and keeps all political parties under close watch on their governance performance records. The Indian voter today is more discerning and demands political accountability from those who claim to provide them with political leadership.

The most significant political reality in my view that emerges from these present results, and one not analysed or taken for consideration in Sunday’s day-long political analyses on TV panel discussions is the probable fact that the results indicate that Congress Party’s minority vote-bank politics has not worked as BJP’s wide leads in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan indicate. The same could be said of Congress Party’s miserable performance of being favoured with mere eight sets in Delhi. Nor has caste seemed to have played a major role. It is hoped detailed analyses on this score emerge sometime soon.

If my surmise is correct then “India’s Muslims” (the appellation that I have preferred as opposed to Indian Muslims or Muslim Indians) deserve to be congratulated handsomely for joining the Indian political mainstream by breaking free from their clergy who more often than not acted as managers of minority vote-banks for the so-called secular parties.

All the same, this should be an eye-opener for the so-called secular parties and their leaders whose only claim to secularism lies in donning skull-caps and donning red-checked Arab scarves around their necks during Eid festivities. Such theatricals may not pay them dividends in the run-up to the 2014 General Elections.