The opposition parties which have gathered under the umbrella of ‘India’ (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) are going to hold their third meeting next week. If they don’t tread carefully, they will again walk the same path they walked in 1971. At that time too there was an opposition alliance and it tried to topple the Prime Minister with the slogan ‘Indira Hatao’, but Indira Gandhi countered it by giving a more catchy slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao’. Why she was victorious is easy to understand.
Today, the opposition parties are raising the slogan of ‘Modi Hatao’, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is talking about ‘Amrit Kaal’, which is as promising as the then ‘Garibi Hatao’. Of course, the competition is still far away but with a confusing name, ‘India’ has tried to cover some of the basics. The next step should be to clarify why voters should support his goal of removing Modi, and why this alliance might be a better bet for him.
It is expected that ‘India’ will not repeat the 2019 Congress election campaign. In that campaign, Rahul Gandhi raised allegations of personal corruption, and it did not prove to be very effective. It cannot even count on opposition votes (as it did in the post-Emergency 1977 elections, and to some extent in the 2014 election), as Modi’s popularity is still high.
Modi’s domineering style of undermining the institutions that make a powerful executive more accountable, of course, is fiercely opposed by many, but those who vote on this basis will be few and many of them will also think that abuse of power Many opposition parties, including the Congress, have not lagged behind in doing so.
If the opposition wants to win, its new alliance will have to do much more than criticize the government, it will clearly have to present a better alternative. But it won’t be easy. First of all, it does not have any leader to face Modi. This is one of the important reasons why the BJP has consistently performed better in national elections than in state elections.
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The opposition will also have limited resources to contest this election and will be able to run a less organized election campaign than the ruling party. By the way, if the mood of the voters is uprooted, it cannot be pacified by money power. But why would his temper be uprooted? Inflation and unemployment can play their part. To neutralize them, Modi can also harp on fulfilling the BJP’s core agenda—the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and an end to appeasement of minorities to satisfy his base. can cite.
They can mix facts and exaggerations and make claims to increase national pride by shining India’s image in the world, although there has been criticism abroad about India’s human rights record. Modi can also stress on the question of national security (provided we can forget China for the time being), and can also make claims of bringing India on the path of becoming the third largest economy. Apart from this, we can give examples of digitization steps, public welfare programs and visible signs of development, building physical infrastructure of the country and starting high-speed inter-city trains.
The infamous memory of demonetisation and the 2020 Covid lockdown is fading, and many voters may see Modi win a third term on the basis of the above record.
But there is still time and the opposition coalition can outline a consensus program to be implemented after its victory. In this, promises can be made to provide many types of free facilities, as the Congress did in the Karnataka elections in the past. The attitude of the Aam Aadmi Party has also been similar.
The alliance can also lift the plight of those left behind in the ‘K’ shaped economic growth that worked against the Vajpayee government in 2004. But by raising public welfare and populist issues, it can go on a different path from market-oriented economic reforms.
The real danger is that the basic assumption that the votes of the candidate standing in the opposition will be equal to the total votes of his constituents may prove to be sloppy.
(Editing- Indrajeet)
(Click here to read this article in English)
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