Issueless opposition and optionless voters

Pratim Kalita

(pratimk37@gmail.com)

The Election Commission of India has declared the tentative poll day for the forthcoming general election in 2024. Obviously, the acceleration of the political activities of the party workers will be witnessed by the common citizens. It is true that political parties have already geared up to exert their maximum strength for the battle. Tempting offers, unending promises, blood-boiling lectures, verbal duels, and the intentional or well-calculated controversial statements of the politicians will be very common for the coming two to three months.

In Assam, the election-oriented atmosphere has been ignited by the recent organisational journey of Rahul Gandhi. The Indian National Congress has christened the journey ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ and applied all their blood, sweat, and tears to disturb the state government led by Himanta Biswa Sarma. Unfortunately, once again, in front of the Himanta Biswa Sarma’s political maturity, the confused nepotistic Rahul Gandhi was bound to accept submission. In a sense, he was totally helpless after his comment on Mr. Sarma as the most corrupt Chief Minister of India. Supporters of Himanta Biswa Sarma have retaliated the same with all efforts on social media platforms. Rahul was asked to justify the anarchy created by the invasion directly sponsored by Maulvi Syed Sir Muhammad Saadulla. Questions were raised about the conspiracy to hand over Assam to Pakistan and the killing of rhinos in Kaziranga by the poachers during their tenure. More than that, coal scams, 2G spectrum scams, MGNREGA scams, Commonwealth scams, etc. are reminded of him.

The 2024 general election is a hot topic for political analysts. At the same time, it seems that certain political updates have poured cold water on the hopes of many daydreamers. After closing the door of seat-sharing with Congress in West Bengal, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has added extra fuel to the fire. Her logical establishment of Congress’ performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha Election is undoubtedly acceptable. Highlighting the fact that 2 seats out of 42 have 5.7% of the total vote share compels the Congress to accept reality. Simultaneously, considering the people’s rejection of Congress, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also disapproved of seat-sharing with them in Punjab. It is also doubtful in Uttar Pradesh whether Akhilesh Yadav would allow the Congress candidates to ride his bicycle or not. Interestingly, everyone knows the chameleonic nature of power-hungry Nitish Kumar. Hence, the excitement of the eagerly awaited political battle between the I.N.D.I. Alliance and the BJP seems to be subsiding.

With the minimum knowledge in the political field, like me, ten others will never hesitate to opine that by rejecting the invitation to the Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha ceremony, once again Congress leaders have shot their own feet. Doing so, they have proved their anti-Hindutva philosophy, which is not at all acceptable in a Hindu-majority country like India. At least they got a golden chance to minimise the people’s hatred and anger. But unfortunately, they could not make use of it. Actually, they were between the devils and the deep blue sea. They might not gather the minimum courage to face the people’s criticism. Their initiatives against the Ram Mandir, insults, and soft secularism have been brought in front of the public by the ideologically different political warriors in a very strategic way. This always pushes Congress and its partners in the back. This might be the reason why Congress has not even officially wished for any people to get the blessings of Lord Rama yet. Don’t they think this will be another issue for their rivals? On the other hand, the BJP is dedicatedly pursuing the journey, as promised earlier. Their policies are crystal clear, and they still hold them positively. Obviously, this has a positive impact on their election campaign. Their developmental schemes, foreign policies, and attracting new voters also help them a lot to disturb the opposition’s strategy.

Tying up with mixed ideologically influenced political parties only to extract the BJP from power is not sufficient. They must have some extraordinary caliber. As a common voter, we feel they have totally failed in this regard. Till now, they have not been able to announce their prime minister candidate against Narendra Modi. In fact, how will they announce? The known secret is that all the party chiefs have secretly cultivated the dream of becoming the Prime Minister of India. Voters are not fooled enough to keep faith in such an uncertain political outcome. At the same time, stepping up against a strategically stable government is quite rare. The public generally does not go against such political establishments. If the alliance parties are really concerned about their mission, then the alliance must be pillared with reality-based theory but not concept-based theory. Simply roaring in a public gathering or in a close-door executive meeting to stand with the strategy of saving democracy is totally futile. They must understand that instead of party alliances, they should focus more on ideological alliances, which are standing as their barrier, and the BJP is taking advantage of them. Political discrimination should be erased. Political analysts have also commented that, in the current political atmosphere, it is very difficult for the opposition to fight against the BJP. In fact, their activities have already revealed the secret. They just want to be politically reinforced in their position at the national level. Speaking against the BJP is nothing but a show-off. They don’t have any proper issues with the BJP’s nationalism, welfarism, and strong leadership.

It was mentioned earlier that voters do not cast their valuable votes only after listening to the lecture; they always keep sharp eyes on the activities of the political leaders. The justifiable truth is that the BJP has not only been politically involved with the public but has also established an ideological perspective with their mindset. They understand the pulse of the voters and accordingly prepare for the best. On the other hand, we do not think that the opposition has won the hearts of the public as expected, and it is regrettable that they have not proved themselves as the main alternative. Voters are optionless now.