‘One Nation, One Poll’

This is an idea propelled by the reformist-in-the-making in Prime Minister Narendra Modi – to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and State Assemblies polls. It cannot be called unsound or divisive or diversionary as the leading opposition parties are clamouring from the housetop. The Modi intent is clear: to cut costs. And any cost-cutting exercise is in the larger interest of the country that continues to grapple with resource constraints, including that of manpower, and economic woes. In that sense, this political initiative has an economic dimension to it. However, the leading opposition parties have seen some sort of a conspiracy in this, saying it is being done only to the aid of the BJP as it knuckles down for a greater outreach. Are they really paranoid at the BJP’s meteoric rise under the stewardship of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo?

Modi had called an all-party meet on the issue on Wednesday, inviting 40 party presidents, of which only 21 attended. The notable absentees were leaders like Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, BSP chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s MK Stalin, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal. All of them are against Modi’s proposal. The DMK viewpoint is interesting. As its Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson TKS Elangovan said, it will “result in breaking the country”. One can interpret this as saying that the proposal is anti-national! Why, anything that will “break the country” is obviously anti-national! It is leaders like him – of whom there is no dearth in the country – who make it a point to brand any positive and innovative political idea as blatantly opportunistic and divisive. The Congress, on the other hand, said Modi’s proposal is a “diversionary tactic” only to divert the people’s attention from the real issues, while also accusing the BJP of being inconsistent on the issue.

What these opposition parties have expediently overlooked is that the Prime Minister was making only a proposal and there is no finality in it. What Modi was doing was he was seeking the opinions of different political parties on the agenda of “one nation, one poll”. He was not trying to impose his, or the BJP’s, view on them. It was precisely for the simple reason of consensus and deliberation that he had called an all-party meet. Discussion, this was what he was looking for. But, then, when the leading opposition parties, who have been virtually shown the door during the general elections, are mired in one crisis after another, and when they are unable to negotiate the muddle they are in, every radical move by the party in power with justifiable pride will be branded negative, divisive and diversionary. This will not do.

It is a welcome augury, therefore, that Modi has decided to form a committee to look into the issue of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. How this committee will be constituted and what its mandate and agenda will be, time will tell. At the moment, it suffices to say that there is absolutely no harm in deliberating on an out-of-box proposal sensibly and sagaciously. Of all the opposing parties, it is the Congress that has let itself down yet again, thanks to the reluctance of Rahul Gandhi to learn a few good lessons from his party’s ignominious debacle and decline despite it being the country’s oldest political formation. Would any heaven have fallen had he simply gone to the meeting and expressed his views, whatever? Not at all. But this is not something that he is willing to do. And he is paying the price too for things like these.