Anti-BJP Opposition front Bereft of Ideas
Asia News Agency
It is still two years before the next Lok Sabha elections take place. Before that there will be many Assembly elections, the most crucial being in Uttar Pradesh. Among other states that will elect their assemblies are Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand. There are many issues, largely local, that will determine the outcome of these elections. Political parties that are sensitive to these issues, will gain. Most important will be the image of regional and state leaders irrespective of the party they belong to.
BJP and the Opposition have opened their respective campaigns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the most aggressive. In this scenario, attempts to forge an anti-BJP Opposition has not materialised giving advantage to the BJP.
An ideal Opposition combination would have Congress as the fulcrum. But that appears unlikely. In the last winter session, the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC), that fancies itself as the pivot of a non-Congress Opposition, refused to engage with the Congress, a gesture that was reciprocated by Sonia Gandhi, who did not invite the TMC to a meeting of the Opposition.
There was also an unsuccessful attempt by parties in South India to get together. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) — which leaned more on the BJP until recently — reached out to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in what seemed like the beginning of a southern confederation, but the initiative fizzled out.
The reason for the failure of the Opposition to form a formidable joint front, writes Radhika Ramaseshan (senior journalist) is because they are "bereft of a larger programme to take to the voters, or a big idea which can challenge the BJP……” Secularism has served its purpose and to fight BJP’s Hindutva, “the Opposition must willy-nilly focus on governance and policies…..”
But more importantly, before talking of ‘fronts’, the Opposition must iron out their contradictions and have a common agenda on key issues.
Opposition must realise the power of positive politics
What the opposition must do, says Yogendra Yadav (founder of Jai Kisan Andolan and Swaraj India) is practice “positive politics” that is “forward-looking, pro-active and constructive political action rooted in our heritage, driven by self-confidence and striving for solidarities…….We must not appear as professional naysayers and habitual Modi-baiters. Politics of opposition must not be reduced merely to an opposition to their politics, to criticism, blame-game and indignation. The government’s handling of Covid has been a disaster; the opposition must present an alternative blueprint of public health. Above all, critics of the Modi government must give up a knee-jerk anti-Modism that goes on to strengthen the myth of Modi’s omnipotence……
“Positive politics must be pro-active, not just reactive. Be it Kashmir or Kashi, Narendra Modi knows how to set the agenda to which his opponents must respond. We must learn to step aside from the traps that await the opposition: Kashi, Mathura, Uniform Civil Code. Let us remember that as and when we have wrested the initiative from the government – think of Shaheen Bagh or the farmers’ ‘morchas’ (fronts) – we have succeeded. Looking ahead, the most obvious candidate for such an initiative is a nation-wide movement for employment and livelihood.”
Drawing upon culture and tradition: Positive politics, continues Yadav “must have an organic and healthy relationship with our own society and culture. The present assault on the idea of India in the name of Hindu religion and tradition demands that we have closer engagement with our traditions and our diverse cultural and religious heritage. If we turn our back to it, lest we fall prey to ‘right-wing’ politics, our politics loses any nourishment. That is exactly the deracinated self that Hindutva supporters would like us to have. The only way to counter it effectively is to draw upon our deep cultural resources…….”
BJP manages to look more powerful than it is: Positive politics must be self-confident. “Generally speaking, authoritarian governments crumble sooner or later. Specifically, the project of defeating the BJP in 2024 is not as difficult as it looks……..the BJP manages to look more powerful than it is. Its presence on the coastal belt from Bengal to Kerala is still underwhelming. Even during the peak of its success, it did not secure the votes of a majority of the Hindus. Its parliamentary majority hinges upon sweeping the Hindi heartland states. In the electoral as well as the agitational battleground, the current dispensation has not been able to knock out those challengers…….”
Alas, the opposition has failed on most of the above counts.
