No one must have predicted Congress’ steep decline over the next forty years after the party’s historic and record-breaking win in 1984 Lok Sabha elections where they had won 404 seats out of 514. BJP which had won only 2 seats in that election is now aiming at surpassing the record set by Congress which was then led by Rajiv Gandhi in 1984. The saffron party with ‘Ab Ki Baar Chaarso Par’ slogan is planning to win more than 400 seats in the upcoming general elections. The planning which began two years ago consisted of smaller parts such as the building of Ram Mandir and its inauguration.
Apart from that, the BJP has also focused on forming alliances with regional parties. A lot depends on how BJP is able to negotiate alliances in Southern parts of the country. Congress while taking a dig at the ruling party have asked BJP to go alone if they truly possess the capacity to win 370 seats on their own. However, the Congress needs to first take a look at themselves. While their stalwarts are leaving the party one after the other, Congress has also failed to keep INDIA bloc together. On the other hand, Nitish Kumar decided to join hands with the BJP again with BJP and his party contesting 40 seats in Bihar. Care also has been taken that Lalu and Tejasvi Yadav, Nitish Kumar’s opponents, face the ire of the intelligence agencies. The saffron party has also decided to form alliances with Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam and Pavan Kalyan’s Jana Sena parties in Andhra Pradesh. This has led to BJP planning a roadmap to gain maximum share of seats in AP where there are 25 Lok Sabha seats.
BJP is also eyeing a small state like Odisha and has decided to partner with Navin Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal after 15 years. It would not hurt for BJP to win 2-4 more seats. The ruling party is also trying to improve their political relationship with Anna Dramuk in Tamil Nadu and if the sources are to be believed, then BJP is also thinking of forming an alliance with AIADMK in Tamil-speaking state.
The saffron party has already gained power in Maharashtra after splitting Shiv Sena with Ajit Pawar too later joining the ‘party’. It is safe to say that BJP does not mind anymore whether the alliances with regional parties are formed with their natural friends or even with the same ideology, as long as they get to sit in power and eradicate the opposition Congress. For grand old party, Trinamool Congress decided to ‘Ekla Chalo’ in West Bengal after fruitless 8-day long discussion with Congress and even declared their candidates for all 42 constituencies in the State. In fact, Mamata Banerjee has fielded cricketer Yusuf Pathan against Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chaudhry in Berhampur constituency. Uddhav Thackeray-faction in a shock to its alliance with Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar), declared some of their candidates on their own. In Kerala, Congress is battling against the left-leaning parties. Therefore, the bloc which was supposed to go toe-to-toe with the ruling BJP is falling apart, BJP on the other hand is either taking regional parties under their wings or they are taking shelter of theirs. Of course, it is not easy to predict if this formula will help BJP to cross the magical mark of 400 because the party has been ultra cautious while declaring its candidates.
They are yet to declare candidates in constituencies which are either unpredictable or have proven controversial for the party. BJP has also not included candidates in their first list from the States where their own leaders are not happy with the treatment they are receiving within their party. Many regional parties in various states have also taken a step back in order to avoid investigations from intelligence agencies.
This is anti-democratic since if there are no opposition parties left then it cannot be called a democracy but a dictatorship disguised as democracy. Is Indian democracy heading in that direction? We all must seriously ponder over this.
