Never has India seen so much criticism and opposition to the Centre, as is being seen now. And yet, with only a little over 30% vote share, the BJP has been able to improve its strength not only at the Centre but also in some States. How it happens, -whether it is only due to Opposition disunity (which partly it is) or any other reason, like tampering with EVMs, it is for combined Opposition to look into.
If the Opposition is really keen in dethroning the BJP, which is indeed the need of the hour, in the interest of the country and its people, all the political parties opposed to BJP ideology and behaviour, must come together and fight the elections as one single party, with seat arrangements amongst them. But this is most unlikely to happen. While Rahul may have received tremendous support, over his disqualification, from almost every political party, including his sworn enemies, like the TMC & AAP, the unity is a far cry. The egos of all these parties will never allow unity, because the interests of the country do not matter to them and it is power, positions and ambitions that count. The TMC, the AAP and the Congress are generally at loggerheads. None of the three parties is prepared to spare attacking the other, so that efforts at unity could bear fruit. Congress might be the second largest Party in the Sabhas in Delhi or in some States, but it must acknowledge that it has been humiliated in many States and it is nowhere close to where it was ten years back. However, it still feels that it must play the leading role. No party is prepared to make any sacrifice to allow unity to happen, so that the persecution and intolerance towards the Opposition stops. They will rather undergo suffering than sacrifice their egos.
I don’t wish to comment on Rahul’s remarks, which resulted in his disqualification. However, I found it strange that he should have included the PM among the Modi thieves, he quoted. It is no less strange that BJP found in his statement, an attack on all Modis in the country or the OBC community, to which some Modis belong. BJP has been cleverly using this now to project Rahul as enemy of OBCs. This reminded me of a recent threat by a leader of a community to hold a demonstration at Vijai Sardesai’s residence for being critical of the alleged biased attitude of the Speaker, who belonged to his community. In fact, it is the community which should have felt ashamed of the attitude of one of its members. It was not the first, nor will it be the last, time that Rahul makes statements, which have turned controversial. In a bid to attack one of BJP’s heroes, Veer Sawarkar, Rahul made some remarks against him, which annoyed their ally in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena. Rahul would do well in controlling his tongue to avoid embarrassing the party, particularly at this stage when attempts are being made to forge unity among Opposition parties. However, knowing how selfish our political parties are, no alliance, if, at all it happens, is likely to last and may only help the BJP to come back to power with additional strength, if fresh elections need to be called.
