Indian opposition gathering steam

Six months after the Bharatiya Janata Partys sole poster boy Narendra Modi comprehensively won the April-May general elections and pulped the entire opposition to become the Indian prime minister, the opposition parties are now slowly getting back their lost voices. The opposition misery had been accentuated further in the recently concluded assembly polls in two states Maharashtra and Haryana and both the states witnessed installation of BJP governments for the first time in history. After the ongoing five-phase poll process in the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, which will be concluded with announcement of results on Dec. 23, the political battlefield will shift to Delhi for the 70-seat assembly. Incidentally, BJPs main rivals in Delhi elections, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been successful in hogging medias attention after a long time. The Modi governments performance and various acts of omission and commission by BJP leaders are mainly responsible for a small but noticeable revival in political fortunes of Congress and AAP. But whether these two parties will be able to stop the BJPs juggernaut will be known only when the Delhi elections are held in February or March next year. Two specific instances in the past few days demonstrate how the BJP ceded political space to the opposition. In the first instance, the Congress party came up with a booklet lampooning the BJP government for 25 U-turns or policy reversals in past six months since the Modi government came to power one policy reversal per week on an average. Six months down the lane, the Modi model of governance stands out for three shameful characteristics U-Turn on promises, mere renaming and plagiarizing of UPA (United Progressive Alliance) programs and schemes and decisions that involve selling out public/national interests for the benefit of friendly industrial and corporate houses, says the Congress booklet titled Chhe maheene paar, U-Turn Sarkaar (Six months later, a U-Turn government). This is a brutal frontal assault by the Congress on the Modi government as it effectively says that PM Modi has no vision; that he is a mere talking wonder, a copycat and worse, a plagiarist. The Congress party got a lot of attention in print, electronic and digital media because of this major well-prepared political onslaught on the BJP government. The second instance pertains to the gutter-level politics that several ministers of PM Modi indulged in while addressing election rallies in Delhi. Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti kicked off a controversy on Dec. 1 by claiming that everyone including Muslims and Christians are sons of Ram. Jyoti, a newly-inducted minister and BJP MP from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, said while launching the BJP election campaign in Delhi that the voters must choose between Ramzadon (those born of Ram) and haramzadon (illegitimately born). Here is the English translation of Jyotis remarks made in Hindi: Modi has given a mantra that we will neither take bribe nor let others take bribe. Now you have to decide whom to choose. Will you choose the sons of Ram or those who are illegitimate?" Jyotis remarks triggered immediate condemnation from opposition parties. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said, We condemn the use of words by Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. The BJP is practicing politics of division. The prime minister should answer this as she belongs to his Cabinet. Biju Janata Dal leader Jay Panda castigated Sadhvi Jyoti while Nationalist Congress Partys Majid Memon said, It does not matter what a persons religion is. Hours later the minister was forced to offer an unconditional apology in both houses of parliament. But what is even more galling is the fact that Modi did not snub his foul-mouthed minister and chose to remain silent on the controversy. However, Modi issued a warning to BJP leaders at a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting in New Delhi on Dec. 2 and told them not to address the nation out of turn, adding that I will not compromise on this. Giriraj Singh, another BJP leader who was recently inducted into Modis Cabinet despite his controversial remark during the general elections campaign that all those oppose Modi should better go to Pakistan, has stoked another controversy. His speech at an election rally in Delhi was couched in references to Hindu mythology wherein he targeted AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal as a fake Hanuman. Singh said: Do you know Hanuman? We are all Hanuman. Hanuman told Ram that he has no identity of his own. We are all followers of Modi in this country. People wanted to know the reason for my victory in Lok Sabha. I told them it is only Narendra Modi. Singh also compared Kejriwal to Maarch, a demon in the Hindu epic Ramayana who had the ability to disguise himself. Kejriwal is that fake Hanuman, he is the demon Maarich who changes shape but will get caught one day, Singh said. In this case, the language is not abusive but what the opposition parties are objecting to is Singhs attempts to polarize voters with subtle usage of religious similes and comparisons. Haroon Yusuf, Delhis Congress leader and a former minister in Delhi government, voiced his worries on this count thus: This is what the BJP has been doing in Delhi for the past few months. They have been trying to polarize Delhi on the basis of religion; this is what they did in Trilokpuri and Bawana. This politics of religious polarization is very dangerous and spreads hatred. But Delhi wont accept this. Indian general elections 2014 witnessed politicians across the political spectrum stooping low and hitting their rivals below the belt. These elections also witnessed the BJP successfully polarizing the electorate. This trend has continued and almost become a norm. It is for the Indian voters to decide whether they would allow politicians to indulge in this kind of gutter-level politics. All political parties in India are responsible for the plummeting standards of election campaigning.

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Indian opposition gathering steam