By Dr. Gyan Pathak
As India approaches closer to the Lok Sabha election 2024, the entire political scenario in the country seems to be taken hostage by political sensationalism. PM Narendra Modi and the RSS-BJP clan are the chief players tickling the imagination and dreams of those highly communalised Hindus who have become hungry for the power of complete domination over other sections of the society. One Hindu sect has been set against the other Hindu sect – as we have recently seen in Swaminarayan-Hanuman controversy in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the state known for decades for Hindu-Muslim communal riots.
Political sensationalism has become tool not only for PM Narendra Modi and the RSS-BJP clan but also for some political leaders of the opposition, who want to respond to the RSS-BJP clan in same coin. All these have dangerous consequences for the country and all the sections of society, since it blocks any meaningful deliberation on important issues concerning the life and liberty of the people, facilitating the success of divisive dangerous politics that aims at achieving the power of complete domination and servitude of others.
The most recent example is the proposal for ‘One Nation, One Election”. RSS-BJP has been trying to sensationalise Indian political landscape through one nation one law, in several cases including the issues relating to the Centre and the States, in relation to civil codes for majority and minorities, in relation to taxation and so one. The democracy is being increasingly replaced by putting all the powers to the mercy of the Prime Minister of India. It is a dangerous situation for which opposition INDIA alliance need to have a matching strategy at the earliest. Opposition leaders must not help RSS-BJP clan by participating in their communal gameplan, rather putting them on backfoot.
BJP-RSS clan has always been mercurial. At one moment they can be totally against Mahatma Gandhi, and at another moment they can pose as his true followers. They are ludicrous when only a few years ago they campaigned for the name “Bharat” in place of “India” claiming that “Bharat” represented the real India and the people of India while “India” represented the country of the advantaged. They even organised competitions among school children on the topic “Bharat vs India” in a bid to communally tamper their mind in the name of “Bharat Mata”. They circulated pictures and distributed idols of “Bharat Mata” as goddess for Hindu majority. In their schools, students are taught to chant “Bharat Mata ki jai” and they organise processions where it is chanted.
During the first term of Modi rule, all these were happening, and Bharat accentuated while India word was being avoided. Then came the year 2020, and during the 74thindependence day celebrations from the Lal Qila in Delhi, PM Modi praised himself for making everything for “New India” by 2022, the 75th year of independence. What prevented him to announce a “New Bharat”?
Bharat is the ancient name, and “New Bharat” could have represented the so-called progress and development PM Modi had successfully worked for. It betrayed his own complex preferring for “New India”. NITI Aayog had made detailed plans and strategy of “New India” and the government even started publication of “New India Samachar”.
Now when opposition alliance has an acronym INDIA, PM Modi’s ego has been hurt. One can recall COVID-19 government slogan – Corona harega, India jeetega (Corona will be defeated, India will win). The new slogan for INDIA alliance is – Bharat judega, INDIA jeetega. One can ask, what happened to Modi’s “New India”. It has obviously been failed. His government has even not invited the G20 leaders on behalf of his “New India”, but on behalf of “Bharat”, the ancient name of our country. Why PM Modi is not interested in creating “Naya Bharat” or “New Bharat” and why he deserted his own “New India”, a modern one in favour of ancient “Bharat”. In Sanskrit, we have and adage – Punarmushiko Bhava (return to your existence as a mice).
INDIA alliance is yet to devise to take on such a mercurial character of RSS-BJP clan in general and PM Modi in particular to take on them in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election 2024. Additionally, the opposition needs to converge their campaign strategy on the burning issues faced by the people of this country who are being cheated simply by empty sensational words, without any intention to really benefit them. They aim only to empower themselves enough to subjugate all.
There are five distinct categories for which INDIA alliance need clear roadmap and appropriated strategy to deal with. These are – Economy, Foreign Policy, Social Issues, Governance, and Democracy.
Economic challenges include unemployment, inflation, fiscal deficit, and external debt, and how they have been mishandled. Common people’ sufferings are on the increase while the corporates and big businesses are prospering at unprecedented rate. Crisis of living has become worse, and the people are waiting how the INDIA alliance is going to respond.
India has to deal with a complex dynamic geopolitical environment especially with regard to China, Pakistan, Russia, and the US, which is the creation of PM Narendra Modi government, whose chief aim is to project himself and not the real interest of the country. G20 summit is an example.
India has to address the issues of communal harmony, minority rights, women empowerment, caste discrimination, and regional aspirations. India alliance must expose the government’s policies on citizenship, farm laws, education, and health.
Improvement in the quality and accountability of governance must be the core part of the campaign and how the democratic and constitutional institutions of the country are being misused. The government’s efforts to demean the judiciary, the media, the bureaucracy, and the electoral system must also be exposed. (IPA Service)
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