Kolkata: People watch live telecast of the Election Commission of India's press conference for the announcement of the schedule of Lok Sabha elections, at a TV showroom in Kolkata, Saturday, March 16, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: In the next 77 days, Indians will decide on whether to choose BJP’s ‘Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar’ (Once Again Modi Government) chant or Opposition’s warning of “last chance to save democracy and our Constitution from dictatorship”.
The ruling BJP, banking heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity to return to power, and the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A., which faced some setbacks in form of defections, are already in poll-mode announcing candidates in some constituencies.
The main Opposition axis Congress is projecting the election as one to secure ‘nyay’ (justice) for the backwards, dalits, tribals, youth, farmers, workers, women and jobless, while the BJP is seeking mandate to take forward India to ‘Amrit Kaal’ by 2047.
Modi is the first non-Congress Prime Minister to seek a mandate for the third consecutive time and if the BJP wins the third time, he will be equalling country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's record of winning thrice at a stretch. Neither Indira Gandhi nor Manmohan Singh could match Nehru’s despite being in power for ten years in a row.
At the same time, Congress too is out of power for the longest period – ten years – though its staying away from power was shorter in the late 1970s and 1990s.
The BJP is projecting confidence and taking all steps possible to realise the dream of 370 seats on its own and 400 for the alliance, a target set by Modi. It is aggressively wooing new allies and trying to bring back friends-turned-enemies back into the NDA basket while seeing some success.
Breaking the I.N.D.I.A., the BJP brought back Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and in the process the Opposition lost one government too. In Uttar Pradesh, it sought out Jayant Singh-led RLD which broke ties with Samajwadi Party that offered seven seats but jumped ship to join the BJP coalition after settling for two Lok Sabha seats and a ministerial berth in UP government.
Also, the BJP managed to bring in TDP, Jana Sena and Chirag Paswan’s LJP into its fold while efforts are being made to bring BJD and Akali Dal too also on board.
As the Election Commission prepared ground for announcing the poll dates, the Modi government was quick to reduce fuel prices and sent out customised letters by the Prime Minister to a large number of people on WhatsApp.
While supporters cheer every move by Modi and the BJP as 'masterstroke', his opponents believe that the BJP's actions in the recent months are not in consonance with its public utterances about a thumping victory.
They believe if the BJP is winning, it would not have scrambled to announce Bharat Ratnas for Karpoori Thakur, LK Advani and Charan Singh -- people who could provide diverse political capital -- especially after the inauguration of Ram temple. This, critics say, is to blunt Congress and I.N.D.I.A.’s emphasis on social justice and farmers issues.
Maybe, the BJP feels that Ram temple may not fetch more votes as it has already reached saturation point in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and smaller states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Its prospects in south India are also not particularly encouraging for the saffron camp though Modi has made some whirlwind visits in the past couple of months.
BJP's main plank is Modi and the saffron camp believes none in the Opposition camp can match him. The BJP is building a campaign around ‘Modi Guarantees’, which the Congress says is a pale imitation of their strategy, as well as its campaign around the implementation of CAA earlier this week.
On the other side, the Congress and its I.N.D.I.A. partners are also making all efforts to unseat the BJP though parties like Trinamool Congress have taken a divergent stand seeking to contest alone in West Bengal. Congress has finalised seat sharing arrangements in states like Uttar Pradesh, it is yet to seal the deals in Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
It will be a test for the Opposition to increase its tally and it would mainly rest on Congress’ ability to win seats in north India. In the 2019 elections, BJP had won 303 with the party winning in huge numbers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh besides Gujarat in the west while the main Opposition Congress managed only 52 seats.
The Opposition believes that price rise and unemployment would add to anti-incumbency, which would help them in unseating the BJP.