India votes for strong opposition, long live democracy!

Though the Congress exuded confidence of winning the elections and forming the government, it was clear that it was a difficult dream to come true. But Rahul Gandhi’s continuous hammering on social inequality did help in turning the tables on Modi

The jury is out! India has voted convincingly for democracy and against elected autocracy. The polit(r)icks of Narendra Modi led NDA to score Chaar Sau Paar have fallen flat. With this, all the exit polls that forecast a two-third majority for NDA has lost their credibility. The difference between the exit and exact poll results is clear. As I have written in this paper on Monday, the stock markets played to the exit poll tune, punters booked bumper profits and our point that ‘Surprise are in stock for June 4’ came true and markets nosedived on the D-Day.

Modi and his BJP tried all kinds of permutations and combinations such as Machli-Mutton-Mughal-Muslim-Mujra and the game did not click. Modi, if readers recall, used this formula across the country sounding alarm bells that the Congress will snatch Mangalsutras and buffalos.

The Congress, on the contrary, stuck to its focus on unemployment, price rise, social inequality and above all the importance of the Constitution. India has voted for upholding the Constitutional values and checking the bulldozing politics.

Pradeep Gupta of Axis My India which gave about 360-401 seats to NDA now said he misread the Dalit voter. But he was candid enough to admit that the Dalit voter moves away the moment you go aggressive on Mandir politics and talk of amending the Constitution. True.

At the time of keying in this column, the BJP was yet to cross the half-way mark on its own though NDA as a while was hovering around 300 seats. The political map has dramatically changed with saffron patches reducing across except for Madhya Pradesh. The double engine has derailed in Rajasthan, Hayana, Maharashtra and of course Uttar Pradesh where the BJP suffered the biggest upset. Clearly, the voter was not unduly enamoured by the temple politics. Even in Ayodhya (Lok Sabha Constituency being Faizabad) the BJP candidate was trailing.

Religion definitely has its place in our lives, but it is a private affair. There is absolutely no problem in publicly celebrating religion and festivals. But the problem is in politicising religion. From the Ram Lalla consecration to election rallies and the blatant use of Lord Ram’s pictures the BJP has tried it all. Worse, PM Modi claimed that he is not biological, and that God sent him to perform a particular duty. All these did not click with the voter and God obviously will now tell Modi to respect the mandate and work on issues that matter. Kite flying has its limitations.

Modi’s declaration from the Lok Sabha that BJP will win 370 seats and NDA will cross 400 fell short of all expectations.

What do these numbers mean? The BJP will not be able to bulldoze its way as it did with legislations such as the farm laws and the telecom act amendment. The BJP will have to forget the anti-Muslim rhetoric. Chandrababu Naidu will not accept it since he has promised reservations to Muslim backward. Modi has already made a phone call to Naidu.

Apart from Naidu, Modi will have to rely heavily on Nitish Kumar’s support. The BJP will not be able to tinker with the Constitution.

Democracy is all about checks and balances and the voter has voted for it. Ten years of rule was long enough for the BJP and NDA to perform and showcase some progress. Obviously, the Amrit Kal chant and the subsequent Viksit Bharat carrot did not click. We questioned these two rants and called for focusing on the ground realities. The opposition did not have any opportunity to make its presence felt. Worse, the opposition MPs were bundled out of Parliament. But today, the opposition can firmly stand up to dictatorial trends. This is definitely a good sign for democracy.

Though the Congress exuded confidence of winning the elections and forming the government, it was clear that it was a difficult dream to come true. But Rahul Gandhi’s continuous hammering on social inequality did help in turning the tables on Modi.

We discussed earlier that the concentration of unchecked power in a single party is not good for the BJP itself and it was amply proved the way the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh were chosen. Has Mo-Shah combo for its folly, at least in Rajasthan?

Amid all the big losses for the BJP was the upset that Union Minister Smriti Irani had at Amethi. As Laddoos were distributed at the AICC headquarters, Kishori Lal, a staunch Gandhi family loyalist, emerged as the new giant killer. This again means a lot for the Indian polity that people’s problems are the real issues and not anti-Gandhi family rhetoric that Irani played out. She was out in the streets holding LPG cylinders when the gas process shot up during the UPA regime. She even blasted the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh for atrocities on women when she was supposed to have spoken on the Manipur issue. But she was silent on the complaints from Olympic medal winning women wrestlers against Brijbhushan Sharan Singh. It was too naïve for her to believe that the voter would not take note of these.

Priyanka Gandhi did her job exceedingly well in campaigning to defend Amethi and Raebareli. Her campaign style is a case study material for the students of political science.

Will the big upset lead to big change in Uttar Pradesh politics? Arvind Kejriwal might not have been too off the mark when he said that Yogi Adityanath will cease to be the UP Chief Minister.

BJP has also paid the price for its washing machine politics as the results in Maharashtra demonstrated. INDIA was scoring 27 against NDA’s 20 around 4 PM on Tuesday. Remember, this State will have legislative assembly elections as well as civic polls in major cities including Mumbai.

Where do we go from here now! The INDIA bloc will have a great responsibility as an opposition. As we discussed earlier, the opposition should have a shadow cabinet to give a one-on-one fight and maintain the democratic checks and balances on each and every key ministry. This will benefit the nation as the government knows that its policies will be under watch. And INDIA should not fritter away the gains and behave responsibly.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)