Indian political league breaks all rules as umpires sleep
While the no-holds-barred and untruth-based campaign was on, the umpire– the Election Commission of India (ECI) – was on a mouth-shut mode
image for illustrative purpose
Elections come and go, but this year’s Lok Sabha poll will be remembered as the most fiercely fought political battles with all rules and norms thrown to winds.
As PM Narendra Modi got into his meditation at the Vivekananda Memorial, the nation also mulls over his self-contradictory speeches and at times baseless charges against the opposition alliance. The nation enters the final phase of the current Lok Sabha poll on Saturday, political journalists will recall that they have never seen such venom being spewed by any wing – right, left or centre – leaders as they have experienced over the last three months or so.
Despite ruling the country with an iron hand and imposing the infamous Emergency, Indira Gandhi had the guts to call for elections in March 1977and fight without losing her cool. Even the Janata Party that was formed to oppose her maintained decorum and never called her names. They just blasted her dictatorship and the caucus that controlled her. Leaders such as Jaya Prakash Narayan, Morarji Desai and Atal Behari Vajpayee did not use any bad words against Indira nor did she threaten to send them to jail.
Cut to 2024. In this I-me-myself-and-Modi era, the BJP manifesto dominated by his photographs and Modi-Guarantee headlines, was never the focal point of political discussion. On the contrary, he tried to keep the opposition busy responding to his allegations and Machli-Mutton-Mangalsutra-Mughal-Mujra jibes day in and day out.
While opposition leaders such as Tejaswi Yadav and Kanhaiya Kumar expressed their anger, Congress star campaigners Rahul Gandhi and Piyanka Gandhi-Vadra managed to maintain their cool. They did respond to Modi and Amit Shah jibes and speak about their own guarantees versus Modi’s.
The BJP campaign fleet led by Modi himself continued to blame the Congress, apparently to obfuscate the NDA performance on burning issues like unemployment, price rise and law and order.
None of the government’s policies and schemes such as demonetisation to smart cities, startups, skill India, Swachh Bharat, Covid care and even Agniveer figured anywhere in either Modi’s or his Ministers’ speeches.
The only reaction, that too from External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, came when Rahul Gandhi criticised the Agniveer scheme that “retires the youth after four years of discriminatory service”.
While the opposition highlighted the collapse of law and order in Manipur and the failure to protect women’s dignity in sharp contrast to Beti-Bachao campaign, Team Modi failed to respond to the allegations. In fact, BJP maintained a stony silence over Manipur.
While the no-holds-barred and untruth-based campaign was on, the umpire – the Election Commission of India (ECI) – was on a mouth-shut mode.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, who warned of a stern action against digging up the level-playing field and throwing personal attack bouncers, did not stand by his own words. This has given rise to murmurs such as “had T N Seshan been there…”.
While it was natural for Modi to keep harping on Chaar-Sau-Paar, the opposition consistently demonstrated an unprecedented confidence to declare that Modi will not remain the PM on June 4. For the business reader, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has already forecast a bull-run on the bourses on June 4, whereas Home Minister Amit Shah advised investors to buy stocks during the bearish period. Another unusual trend.
