The United India Rally, as they called it, was recently held in Kolkata where leaders from almost every party in the opposition came together to unite for a ‘common motive’. The present dispensation was the central point of their one-way discussion and leaders as young as Hardik Patel and as old as HD Deve Gowda took the stage to contribute to their common topic of speech i.e. ‘the country is facing a crisis in the form of this government’s rule’. However, if this rally should eventually turn into a pre-poll or post-poll alliance, it is bound to fail and there are many reasons for it, some of which are mentioned below.
Same Old, Same Old
Firstly, this foundation of campaign, which includes the manufactured fear of threat to the constitution and secular fabric of the country ever since this government came to power, has been used too often to maintain its sharpness and lustre. There is no right and wrong in politics but monotony affects the performance. People get bored of listening to the same things again and again. Political campaigning is an art where the rallies provide the stage and leaders are the artists. Perform or get thrown out of the race, that is how cut-throat this competition is and you can’t win it if you’re not good at it. The opposition lacks a performer like Modi, someone who can be a rabble-rouser when the time and situation demands it. On the other hand, he’s also someone who’s proved to the country time and again, through his administrative work and governance, that he’s the best fit for the job. His charisma gives the BJP a head start every time they’re going into an election.
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Secondly, with so many players in the team, each one of them would want the butter after the churning. The chances of in-fighting are more than just good if a coalition government so big in size is realized. The stage in this United India rally had faces which were previously known to be foes, politicians who hitherto couldn’t see eye to eye. In such a scenario, lucrative ministries wouldn’t be given away as alms to one another if a situation like that arises.
Watch and learn before you step into the ring
Finally, the BJP is smart enough to make this look like a climax scene of a Bollywood action movie where the hero fights many villains. Modi is a seasoned politician, a brilliant orator and someone who commands respect from all quarters and when he’ll make this a tussle of ‘us versus them’, people will listen. Also, all these political strategies are going to ride on the back of this government’s achievements, giving a different angle to the election debate. The BJP will push forward their development agenda mixed with mild Hindutva, which is likely to beat the opposition’s caste arithmetic, social engineering and fear-mongering. The alliance, if there will be one, would be unnatural in the sense that rivals who couldn’t stand each other are coming together to share the spoils. The BJP will not hold back, they will say this out loud and rightly so, because it is what it is – an unholy alliance.
To sum this up, we can only assume that this Mahagathbandhan 2.0 against Modi is a no-go and the idea that this would fail in the same way its younger sibling failed in Bihar is conceivable.
