Ever since Narendra Modi was elected as PM in 2014, he has turned about to be the number one politician in India and the most popular as well. He is also one of the most popular leaders in the world at present and has the badge of being a populist strong man leader as per the political analysts. Under his leadership, the political party Bharatiya Janatha Party is at its peak of popularity as well as getting back to back victories with minimal effort. It may be easy for BJP to win back to back elections, but that party is never tired and keeps on learning and correcting its mistakes.
On the other hand, the opposition is at the weakest point in the last decade. The recent Mood of the Nation Poll by India Today suggests the same; Modi is leading bigger than ever. The entire opposition is in tatters, there may be hundreds of parties under that umbrella but they all are useless. They have lost their momentum. The only political parties which have some energy and enthusiasm is the Aam Aadmi Party of Delhi, TMC of Bengal and the AIMIM of Telangana. We are here to discuss the mistakes made by the opposition in India, and why they are not able to learn anything from the past.
Anti Modi Rant- The opposition party engaged in an anti-Modi rant from the very first day. From morning till midnight, opposition leaders are seen tweeting about Modi, attacking him and trying to demonise him. They unknowingly are increasing Modi's popularity by this. In a speech, PM Modi took a dig at his critics, saying that his energy comes from all the criticisms and anger he gets. BJP does a really good job of promoting themselves and highlighting their own achievements. The opposition believes that they will get support only by criticising him and his policies blindly. Leaders like Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor of the congress itself had made it clear that we must not make Modi untouchable and also that political rivalry should never turn into enmity and hatred. Both leaders have praised where it was required and also criticised where it was required as well.
Leadership crisis- The opposition is not a uniform entity or a single party so there is a vacuum where a lot of parties are fighting for attention and leadership within the opposition. Congress which has pan India presence is being challenged by smaller parties. No party at present is strong enough to match the charisma and popularity of BJP.
Lack of homogeneity- Opposition is just a fractured organisation. All opposition parties are not under the alliance or any formal understanding. What basically unites them is their hatred from BJP and Modi. Most of the parties are not even ideologically compatible. The Congress party which has a tactical understanding with the CPIM has a contradictory stance on various issues. TMC and CPIM are arch-rivals, they will never work together in the formidable future. BSP and SP which have been foes for years had made an alliance in 2019 against BJP, but it never worked well on the ground.
Headless chicken and dynastic politics- The congress party, the second-biggest party and the largest opposition party is merely any other party. It is losing its foothold in almost all states. It has lost election after election and learnt nothing. Even while contesting elections, it just stands as a lethargic alliance partner not even able to win a few seats for itself or giving in a tough fight. It has been one and half years since Mr Rahul Gandhi has left the position of the Party's President. Even today, the grip of the Gandhi family over the party is literally crippling it. Till now the party has no full-time president and is like a headless chicken harming and destroying itself.
Underestimating and undermining Modi- Opposition parties have been claiming that Modi has been hero-worshipped by the Modi and is responsible for propping him and propagating his ideas. Maybe that's true in the initial run, but as time passed, people have been attracted towards Modi's ideology and his policies. The opposition doesn't want to acknowledge his popularity or the strength of BJP. They speak as if the voters are too stupid for voting him every time. People are still not sure why voters choose Modi, that denial is brining down the opposition's strength.
Media management- Many people can say they are working in support of the establishment like (Fox News does for Trump), they even have a term called "Godi Media" as well. Congress party has millions of followers on Facebook and Twitter but the harsh reality that the majority of the Indian population are not on Twitter or FB; this doesn't click them. Just with bold tweets, no one has ever won elections in India. Majority of Indian news seekers watch TV, news channels, etc. without these BJP wouldn't be getting enough support. But, what has Congress party done? English channels may stand for only 1% of the entire TV audience, what about Hindi, local news channels, newspapers? Why is your presence not there? Where are your own supporters?
Loss of ground connect/cadre- Just like we mentioned before, there is no grassroots level connect with the people as the cadre is absent for Congress party in many states and almost weak in others. No one knows what Congress party stands for today, Their schemes like NYAY never reached the needful people on time with precise information. The cadre is not able to connect with locals on the ground, while BJP is doing an impressive job there. At the same time, it is active on all possible social media handles as well as messaging apps like Whatsapp and Telegram.
Choosing the wrong issues- This indeed is an important aspect when it comes to politics. People may not remember you forever, while voting, the issues you choose makes the biggest impact. Those issues which will affect a large number of people will have more importance and significance. In 2019, Congress party attacked Modi for the Rafale deal, it didn't create any impact as most people didn't have any connection to it. Instead, the party could have focused on its own programmes like Nyay scheme. The rise in petrol prices, unemployment, the economic crisis could have been highlighted but the party is not ready to accept it.
Everyone knows that BJP is flag holder for Hindutva and the congress trying to replicate it is a mere gimmick. Congress' soft Hindutva policy has massively backfired and the minorities are shifting to non-secular parties like AIMIM. Even on the issues of nationalism, Congress questioning the government even for legitimate reasons had backfired as BJP tried to deem them as anti-nationals and anti-India. Rahul Gandhi is attacking Modi on the China issue, but it won't see any kind of effect as this hasn't touched the lives of the common man.
Sabarimala, Article 370, TTT bill etc. saw Congress following the line of BJP. They didn't have a unique stance, but didn't get the benefit of these. Typically speaking, copying others will not help. Just because congress went rightward, doesn't mean it will get votes of the right. The minority and secular votes are going out of its hands. They feel betrayed for ignoring them, New alternatives, AAP and AIMIM are successful enough to eat into Congress vote-banks.
Ignoring the Middle class and the Dalits- Today as speak, the middle class and the Dalits are one of the biggest vote banks of BJP. Gone are those times when BJP used to be for the upper castes and elites. That transformation has been from the failure of UPA2. Increasing economic distress then and the rise in petrol prices, inflation etc. prompted to shift to that alternative that NDA had offered. As of today, they have no reason to vote for Congress as they no longer uphold anything for them. No protest, no dharna has been organised by Congress when the petrol prices crossed 80-90 Rs and also the removal of subsidy of LPG recently. Just remember the havoc BJP had created then on the same in 2012-13.
- Discrediting the vaccine and Modi's handling of the pandemic- The concerns of the vaccine being approved before trials existed then, but for prominent parties to call it BJP Vaccine is deplorable. That is not how politicians are expected to behave and bring fear in the minds of the public. Instead, they should learn something from Joe Biden who has publically taken the vaccine to show it is safe for use. The migrant crisis could have been highlighted by the opposition at the same time acknowledging that it is behind every Indian for handling the pandemic. This confidence was lacking on the side of the Indian opposition. This even resulted in a massive loss in Bihar elections where young population make up the majority of the state.
It is pretty much clear that the opposition parties have no face, plan, strategy or tactic to push or face the Modi led BJP. Without any crystal clear alternative, there is no specific chance that the voters will choose anyone else other than the incumbent. The parties will have to work really hard to achieve the success they want at least in the long term. To all those who believe that opposition is not needed or that they don't deserve a victory, understand the opposition is a very important part of the democracy. Democracy without opposition is autocracy and a benevolent dictatorship with mere elections. A good and strong opposition should be there to keep the government in check and for the balance of power.
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