The Great Indian Opposition Unity named PDA – Patriotic Democratic Alliance opens a Wikipedia page which looks hilarious, pitiful and desperate.
Its members are -
1) Indian National Congress (INC) – Mallikarjun Kharge
2) Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – M. K. Stalin
3) Trinamool Congress (TMC) – Mamata Banerjee
4) Janata Dal (United) (JDU) – Nitish Kumar
5) Shiv Sena (UBT) – Uddhav Thackerey
6) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – Sharad Pawar
7) Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) – Sitaram Yechury
8) Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) – Lalu Prasad Yadav
9) Samajwadi Party (SP) – Akhilesh Yadav
10) Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) – K. M. Kader Mohideen
11) Jammu & Kashmir National Conference – Farooq Abdullah
12) Communist Party of India (CPI) – D. Raja
13) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - Arvind Kejriwal
14) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha – Hemant Soren
15) Revolutionary Socialist Party (India) - Manoj Bhattacharya
16) Cont…
The list contains nine more parties excluding all the independent parties with twenty-six MLAs.
It left me reminiscent of the movie Agnipath (1990), where the anti-heroes joined hands to kill the Hero.
The Hero and the Anti-Heroes are not denotative; but the premise is.
Unfortunately for Mr. Modi, he has more than fifteen political stalwarts teaming up against him, unlike the synonymous, Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, who had just five or six.
The movie is strikingly similar to the current outline of today’s Indian politics; if I were to sum it up in one line, I would say - It’s a brawl of villains, with Narendra Modi as Vijay Deenanath Chauhan.
Mr. Modi is what he is, but what’s more interesting is to see is the chemistry and history of the members sitting on the table, with their Public Display of Affection (PDA) Gang.
The first visuals of all the representatives on the table was not only a rare sight but a painful one too, especially when you look at Rahul Gandhi.
The scion of the biggest most powerful National Party sharing a table with these minor Regional Party leaders; must be hard on him. One could sense the melancholy, frustration and impatience on his face as he rubbed his eyes, rested his chin on his palm while waiting for it to be over.
Every player on that table brought a rich history of sneers with them when they faced each other with a counterfeit harmony. Assuming the party agrees to have Nitish Kumar as the PM candidate for 2024 elections, should we forget how Lalu Prasad Yadav called him a “Paltu Ram” along with comparing him to a snake which sheds its skin every two years? Or Tejaswi Yadav who comparing him to a chameleon? In response to these, Nitish Kumar talked about RJD’s mismanagement and scams along with calling Lalu Yadav a snake as well.
What about Congress and Aam Aadmi Party? Are we in dearth of statements by Arvind Kejriwal against Congress? Congress was the base of inception of Aam Aadmi Party, it was supposed to be everything Congress was not – Honest, just, dynast free and efficient. Congress calling AAP a B-team of BJP when it had no business of poking its nose in a one-on-one fight between Congress and BJP in Rajasthan.
Let’s not bring Arvind Kejriwal up to moral high ground as AAP turned out to be even worse than Congress and has secured an indisputable position of a Shape-shifting politician.
But don’t we have statements over statements of NCP against Shiv Sena, TMC against Congress, SP against Congress, JDU against RJD, of many more and vice-versa?
Are they really trying to convince the voters that a bunch of parched adversarial animals who have agreed to a truce until they kick the lion out of the water hole; will provide a democratic and harmonious environment for everyone once he is gone?
Do they believe the public is that naïve or have they figured out the mathematics this time?
In December 2022, Nitish Kumar came up with a formula to win with “Huge majority” in 2024.
The formula, minus the emotions (as it is with numbers), calculates the percentage of Votes BJP gets in Assembly Elections against other parties. The fact that BJP struggles in regional elections isn’t clandestine; and that’s the arithmetic they worked out.
Everytime BJP has won state elections, it’s vote share has been close to 40% or less; not a majority but more than others.
Nitish Kumar gives a formula where all these parties fighting elections as individuals, which scatters the votes, must fight as one against the now giant BJP. Let’s agree the formula isn’t extraordinary and we as voters often cracked it as a joke when we saw BJP sweeping the Lok Sabha Elections.
Why as a joke? Because expecting a meal from all these cooks who have been trying to poke other’s eye and throw boiling broth over each other while they are at it; is nothing but a joke!
So is their judgement, when they think it will work!
Let’s see what they claim to offer to the voters with this alliance. The point to be noted is, that they all say they stand against Narendra Modi; just the MAN… not against his ideologies.
The mood of the voters in this election has drastically changed as it was nine or five years ago. People hoped to get things done in 2014; in 2019 they saw things moving and wanted to keep it moving. They understand the importance of a stable government; they don’t want a crawling India, struggling to catch up but demand a sprinting India, taking over the lead. A Coalition government is as good as a dummy which occupies a throne but does nothing; people have seen how short-lived coalition governments have been. Be it V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, I K Gujral or Deve Gowda; the ever-changing PM’s of India in short periods left the people frustrated; more so frustrating for students trying to memorise their names.
The burning issues for Indians today are – Illegal immigration, better jobs through industrialization and business, appeasement politics, China, Hindu sentiments and temples and regional rivalry, UCC, better allocation of public funds and infrastructure, merit-based selections and corruption.
Now, imagine the faces talking about these issues to disenchant the voters of Narendra Modi.
Corruption, Industrialization – Lalu Prasad Yadav
Illegal immigration, Law and order, Hindu sentiments – Mamata Banerjee
Industrialization and development– Nitish Kumar
Better allocation of Public Funds and Infrastructure – Arvind Kejriwal (He can speak for all issues)
Hindu sentiments, Temples and Regional Rivalry – M. K. Stalin
Appeasement Politics, Hindu sentiments – IUML’s Kader Mohideen
UCC, CAA-NRC, China, Hindu sentiments – Rahul Gandhi… sorry Mallikarjun Kharge
Merit based selections – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rahul Gandhi… Sorry, Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav
How convincing are they? Do they really think a man who in the past year has come out as a lecherous chair hugging politician, be accepted as a face of PM of India?
Will Congress voters vote for TMC, AAP or JDU?
Will TMC voters vote to see anyone but Mamata Banerjee as the face of PM?
Will NCP voters vote for just a cabinet position for Sharad Pawar?
Do they really believe elections are just numbers and not emotions?
Narendra Modi has never been about just numbers; he has always commanded the emotions and aspirations of people. People have a clear distinction of what they want in the locality they live in and the country they live in; that translates in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Their knowledge and ambitions have become fiercer over the years. Convincing them with bogus and counterfeit promises which is against the character of any of the members of Patriotic Democratic Alliance is going to be a herculean task.
People who come together to form a front without discussing contentious issues, keeping aside their conflicting views until the 2024 elections, is giving a chance to the helter-skelter cabinet broiling with mistrust. Sweeping burning issues under the carpet for the time being to avoid exposing themselves of contradictory agendas and professional motives; isn’t going be easy for them, forget convincing voters. How will parties having a scuffle at state level come to common terms in Lok Sabha elections? Can you imagine AAP and Congress, TMC and Congress, RJD and JDU who lock horns and deride each other, gag their mouths for BJP? Will they give up their fray in their respective States until 2024 elections? With Rajasthan and MP elections coming up, how should the voters look at it; when AAP is directly attacking Ashok Gehlot? Are they expecting voters to have a Bahubali level understanding where they knew Kattappa stabbed Amrendra Bahubali but was loyal at times!
How will Arvind Kejriwal bear non-IITians, or MK Stalin bear North Indians or Mamata Banerjee bear anyone for that matter; is going to be fun to watch.
The fact is, that its no more a weighing scale of hopping frogs at one end; it’s a cast of megalomaniac crabs against Narendra Modi. The Patriotic Democratic Alliance is infested with pioneers of scams, autocracy and de-campers; their history does no justice to the words- Patriotic, Democratic or Alliance. A coalition, bound to fail until they come up with something extraordinary which BJP hasn’t figured out yet.
Or In words of Rahul Gandhi - Democracy is going to die yet again in 2024, despite a Karnataka CPR.
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