The BJP is gearing up for its third term and in all likelihood it could return but not with the 400 mark that it envisages. The main problem in India today is lack of Opposition unity. The INDIA bloc led by the Congress that was supposed to give the BJP a run for its money has failed to get its act together. There are too many over-ambitious regional satraps that are hell bent on projecting themselves as the next prime minister of India, although their commitment to that arduous task is suspect. If at all they want to be at the helm it is mainly the lure for power and pelf. The INDIA bloc has not charted out a common goal that they have outlined for the country and its hapless citizens. All that they are riding on today is the electoral bond scam and the ED, CBI being used as tools of the ruling party to hound opposition leaders. This negative campaign is not enough to win elections. There is need for a positive note which the electorate can pin their hopes on. The problem with the Congress and other parties is that they have a record of corruption that cannot be wiped off public memory. The public need to see if the Congress has done better to curb corruption and provide good governance in the states it is ruling in so that it can pitch that as a model of what voting for the Party can do for the electorate.
The Congress Party’s own track record as far as securing the citizens’ liberties is also not unblemished. The Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi is a black mark on the Party’s political journey. There was entrenched corruption during the UPA 1 & 2 tenures which the Congress did nothing to even put up a façade of going after the corrupt. Hence it is difficult for the Congress now to get back to a point where it can claim to having a clean record. The other regional parties don’t have much to show to their credit as having done much in the task of nation-building. Many have been busy nurturing their pocket boroughs to spare any thought for the country.
The BJP on the contrary in its 9-year plus journey has taken up several issues that ostensibly afflict the country and had remained on track as far as corruption goes, barring the electoral bond scheme and crony-capitalism which has been overtly and covertly promoted. If the BJP clears the decks this time there will be far-reaching consequences for religious and other minorities such as tribals, Dalits etc. Against this, it is important for political parties in small states like Meghalaya to desist from playing divisive politics because what is crucial now is for parties that don’t want a rewriting of the Constitutional to dumb down the principles enunciated by the founding fathers with a stress on diversity and secularism, to come together and build solidarity so as to unitedly push back the BJP’s gameplan. But can we expect political parties in Meghalaya to rise above their petty politics?
