National Discourse

NOTHING SEEMS TO be going right for Congress-led I.N.D.I.A. The contradictions and tussle over seat-sharing apart, an overall narrative to force the ruling party on the backfoot in the Lok Sabha campaign is missing. Instead, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is laying down the terms of the national discourse. The ruling party seems to have won half the battle without a vote being cast, convincing a vast majority of voters that it is assured of a spectacular victory. As any psephologist would tell you, a large section of the undecided voters tends to vote for whoever looks the winner. And there can be no denying that the BJP-led NDA looks like a winner by a long mile. In the ruling party’s scheme of things, it is a Modi-fied election with a common theme and a common leader. The opposition seeks to overcome its woeful lack of a national leader, nay a prime ministerial candidate, and a national agenda by seeking to segment it into 36 separate elections, with each state and Union territory presenting its own separate leader and theme. The absence of unity in the ever-fractious opposition grouping is reflected fully at the ground level with the rival supporters of each constituent often working at cross purposes, or not at all. They cannot be blamed, feeling already disheartened by the public wisdom that Jeetega toh Modi hi.

HAVING BUILT UP a lot of hope that the data on the now banned electoral bonds would tar the ruling BJP in the darkest of hues, convincing themselves of the damning nexus between the Ambanis and the Adanis, when it was all bared at the instance of the apex court, the opposition had egg on its face. Not only was there no clear quid pro quo established between the Modi government and the big business conglomerates, but the data threw up questionable donations to a number of opposition parties. For instance, a lottery dealer making huge donations to DMK and Trinamool Congress cannot be easily explained. Unless, say, there was a money-laundering operation at work here. Nor, for that matter, a mailbox company in Kolkata donating hundreds of crores to regional parties, and over a thousand crore overall, while its balance sheet showed a ₹40 lakh loss. An embarrassed Congress was left nitpicking, crying misuse of investigating agencies for donations, unmindful of the not-so-insignificant bounty it had received quite disproportionate to its 40-odd Lok Sabha MPs.

Meanwhile, having junked the electoral bonds, critics are yet to propose a half-decent idea to fund elections. At least the bonds offered partial legitimacy. Again, perforce, we will have to revert to the fully opaque financing of elections with most parties collecting bagfuls of cash and depositing it in banks as sub- ₹20,000 contributions from cadres and supporters.

THERE WAS NO surprise in the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. Defying as many as nine summons by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) since October last, he would have known he was asking for trouble. When the courts disapproved of his wilful defiance, ED picked him up. Instead of explaining the fishy transactions unearthed by the investigating agency, he cried vendetta. But none was fooled by his protestations. People in Delhi had experienced first-hand the workings of a scandalous excise policy, with long queues at the newly opened liquor vends, buy-one-get-one-free cons, housewives protesting vehemently against liquor shops in the vicinity of schools and temples, neighbouring states forced to reduce excise duty on liquor to prevent loss of revenue, etc. The extraordinary generosity towards the liquor wholesalers found its echo in faraway Goa with the legislators complaining that Scotch whisky was cheaper in Delhi than in the state known for its sun and sand, that being its main source of revenue.

Meanwhile, the question if his arrest would impact the parliamentary polls was answered by the lack of popular protest following his arrest. People in Delhi are quite clued in. If there was nothing wrong with the excise policy, why was it nixed post haste once Congress leaders complained of a scam? As for Kejriwal emerging stronger, one should remember the rise and fall of Mayawati. The BSP supremo had won Uttar Pradesh on her own, becoming a national party with MLAs in several states. She wrote her own political obituary. If Kejriwal treads the same path, he might meet the same end.

About The Author

Virendra Kapoor

Virendra Kapoor is a political commentator based in Delhi