Opposition parties cosy up as poll date nears
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: September 20, 2021 -

WHETHER the BJP gets absolute majority or not in the 2020 polls is unlikely to disturb the present dispensation as the biggest impediment of the opposition parties in their objective to topple the government would be the warranted reign of the NDA regime at the centre.

In Manipur's context, there has been the tradition of the voters, for the past many decades, favouring candidates fielded by or associated with parties which are in power in New Delhi and this trend is likely to remain intact, in case no unprecedented political upheaval detrimental to the NDA government-takes place in the run up to the assembly elections in five states, including Manipur, which are expected to be conducted in the early part of 2022.

Moreover, there is remote chance of the ruling alliance losing its sheen and popularity any sooner, especially in the backdrop of the opposition parties lacking both political harmony and consensus to project a leader capable of diluting PM Modi's charm among the commoners.

Regardless of some allies of the BJP-led government in the state either asserting that it wouldn't have pre-poll pact or other alliance partners preferring to take a call only after outcome of the public mandate, it could be safely predicted that the BJP leaders and loyalists in the state would look to feast on Modi's popularity apart from launching unrestrained publicity blitzkrieg to remind the electors about benevolence of the incumbent Union government in allocating funds for various projects.

For a state like Manipur which is perennially dependent on New Delhi, it wouldn't be a hard choice to make who one should vote for.

That the BJP is in an advantageous position ahead of the polls could also be gauged from almost all the non-NDA parties in the state shedding their differences and resolving to join the proposed nation-wide protest campaigns against the alleged anti-people policies of the Modi government from September 20 to 30.

lt must be noted that never had the leaders of the 11 apposition parties exhibited such bonhomie in the last seven years of the Modi government or the nearly five years of rule of the N Biren-led coalition government in the state.

As the newly stitched opposition conglomerate; even if compelled by circumstance to forge unity to expose the so-called failure of the NDA government to deliver promises made to the masses; include parties which have been protractedly at loggerheads against one another, it wouldn't be presumptuous to assert that the new-found love could be just a desperate bid to stop the saffron party from storming to back power.

The opposition parties have various roles to play in a democratic institution with advocating changes to laws being one of them.

As the debates in the parliament or in the state's assembly failed to give the right impact, it is understandable that the opposition leaders find it appropriate to hit the streets so as to try and bring the people on their side.

However, such a sense of fraternity would be put to the litmus test as the poll date draws nearer for it is most likely that the lure of electoral politics bound by the essentiality to field specific number of candidates to retain recognition of the Election Commission of India might ultimately dilute camaraderie among the opposition parties.