(D Nagarjuna)
A masterpiece acronym INDIA has suddenly made people understand its expansion and when it is read, there seems to be everything that people are looking forward to. The word inclusive forms the core of this alliance since somehow what people could see in BJP was that it became exclusive to people on communal, religious, and caste frontiers unlike including one and all in the country.
On the other hand, Modi in his NDA meeting has exuded confidence that his alliance will get 50% of the vote this time from the 45% it got in 2019.
The bottom line is that mere acronyms alone cannot win elections. INDIA has a lot to do to make its acronym believable. The wisest thing to start is not to make fun of alliance partners of both INDIA and NDA as they may resort to floor crossing depending on the election outcome and when that happens why should one swallow what they have been spewing out? And also those parties that have stayed away from both alliances are now being dubbed as fence-sitters. Very often, such parties use wisdom, tact and have better foresight. They together constitute over 90 seats which would be critical if voters are not able to take an emphatic one-sided stand. Such parties are interested mostly in the welfare of their respective states before they think of the country as a whole. At the crux of the moment when the need arises, these parties will take a firm stand and will not budge without asking for their pound of flesh. They have the best clarity when compared to BJP or INC plastered all over with splinter parties formed as alliances.
As it is, Modi may not have a cakewalk in 2024 but his credibility about tackling corruption will be at the top if only he locks up everyone from all parties including his party and himself if necessary and proven guilty. That was the very concept of RTI, Lokpal and then what happened. Till now no one has been appointed for Lokpal since 2019. RTI has been diluted. Modi cannot even know the thieves from within his government in the absence of a transparent and no-nonsense RTI. Strong RTI would have enabled him to know who the black sheep are within his government for nine years. Lokpal has to be someone surpassing the credibility of even the CJI. Is that possible? Yes, when there is a will, there is a way. That needs immense courage, sacrifice, and dedication to the country. If that is done, a new India, not the acronym but the real nation will emerge. Modi will be in history for all the right reasons and not the wrong ones like Manipur, Adani, etc. This is the only way he can shut down the opposition and the suspicious people of India. He can go down in history proudly with a slogan of “sar katega lekin jhukega nahin”. By not bringing the thieves and thugs from overseas, he may escape saying that the treaties and the international rules prevent him to be as strict as he promised while seeking votes but he cannot be immune to catching such people within the country.
Otherwise, people will reconcile to the reality that all are corrupt and they will, unfortunately, have a choice between bad, worst, and worse and not good, better, and best. But before we seek the latter, is it not necessary for all of us to do introspection as to whether we are not encouraging corruption.? Bribe-giving is as culpable as bribe-taking. Yes, people resort to bribe-giving helplessly but a little amount of sacrifice on their part will have a cumulative impact of honesty that can detract bribe seekers.
Modi has to be extraordinarily not only dramatic but realistic too to take some action in such a way that his propped-up image is not so and he means what he says. Let him act and sacrifice himself for his country and then his party, in that order. Do or die is the only way out for Modi now. Not do or kill. If this does not happen, 1) Modi will be dubbed as a puppet, and RSS has the remote with it. 2) Modi encourages rampant corruption 3) Perpetrator of crimes against women and facilitator of all criminals including rapists going scot-free.
Finally, maybe the war room of BJP- RSS has to get into action again and take a relook and come up with a new strategy to face the ensuing state and LS elections. They cannot simply bank on utopian statements like 3- hr operation to take over POK when internally they are not able to control their own Manipur or China’s aggressive posture on Ladakh. International things can wait for some other day and BJP has its kitchen to be kept in order in the first place. Their Social Media peddlers are doing more harm to the party than all opposition parties put together. (The views expressed by the author are his personal and not of the website)
