A tactical fight against Modi’s rhetoric has paved the way for an indirect morcha. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has raised a call for a Modi-free India. There was also a talk about a third front against Modi.
The Congress has already made scathing remarks on Modi. It appears that an atmosphere of discontent, discomfiture and dissatisfaction is currently in place. However, the BJP is still confident in this entire scenario.
Whatever is the reason behind this turbulence, the message is quite clear. People do not want communal politics anymore. The Congress followed secular values which are still the ultimate choice for many Indians. They accept secular traditions in their strictest sense. Whatever Yogi said about their idealism was only his opinion. After all, he too partly agreed with co-existence as the guiding principle by citing the example of Holi, when the Muslim clerics in two big mosques altered the time of the Friday prayer.
Howsoever, the BJP’s slogan of “sabka saath, sabka vikas” does not appear to be agreeable to many. If it was not so, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena would not have called for a Modi-free Bharat. Why has he chosen Modi’s ouster from the country’s political arena and equated it with the ‘third independence’? The first one was on August 15, 1947, and the second was the lifting of the emergency on March 21, 1977.
He pointed out that we need a Modi-mukt Bharat for his (Modi’s) government has failed on all counts and that it is dividing India in the name of religion. He even warned Hindus and Muslims to beware of the BJP’s election plans. He touched this topic because of prevailing anger against the Modi government in an effort to gather up all the disgruntled politicians.
Here, it would seem that the BJP’s move and dream of a Congress-mukt Bharat has turned on its face after four years of its rule. Even the Shiv Sena has predicted a drop in the BJP tally (by 110 seats in Lok Sabha) after the 2019 elections. Though the BJP claimed that the bypolls did not reflect the country’s mood, the party has lost as many as nine seats in the Lok Sabha, slashing its total to around 272, ever since PM Modi took over.