Lok Sabha Elections 2019: A Rhetorical War Of Hashtags, Slogans, And Allegations

The 2019 general election is going to be a watershed moment in the history of Indian Politics. From the blatant hashtag wars to the Opposition and one BJP MP, Sakshi Maharaj, claiming that if the BJP wins this election, they are going to do away with the Constitution and Democracy- a lot is at stake this summer. But, for the first time ever, there will be more women than men going out to vote. This is a change that had been longed for years. Although there still are more than 21 million women absent from the electoral roll, the political discourse, especially the Opposition’s, is subtly centering itself around women.

The Trinamool Congress is fielding 17 women candidates out of a total of 42- a whopping 41%. Navin Patnaik led Biju Janata Dal has vowed to give 33% of all tickets to women. The Indian National Congress has, on one hand, brought Priyanka Gandhi into active politics as a strong female face while on the other, Rahul Gandhi has promised to pass and implement the long pending Women’s Reservation Bill if his party is voted to power. In Uttar Pradesh, Dimple Yadav can be seen alongside Akhilesh Yadav in interviews and rallies. BSP stalwart Mayawati and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee are currently two of the strongest challenges to the ruling party. Unfortunately, this is the only good part about the upcoming elections. The rest is all gloomy.

In the interim budget presented to the Parliament in February 2019, the BJP-led NDA government announced the PM KISAN Yojana under which Rs. 6000 would be directly transferred into the bank accounts of farmers having less than 2 hectares of land. This would be paid in three equal installments of Rs. 2000 each and the Modi brigade has very cunningly backdated the scheme to 2018 so that the first installment could be transferred in March, just before the elections. The second installment too would be transferred in April while the elections would be going on. This clearly reflects the motive behind the scheme and the inability of the Indian political system in general and the Election Commission, in particular, to keep a check on the malpractices during elections.

On March 16, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister, Manish Sisodia, sat on a protest outside Election Commission’s Office against continuing raids by the Delhi Police on the call centers hired by the Aam Aadmi Party for the nearing elections. They allege that the Delhi Police is working under directions from the BJP and they have a history to support their claim. During the Budget Session, within a day, both Houses of the Parliament passed the 103rd Amendment giving out 10% reservations to the Economically Weaker Upper Caste population. On paper, the move does sound good but the eligibility for reservation is an annual family income of less than eight lakhs or 66,000 per month which basically includes almost all of India.

What is frightening is that it took hours and days of discussion and debate to lend out reservations for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe, almost 43 years of demand and debate by the OBCs before extending the reservation to them in 1990, it took only a few hours to introduce, discuss, debate, vote, and pass the EWS reservation in both Houses of the Parliament. Not once did the government consider that it is not only violating the permissible ceiling of 50% reservation but is also defying the Supreme Court which on two previous occasions has ruled out the idea of exceeding this limit.

This clearly was a desperate attempt by the BJP to woo the Upper Caste votes who were not very happy with the party as is evident in the results of the recently concluded State Election of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram. The BJP here was in a dilemma because on one hand, the Dalits accused it of diluting the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities Act and of mob lynchings, on the other, the Upper Caste accused it of favoring the lower castes (and of course, for not constructing the promised Ram Mandir). Nevertheless, the Upper Caste got itself 10% reservation while five lower caste workers got their feet washed by the Prime Minister during the Kumbh Mela. While all of us awed at the way BJP was laying out its cards before the elections, the masterstroke was yet to come- Balakot.

On Valentine’s Day, an SUV laden with 350 kgs of RDX driven by a 20-year-old militant crashed into a CRPF convoy heading Srinagar from Jammu. 40 soldiers were martyred and Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan based terrorist organization, claimed the responsibility for carrying out the attacks. India was enraged. A wave of nationalism and hatred for Pakistan swept through Prime Times, streets, social media and where not. Less than two weeks later, India retaliated by carrying out air strikes on the base camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Balakot, Pakistan. This was the first time Indian Air Force had crossed the LOC after 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Pakistan claimed no casualties but the Indian media, especially the mighty Arnab Goswami, showed figures as high as 400. Two days later, Pakistan was on the offensive having entered Indian territory and in the counter strike one of IAF’s Wing Commander, Abhinandan, landed in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir after evicting.

Preventing a near war-like situation, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the return of Wing Commander Abhinandan as a gesture of peace. He certainly took the moral high ground. Wing Commander Abhinandan came back while the whole nation saw his injured face and videos of him praising the Pakistan Army. It was a win for both countries as India proved that it could enter into Pakistan and Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister proved his commitment to Naya Pakistan. But, what followed is not only shameful but also a new low in Indian Politics. Former Prime Minister and BJP’s mightiest figure, Atal Bihari Vajpayee never used the Kargil conflict for votes but shamelessly, his successors are doing the exact opposite in the name of Pulwama and Balakot.

In Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, just like the rest of India, posters were put up within a week showing Wing Commander Abhinandan and PM Modi in the same frame. While Indian National Congress and other opposition parties called off election rallies and meetings in solidarity, Prime Minister Modi did not! He not only conducted rallies on the day of strikes but also organized events like Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot. The Prime Minister did not brief the media about the escalating tension with the neighbor but BJP Leader Narendra Modi did hold a rally, thereby forcing the country and the world to listen to his political speeches for a statement on the issue. Later on, in one of his rallies, he even had the pictures of the 40 martyred soldiers in the backdrop. Who gave a political party the right to use martyred soldiers for their political benefits?

BJP Leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa said that the party can now expect to win 22 out of 28 seats in the state since the airstrikes have helped the BJP. In one rally, BJP President Amit Shah thundered that his party isn’t Congress and hence they’ll take strict action against Pakistan. At the India Today Conclave, PM Modi said that had there been Rafale Jets, the result of the air strikes would have been different. The Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, accepted that the air strikes have created an atmosphere in favor of the BJP. All of this has set the ground for the issues on which the upcoming election would be fought.

Nationalism- be it through movies like Uri and the Accidental Prime Minister or through leaders like Manoj Tiwari wearing camouflage in party rallies- is the issue on which the election would be fought. It had taken almost two years for a novice like Rahul Gandhi to bring issues like corruption in the Rafale Deal, unemployment being at a 45 year old high, agrarian distress for which farmers have staged numerous protests in the last year, women’s security especially after the #metoo campaign in which one Minister of the NDA Government, M J Akbar, was accused of sexual harassment by various women and rapes in Kathua and Unnao, where BJP Ministers were either the main accused or held rallies in support of the accused, and the barbarian cow vigilantism and mob lynchings. In the wave of nationalism, none of these issues seem to hold the ground now.

The failure of Congress to stitch together a Grand Alliance of the anti-BJP parties has proved that the party isn’t as persuasive as the BJP. Less than four weeks into election, the Congress is yet to form an alliance with the AAP in Delhi, lost the opportunity to come together with the SP, BSP, and the TMC, and is still bargaining seats for itself with the RJD, Jeetan Ram Manjhi, and the CPI(M) in Bihar. Priyanka Gandhi’s recent visit to Bhim Army leader Chandrashekhar has further enraged the BSP. Rahul Gandhi’s #ChowkidarChorHai has been answered by PM Modi’s #MainBhiChowkidar. Almost all BJP leaders have added Chowkidar before their names on Twitter. (It’d be interesting to see if the prefix remains even after elections)

The BJP, at least, has a slogan ready: Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai! Their initial slogan, Ajay Bharat, Atal BJP, coined after Vajpayee’s death is not heard anywhere now. The Congress is yet to come up with one for itself. People have forgotten the disastrous ‘demonetization’ where more than 100 lost their lives in queues outside ATMs. Nobody remembers the rising fuel prices anymore nor do they care about Cobrapost Sting Operations or frauds like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi because the ‘event manager’ Modi has managed the event better than all of the Opposition combined. The death of former Minister of Defence and Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, has further added to the chances of NDA winning the elections.  The writing on the wall is very clear but even if the NDA falls short of the 272 marks, the Opposition does not have a face for consensus building. Who knows, in such a situation, Nitin Gadkari could be our next Prime Minister!