Sushil Kutty
The ‘mahagathbandhan’ is in place. There is also the ‘gathbandhan’. And don’t forget the ‘federal front’. The first and third overlap, they say. The question then is ‘What now?’ Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati, if one is ambition, the other is Mayavi. The day Brigade Ground in Kolkata paraded opposition to Narendra Modi, what did not go amiss was who among the leaders of the opposition parties is top-gun, if using the term ‘PM Face’ is politically incorrect in this context.
Why are opposition parties unable to decide on a ‘PM Face’? Will Mayawati, Mamata and Rahul Gandhi sit down and announce the MGB’s ‘PM Face’? The NDA has Modi. What does MGB have? The MGB should bother about the perception coalescing in the voter’s mind: The ‘aam’ voter is talking of spreading a “durry” on the Brigade Ground stage to seat the ambitions of all opposition leaders who harbour the desire to replace Narendra Modi.
MGB parties should not forget that they have to oust Modi from the voters’ mind to win. And they might do that if they come clean on who will be Prime Minister from MGB. A clear choice will cut through the floss in the voters’ mind. Surely, that will make it ‘presidential’, but let’s be fair; that is what the voters believe it is – Presidential! General elections 2019, believe it or not, is between two wannabe prime ministers. NDA has advantage. The voter sees an MGB divided.
Mayawati thinks 38 BSP Members of Parliament will make her PM; Mamata Banerjee believes 30-40 seats will be enough to stick a knife in Mayawati’s fantasy. The way Mamata covered the stage on Brigade Ground left no doubts. She was compere as well as ‘Candidate PM’. Every opposition leader and Shatrughan Sinha thought so. At presser post-show of strength on stage, Mamata called the questions and it was clear she was one with the crest.
But why not declare that Mamata is ‘PM Face’ of MGB? Mayawati lost a chance. She could have called all opposition parties to Lucknow and announced SP-BSP gathbandhan in UP, urging the rest of the regional parties in the MGB to stitch similar gathbandhans in their own bailiwicks, so that the contest in each seat becomes bipolar and voters have a clear choice: BJP nominee versus MGB contestant. The original idea was that; but does the sentiment still hold?
If BSP is given a seat in Karnataka or Chhattisgarh by MGB, will there be a one-on-one BJP-MGB contest? Will Congress votes in that constituency transfer to BSP candidate? It’s fait accompli that Congress will contest against Trinamool in West Bengal. Where does that leave the MGB? Is the Congress in the MGB, is there an MGB or is it just talk and media muffling?
And there is a growing tribe of voters who NOTAed in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. A two-candidate election will not NOTA. Every constituency should have a one-on-one contest for the electorate to not NOTA. The option NOTA is evidence of disapproval, despair and disgust at the whole electoral process. The only clear choice before the electorate this general elections is Narendra Modi.
The only opposition leader who said he wants to be Prime Minister is Rahul Gandhi. So far neither Mayawati nor Mamata Banerjee has said ‘Bollocks’ to Rahul. But their actions speaks volumes of what they think of “Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi”. The only politician who took the name of Rahul Gandhi at Brigade Ground Kolkata was Shatrughan Sinha and he is Shotgun villain in the BJP. Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie do not count. They rebelled for not being made ministers.
Voters may have whoever in mind but constituents of the so-called MGB are talking of the return of coalition government, debating UPA-1 and UPA-2, discussing Vajpayee’s coalition government and the ones of Devegowda and IK Gujral. The conclusion arrived was that only a Coalition Government led by a national party with more seats than the rest in the coalition stands the test and runs the gamut, Devegowda and Gujral and Chandrashekhar and Charan Singh were not in such a class in school.
But what is the voter asking, does the electorate fancy a Coalition Government? The majority of the electorate has identified regional caste-based parties as the villain. The ‘youth-voter’ is shedding the caste tag. It happened in 2014 and in 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The opposition while going gaga on the MGB should not forget that the BJP was single-largest party in the Karnataka elections and snapping at Congress heals in terms of voter share in MP and Rajasthan.
Also, national issues decide outcome in general elections, not anti-incumbency in three states. The MGB thinks 31% versus 69% votes in 2014 will repeat in 2019 and the 69% will vote MGB. Ha! It should know that voter-turnout in 2014 was 55%, which means 45% of voters sat home and thought NOTA. Only 24% voted for opposition candidates. Why did 45% not vote? That is the question. It could be because there wasn’t an opposition prime ministerial candidate in 2014. Who is MGB’s ‘PM Face’ in 2019 is the most important factor in GE 2019. (IPA)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel
