Modi sets up development vs corruption plank for 2019
To the many firsts to his credit, Narendra Modi might add another in 2019. He could be the first PM to seek a fresh mandate on the issue of corruption against opposition parties.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar gave it a bolster on Wednesday when he and Modi spoke in synchrony, virtually projecting the collapse of JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance as another manifestation of the PM’s war against corruption. The JD(U) leader had no compunction in joining hands with Lalu Prasad in 2014, a fodder scam convict even then.
For Kumar, his political somersault serves his immediate objective, that is to place him firmly in saddle with the Yadav family no longer pulling the reins. It might also mean an end to his prime ministerial ambition — howsoever putative — in 2019. But Kumar obviously read the writing on the wall. Or so his friends in political circles think.
For the BJP, the implications of Kumar’s return go beyond the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Even without him, the BJP and its allies had won 31 of them in 2014.
His entry into the NDA fold delivers a blow to the Congressled efforts to forge a Bihar-type grand alliance at the national level.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury’s tweets on Wednesday betrayed frustration. “A point to ponder. Bihar CM’s resignation at this moment, when atrocities against Dalits and minorities are rising across India, helps whom?” he asked.
He must have similar questions for his party comrades, too. At a time there are few listeners to the Left’s voice, Yechury has made it heard through his forceful interventions in Parliament. He looked set for another term in Rajya Sabha but the party’s central committee met on Tuesday to veto it. Reason: the Left can’t take Congress’ support for RS polls.
While comrades obviously did a favour to BJP, their stance vindicated the sceptics who see a national alliance as a non-starter. It has proved easier for BJP to shed its political untouchability than for Congress to emerge as the conscience-keeper of a motley group of parties whose genesis was in anti-Congressism.
Die-hard optimists in opposition camp, advocates of mahagathbandhan at national level, are not wrong about their arithmetic: 31% voters for Modi and 69% for others in 2014 LS elections.
But politics is about chemistry, too. If Kumar and Prasad couldn’t stick even with the glue of power, how will Mayawati and Akhilesh, Mamata and Yechury/Adhir Ranjan Choudhury or Arvind Kejriwal and Sheila Dikshit?
One hears clarion calls for parties to unite for the sake of secularism. But secular-versus-communal debates have gone in favour of BJP in the past few elections. In today’s context, the CBI, ED and income tax department might be more effective in making a mahagathbandhan a reality. If they stay on the heels of opposition leaders, they might see the need for an alliance — on ideological grounds — in 2019.
Modi has fixed 2022 for his ‘New India’ to realise its dreams. Busy with Hindutva-versus-secularism debate, opposition parties don’t seem inclined to talk about jobs, education, economy or foreign policy. Lest they should in 2019, BJP already has its plank ready: how can the corrupt ask questions about development?
Modi caught the opposition on the wrong foot in the rich-versuspoor fight through demonetisation. They might find themselves on the same side in a corruptionversus-development debate in 2019. The template has already been set in Bihar.