Bengal election is bringing unexplained joy to me. As a long term BJP supporter, I am a bit messed up in my emotions.
India has never been such a land of contrast and in-consistencies as it is today. There is a raging pandemic all around, while there is swarm of humanity flocking around electioneering leaders in state and local government elections. While on one hand there are long queues of corpses outside crematoriums and cemeteries, there are herds of hermits congregating for religious festivals. All of this happens while governments keep mandating rules of social distancing and face masking.
The government professes itself to be for the poor and by the poor and the same government evacuates thousands of people from pandemic infested Wuhan in China. The government forgets the difference between an evacuation from war torn country and an evacuation from a disease infested country. No country does an evacuation of handful of its citizens at the cost of entire population. Some of the reasons of spread of virus in India were also these flights which brought infected citizens from overseas – some of whom were able to sneak into the population due to poorly controlled quarantine system. The irony does not stop here. The same government brands these flights as “bande bharat” flights and creates an euphoria of nationalism – and; alas !!! the entire country applauds the efforts. What a contrast !!
So, what has these things related to my unexplained joy at Bengal election results? May be, I am also inconsistent in my thoughts, coming from the same stock of humanity. But, when I introspect a bit deeper, I realize that the Bengal election has given this BJP government at the centre a dipstick test of how far it is from loosing its credibility with the people completely. This is my government and I had supported and voted for this government. I still feel that the ideologies and policies of this party is best suited for the country; but, as they say, ” Power distorts and absolute Power distorts completely”. This government was getting distorted from its agenda. This was becoming too power hungry and away from the realities and pains of people. This was all because there is no credible opposition and it needed one for sure. Bengal election has given this government an opposition.
In last one year the government at the centre has lost lot of credibility. There was a day when the PM was treated as supreme leader of the country and at one single call the entire country did ” Tali and Thali and Deepawali”. That credibility is simply missing and if the PM were to raise any such slogan today, I am sure, that will bring out the hard truth. This Bengal election is a wake up call for the PM who thought, he should destroy all opposition from the country to rule un-hindered. This is one part of explanation to the joy that I am feeling from the results. The other part is my long term RSS association which clearly puts national interest at the top. At this time, when entire world is fighting a war against the un-known, you should not have raised an internal war of democracy. These elections could be postponed for 6 months to a year under the constitutional provisions. Focus on getting the mass vaccination come to a conclusion and then go for all kinds of elections. There was no hurry for these elections to be conducted. Please do not tell me that it was Election Commission.
I hope my prime minister has introspected now and is ready to do a course correction. The country still has a lot of faith on him – however the blind following would have definitely gone down. Please remember, Mr PM, every death in the country is being attributed or linked to your actions and your in-actions. So both in actions or in in-action, you are the people’s Messiah against this virus. Their joys are attributed to you as much as their pains – and at this time, the pain is much more than their pleasure.
Much is not lost yet. The PM has to figure out how to re-gain that confidence with the people. One of the immediate step in that direction can be to establish some accountability with people. His lieutenants have failed in assessing the situation and have misguided him. There is a need to establish responsibility and actions need to be taken.
In conclusion, I want to make one comment. This raging pandemic is like goddess Kali – enraged and angry. She always needs a sacrifice to calm down. This time also, she is asking for the sacrifice. Hello My PM; you have to decide, who is that sacrifice – otherwise you are going to be the sacrifice.