There are many disenchanted BJP supporters who keep on bitching about how disappointed they are with the party and its leadership and how they are not going to vote for them again. Here is an advice for the BJP and people support the party:
Most of the non-BJP parties ask for votes not on what they have done or what they are going to do, but to keep the BJP from coming to power. It is a negative strategy, but politically, for many it works. You don’t need to set any bar.
There is no confusion. There is no bickering about what is being achieved and what is not being achieved or how corrupt a particular party is or how divisive its tactics are. No such thing. There is only one, single agenda – don’t vote for the BJP.
It’s actually not a bad strategy. The electorate knows what needs to be achieved. It’s not about roads, it’s not about schools, it’s not about hospitals, it’s not about communal harmony, it’s not about law and order, it’s not about jobs or other civilizational needs.
Just focus on one thing: keep the BJP out.
This eliminates conflict many BJP supporters constantly go through. An average BJP supporter has a long list of expectations. Even if 50% of these expectations are not met, there is an overwhelming disappointment.
This is where the BJP needs to change its tactic. Instead of telling people we are going to do this and that, tell them that their single most agenda is to stop the non-BJP parties from coming to power. This immediately clears the confusion.
So, the next time someone says, “Oh, I’m so disappointed, I’m not going to vote for the BJP again,” ask him or her, “so you want this-that party come to power again? Just imagine what’s going to happen.”
Instead of chanting continuously “vote for us” tell people to “not to vote for them no matter what.”
It’s going to be tricky because this template is already being used by most of the non-BJP parties. As long as you can keep the BJP away, everything is fair game.
For these parties, there is no low or high bar. Lawlessness and all-around chaos are not an issue, as you can see the states of Maharashtra and West Bengal. As long as one single agenda is being met – stop the BJP – nothing is expected of you.
Mr.Hallan,I beg to differ from you on this issue almost completely.
In politics there are matters which are openly expressed and there are many more matters which are never openly talked about.But those issues which are not talked about should not be considered as non-existent or less important.The BJP's equation with the voting masses is one such issue.In 2004 elections, the ruling NDA alliance was unseated surprisingly despite it's impressive performance and almost zero scams.Inflation was kept minimal and the BJP trumpeted it's performance with the catch phrase-India Shining.And yet the BJP had been defeated even though not massively.Why?It was because the common man had nothing to cheer about.Whatever the common man had enjoyed during the previous Narasimha Rao government, had been eroded during the NDA rule.The Opposition and the hostile media had hailed the BJP defeat as the triumph of secularism and the voter's disenchantment with the BJP's communal politics, but they certainly knew the real reason behind the fall of the NDA government, and that is clearly evident from the slew of populistic measures brought in by the Manmohan Singh government, some of those were even atrocious.But the BJP is yet to learn it's lessons.The Modi government is even worse than the previous Vajpayee government on this score.But of course we cannot overlook Modi's success in achieving the second term in office through his sheer charisma and leadership.But that is no guarantee for his third term in office.That's the reason why the Opposition believes in just focusing on BJP's ouster rather than talking of genuine issues which are the forte of the BJP.They hope that 2004 would repeat itself at least belatedly.
We have got to admit that there is a chasm between performance of a government and the people being satisfied with the government.If the BJP supporters have decided not to vote for the BJP then surely that implies that the voters feel that that the BJP has failed to fulfil their expectations.So isn't that to be construed as a failure on the part of BJP even though it may have proved far superior than the Opposition on other fronts?I feel that this is the Achilles heel of the BJP which needs to be addressed.So Mr.Hallan, your advice to the BJP to concentrate on keeping the Opposition out would not work if the voter is in a sullen mood to walk into the polling booth.Issues such as advancement of cleanliness and hygiene, curbing of terrorism, national security and even clean government is liable to be overlooked by the voter if he feels that his personal issues and interests are being met with a cavalier attitude.That is why I am certain that the Opposition especially the Congress can still topple this government despite it's dismal past record and inept leadership.