Confused Indian Voter

I am confused.

I am confused because this is the election year and by this time everyone should be clear in his/her mind about whom are they going to vote for, the ruling party or the opposition. But I haven’t been able to decide. During the 2014 General Elections in India, I was pretty sure about my choice for my vote. There was a tsunami by the name of Narendra Modi in all one India and the ruling alliance was in tatters. Corrupt or not, but the mood of the nation reflected that people wanted a change and they wanted Narendra Modi. I too was swept off in this tsunami like a blade of grass and voted for BJP. And when the BJP came to power with a thumping majority, it felt like I have become the Prime Minister of the country.

But when I looked at the formation of the cabinet, the first jinx in the armor of BJP came into view. They lacked experienced and eligible faces for even the most important portfolios like Defence. Arun Jaitley was burdened with two key portfolios, Finance and Defence, when each one required dedicated minister, as the economy was slowing down and Defence needed immediate upgradation as a result of over cautious approach of the UPA II government. BJP’s top brass had to summon the leaders from the state units to handle portfolios at the centre, which left the state units headless. But that was just the first of the issues and like everyone, I presumed that these things don’t matter.

BJP won elections after elections in the states and coined the slogan of “Congress Mukt Bharat.” It gave a sense of invincibility to the aura of Narendra Modi and like most of the Indians I was hooked to him and looked at him as our savior. 

Then came the Demonetisation. On November 8, 2016, Narendra Modi announced the demonetization of 500 and 1000 bank notes. He declared that this was being done to put a curb on the black money in the economy and although the common man may have to suffer for some time, it was for the good of the country as the black money recovered would be used to develop the nation. There were long queues outside the banks, and a lot of people suffered. But most of us were still wearing a smile on the face as we believed that this is a small price to pay for the future development of the country. But within a few days, the narrative of the government changed from Black Money to Digitisation of the Economy and the Payment methods. I was confused, not sure what I am suffering for and what was I contributing to, curbing the black money or increasing the share price of PayTm. Although it did plug the terrorist activities in the country, but only for a short period of time. On August 30, 2018, RBI told the media that 99.30% of demonetized currency had returned to the banking system leaving a partly 10,720 crores in the system. I, like a big section of the citizens, was surprised to hear that but by that, but by then BJP had won the state of UP by a thumping majority.

Then the rushed the GST and implemented it before running a trial, just to coincide it with the Mahatma Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary. It led to a lot of distress among the trading community, so as I have been asked to believe. As a consumer living in urban India and belonging to the Middle class, most of us do not so much care about the amount of tax on our shopping bill. And moreover, GST was the need of the hour. But even then it almost cost BJP the election victory in Gujrat.

Then as the General Elections drew near, the opposition parties and the media houses started coming up with the big data on Job Creation and Farmer distress. It came to our attention that the situation of the farmers in India is really bad and they are reeling under the pain caused by huge farm debts, monsoon failures and non-existent MSP for their crops. I also came to know that Modi government had failed to live up to its promise of providing 2 crore jobs every year and instead the job creation figures were around 7.5 million jobs per year under his regime. Although big issues, but on the risk of sounding like a hypocrite and pseudo-nationalist, I would say that these issues do not culminate into election issues for me as neither I am a farmer nor I am unemployed or have anyone at home who needs a job. And I am speaking it on behalf of most of the urban population in the country. But yes, these are big issues for the people who are facing them. And these issues can wreak havoc for the plans of a second term for Modi and his government. 

Now I am going to list the issues that really alienated me from the BJP in the last 5 years.

1. BJP becoming the Version 2.0 of Congress

Everyone who has seen the rule of Congress in India would have at one point or another felt resentment at the centralization of power in the hands of Gandhi Nehru family. This was a major reason for the election debacles of Congress party since 2014, as the leadership was not allowed to flourish at the state levels. I see the same thing happening with the BJP now, with the power centralized between Modi and Shah. One runs the government at all levels and the other runs the party at all levels. The second line of BJP is almost invisible. There is no leader in sight who can take up the mantle after Modi. The current dynamic doesn’t allow for any leadership development in the BJP to challenge the powerful duo of Modi-Shah. Whatever they do at the party level is their business. But what they do at the government level is everyone’s business. Modi may be a very charismatic and a very able administrator, but running a government of a country the size of India, is a big ask and that requires an efficient team of ministers who are allowed to function with freedom with a system of performance analysis in place. And Modi has failed in this area. Every person in India knows that PMO controls the Home and External Affairs and all the important decisions in any of the Ministry need to have a stamp of PMO. It’s like we are looking into the past and the future at the same time. Congress’ Past is BJP’s Future.

2. What’s new with BJP?

BJP won the 2014 general elections on its own and on the strength of its cadre.  But since then in all the subsequent elections it has been poaching the leaders of opposition parties into its fold to win the elections. It seems that the only motive of the BJP was to eradicate the Congress’ imprint from the country. They created an image of a power hungry party, that was no different from any other party in India.

3. Who really decides the price of fuel in this country?

BJP minister, K Alphons stated that if the middle class can afford to buy a car, they should be willing to shell out money for the hike in fuel cost. I have just some questions for him. Why is the government always gunning for the Middle class? We pay income tax, then we pay the high price for fuel for not just running our cars but also in the form of high prices of essential items because of high transportation costs for them. And if the fuel price increase can be put on hold till the Karnataka elections are over, then why can’t it be put on hold to ease the burden of the middle class.

4. Is that really inclusive governance?

Modi and BJP came to power with a promise of inclusive growth for everyone. But as soon as they faced their first election setback in Bihar, they went back to the tried and tested vote bank politics. Policies for farmers, politics on the basis of caste and class. Somewhere in between, they forgot about the middle class the real cog in the wheel of Indian economy. A tax relief here and there is not all we are looking for. The middle class aspires better standards of living through better law and order situation, better access to consumer benefits and power to choose the better lifestyle for themselves.

5. Is cow slaughter and beef ban more important than feeding the hungry?

Modi’s long silences and BJP’s inactions against the lynching of people accused of cow slaughter and focus on beef bans have diverted precious time and resources away from the development programmes. All these are vote bank issues and no one really cares about them. But BJP gave it too much importance and cost of human life was made into a joke.

So, blame me all you want but I am a little disillusioned with Modi and the BJP after 5 years in power. I am unable to raise a pitch for them in the upcoming elections. 

I would like to thank all the opposition parties in India, their supporters and the media houses who have done a marvelous job at highlighting the failures of BJP and the Modi’s government at the centre. I have been to the websites of most of the parties in India and have been reading about the speeches made at the rallies by their leaders. They all have highlighted the issues of farmers’ distress in India, rising unemployment, slowing economy etc. It has really opened my eyes towards the shortcomings of the Modi government.

But one thing every website, every speech and every leader of the opposition party is silent on is; What is the answer to these problems? What do they intend to do if we were to elect them to power? I am yet to hear a single word from any leader from any party about the solution to these problems that plague this country. It seems that their only solution is to remove BJP from the power and every problem would find a solution for itself on its own. Most of the opposition parties also fail to clear their stance on the national security and the situation in Kashmir, especially Congress. It has been proven that the Separatists are the traitors living in our country, but opposition parties still want to engage them into talks.

So, I do not want to vote for BJP because it has failed us on many fronts and has cheated us too on many issues.

I also do not want to vote for Opposition because they do not have answers and no clear stands on a variety of issues.

If I do not vote at all, I’ll be wasting my vote and would indulge in a crime against democracy.

So, I am confused.