STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF OPPOSITION PARTIES

Why is it that the politicians are losing balance in the country and crossing all limits of decency while making public statements? In November, the Trinamool Congress leader (TMC) and West Bengal minister Akhil Giri made questionable remarks against the President of India Droupadi Murmu. The TMC leader faced strong criticism from BJP and even from his own party after he made comments about President Murmu’s appearance. Not only the minister, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also had to apologise for this.

After the major blow suffered by Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, the opposition, particularly the Congress, has come up with the ‘Bahana’ (alibi) that EVMs had failed. They did not stop there. One of the Congress leaders Bhai Jagtap commented, “EC is a dog sitting outside the PMs house.”

The Congress high command which waves a copy of the Constitution saying that they only can protect it did not apologise, nor did it pull up the leader who made such a comment. One of their spokespersons on TV said one should not take it literally and went on to question the surge in poll percentage after the time for polling was over. This despite the ECIs explanation a day earlier on why the percentage figures differ. What’s more, till Sunday Congress did not file any complaint with the ECI.

The Congress had no complaints about EVMs when it won the Karnataka elections. EVMs worked perfectly when they won the Telangana and recent Jharkhand elections. They also worked very well when the Congress won in Himachal Pradesh and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra got a record victory in Wayanad but the same EVMs have become villains in Haryana and Maharashtra polls. In April 2024, when the opposition raised the issue of malfunctioning of EVMs, the ECI in a written affidavit to the Supreme Court said that no mismatch had been detected ever between the votes counted in the Electronic Voting Machines and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail slips (VVPATs). It said that it matched the EVM votes with more than 4 crore VVPAT slips and no instance of mismatch was found. Still, the opposition is not willing to accept their failures.

Let us look at the political scenario in the two Telugu states. There is a lot of buzz in the BRS in Telangana and YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh that Jamili elections (One nation one election) would happen soon, and that they are going to be back in power anytime now. Who told them that elections will take place now? Are they fooling themselves or trying to fool the voters? There is no doubt, the BJP wants to get the bill on ‘One Nation One Election’ passed in the winter session of the Parliament. That does not mean that the elections would be held immediately. There is a long process before it can be implemented.

Moreover, if ‘one nation one election’ becomes a reality, it would be for 2029 elections. It is hard to believe that these political parties which swear to protect the Constitution do not know this reality. Apparently, they are trying to mislead their party rank and file and the people of the country.

But they should understand that the parties and the leaders cannot mislead the voters. They are much more intelligent and informed than political parties. The YSRCP and the BRS seem to be working in tandem. The YSRCP chief is even planning to go on district tours saying they are sure to be back in power very soon. It’s high time these leaders came out of dream land and worked for the welfare of the people. They should first learn to respect people’s verdict by attending the Assembly sessions.