The Pegasus issue may have rocked the monsoon session of Parliament with the Congress-led Opposition making it the top point of outrage but the issue is not expected to have resonance among the wider masses in the country outside Delhi, and in fact, may fall flat as a poll plank if it is made one.
There is a grudging realization of the same among most opposition parties of the heartland and even within the Congress as they feel that Pegasus issue has a very limited political utility because the majority of the countrymen do not even understand what the fuss is all about, and if it impacts them at all. For example, will a rural voter in Uttar Pradesh be bothered about Pegasus when he votes after six months in the most crucial polls ahead of the 2024 general elections?
This explains why the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in UP have not gone beyond customary statements on the Pegasus issue, knowing the challenges of making an average voter relate to the Pegasus revelations. Some Congress leaders are also of the view that a survey be done to ascertain the impact of the Pegasus as a political issue rather than keep flogging the horse, which may be a dead one.
The farmers’ protests on the borders of Delhi is the other major issue that dominated the Parliament session but the jury is out whether this issue too resonates beyond Punjab and Haryana, and perhaps some parts of western Uttar Pradesh.
The low procurement price of sugarcane is in fact a bigger election issue in western UP than the Rakesh Tikait-led farmer agitation at the Delhi-UP border. The farmer issue will dominate the Punjab elections but BJP is hardly in the race there and there is no spectre of opposition unity too emerging from the Punjab battle as the Congress, the Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party are bitterly trying to trump each other.
The issue that affects the common man more and may become a talking point in the upcoming state elections is the high fuel and LPG prices, that have affected the household budgets of almost every person.
Rahul Gandhi did take out a cycle rally to Parliament on the issue of high fuel and LPG prices, after driving a tractor to Parliament in support of the farmers. The Congress has been raising this on various platforms. This issue, however, may occupy paramount mind space of a voter rather than the Pegasus or farmers’ issue and the Opposition could do better by giving it far more prominence to take on the BJP.
Mamata Banerjee cited the high fuel and LPG prices in the West Bengal campaign to good impact. The BJP has tried to counter the argument saying oil marketing companies are free to determine prices and the government has no role but that has hardly cut any ice among people who have seen through it. Fuel prices remain static during polls but people are now coughing up much more; a litre of petrol is above Rs 100 in some cities while LPG cylinders cost nearly Rs 850 or above.
The BJP government has justified the high central excise duties on fuel, saying the same is being used for welfare schemes and the free COVID-19 vaccination drive and put the onus on states to reduce VAT on fuel. But the issue remains a sore point for the common man amidst impact of the COVID pandemic and the perception that it is the Centre that is responsible for high fuel and LPG prices in the country.
In 2019, the Congress had similarly placed bet on the wrong horse, the Rafale purchase, to attack the Narendra Modi government on the issue of corruption and in the end it fell flat. For the common man, it is always the bread and butter issue that resonates more. As the famous lines go: Aur Bhi Gam Hain Zamane Mein (There’s more pain in the world).
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