New Delhi: As results of Gujarat Assembly elections came in, it was clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 41 rallies in the state notwithstanding, the party was home, but only just. The BJP’s yet another win in the state, where it had won five consecutive elections, was dubbed a ‘face-saver’ by the opposition.
“The Gujarat assembly election results show that the BJP has nothing much to celebrate. Although it has got a majority to form the government, it has got the lowest number of seats in the last two decades,” said a statement by the CPI(M).
Asked why a sixth consecutive win must not be seen as an achievement, the party’s polit bureau member and former general secretary Prakash Karat said, “BJP president Amit Shah had claimed that they would get 150 seats. They did not even get 100. Their fall in seat numbers indicates a strong discontent against the party.”
The Left party also emphasised the lack of a ‘credible opposition’ with an ‘alternative programme’ – a charge that sees validation in the fact that 5.5 lakh people preferred to vote ‘NOTA’.
When asked why the Congress with Rahul Gandhi at the helm and Jignesh Mevani, Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakore on board was not the ‘credible option’, Karat said, “The people must be convinced that there is a credible alternative to the BJP. That will only be reflected in the policies and programmes that you put out.”
The CPI(M) which has, for now, ruled out any electoral alliance with the Congress does see merit in any broad issue based alliance that could pose a challenge to the Modi juggernaut in 2019. “There are many assembly elections before 2019. I am sure that in the coming elections (many of the BJP ruled states, i.e. Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh), the opposition has a very good opportunity to put forth a credible programme and rally the widest forces to defeat the BJP,” said Karat.
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