IT was May 2004. In the power corridors of Delhi, even the whispers were loud—‘Will the Congress be able to form the government? Will it be stable enough to survive for five years?’ The numbers were telling difficult stories and the most common words discussed in middle-class drawing rooms and on television channels were—‘coalition dharma’ and ‘coalition compulsion’.
Debunking exit poll predictions, the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress managed to get 145 seats, but the BJP was not too far behind with 138 seats. However, what made the difference was the numbers of the alliance partners. With the RJD, the DMK and the Left on its side, the Congress-led UPA was all set to form the government but with a caveat: the ‘common minimum programme’.
It has been twenty years since. But history has repeated itself. If not literally, at least symbolically, there are a few uncanny similarities. As in 2004, this time too, the exit polls failed to predict the numbers. Interestingly, the BJP is banking on parties like the JD(U) and the TDP—the same parties that Atal Bihari Vajpayee tried to woo in 2004—to form the government.
Though the NDA has been in power since 2004, its allies never had much of a voice or the capacity to influence policy decisions. And whenever there was any discontent over any policy issue, the partners had no option but to part ways.
The first ally that the BJP lost even before the party came to power with Modi as the PM was Nitish Kumar. This was the beginning of Kumar’s many flip-flops. He opposed Modi’s selection as the Prime Ministerial candidate. However, later, he continued jumping boats until recently when he surprised everyone by re-joining the NDA amid speculation that he could be the potential face of the INDIA bloc.
Denne historien er fra June 21, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
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Denne historien er fra June 21, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
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Emergency, Stalled
Kangana Ranaut starrer, Emergency, the eagerly awaited biopic of 2024, is yet to find a release date. Bollywood has churned out a slew of biopics in the last decade, most of them formulaic
Political Dangal
After fighting hard for Olympic glory and protesting against sexual violence, Vinesh Phogat has now stepped into a new role: the politician
Contending Nationalisms
The Manipur crisis is a complex, interconnected mess that spills across several borders, national and international
God, Communism and a Women's Gym
Unlike other constituencies in the region, Kulgam stands out as a battleground for ideological conflict. The election results, expected on October 8, could lead to either celebration in the CPI M) camp or the Jamaat-e-Islami camp
The Darkest Hour
Qurban Ali is a senior journalist and son of former freedom fighter and Socialist leader Captain Abbas Ali, who was jailed for 19 months by the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency.
Chronicle of Authoritarianism Foretold?
Eternal vigilance on the part of citizens is imperative Eternal vigilance on the part of citizens is imperative
Blank Editorials
Despite being under scrutiny during the Emergency, small journals like Himmat Weekly got around censorship by taking calculated risks
To Write or Not to Write
For many journalists, reporting in the volatile decade of the 1970s was both exciting and challenging
Indira, the Nationalist
Indira Gandhi is dead and she cannot defend herself. But that doesn't mean others can't
Blue Star and the Golden Temple
Bhindranwale was able to get away with wrongdoings because in the eyes of the Congress leadership in Delhi, Punjab had a Sikh problem since Independence’