The politicians in any country are well aware that politics is a ‘zero-sum game’. Zero-sum means “I win, you lose.” It means “win at all costs” and “there is no space for you.” Given the fact most of the countries follow ‘first past the post’ electoral system, every vote counts; because a single vote could cost you the particular seat and therefore the government. The Indian people are very good at performing in the environment of ‘cut-throat competition’. Indian ex-pats in the United States and the United Kingdom are the best example of this unique Indian quality. The Indian politics is among the few fields where there is a fair and open competition, except for a few reserved seats. Therefore, the politics of the country is chaotic and interesting. The beauty of the competitiveness of Indian politics was at display in Maharashtra.
The voters in the state had given a clear verdict, in favour of Mahayuti (BJP-Shiv Sena alliance), but Shiv Sena chose to betray the saffron party and end the three decades alliance. One can argue about the immorality of Shiv Sena’s decision but at the end of the day what matters is- legality, not immorality. BJP did the same to Shiv Sena or any other party whenever it had ‘chance and opportunity’.
The only morality of politics is- power through any legal means. In order to grab power, Shiv Sena allied with the parties like NCP and Congress, to whom it fought throughout its political existence. RJD and JD(U)- the arch-rivals of Bihar politics, whose cadres murdered each other, allied in the 2015 assembly election with the aim to defeat BJP.
A few years ago, BJP itself allied with People’s Democratic Party (a party with soft secessionist stance) in Kashmir in order to come to power. Both parties are on the opposite end of the political spectrum, one supports secessionist movements and asks for maximum autonomy, while the other fully integrated the state in India a few months ago.
Subramanian Swamy, a veteran politician with more than five decades of political experience, has repeatedly said that the ultimate goal of the politics is to win power. Because, one can make the desired changes in the polity of the country, only through the constitutionally designated post, which can be won through elections.
In Maharashtra, after Shiv Sena ditched BJP by making illegitimate demands, BJP was left with no options but to break NCP. BJP is the single largest party with 105 seats; its electoral performance was exceptional at 70 per cent strike rate, but the party could not form a government without an alliance, given the fact 145 seats are needed for a majority.
Shiv Sena, with 45 per cent strike-rate and 56 seats in Maharashtra, was asking for CM chair for half term. BJP is not ready to concede CM post and therefore the Shiv Sena option was closed and there is no chance of going with Congress. The only option BJP was left with was to go with NCP and therefore the party allied with Shiv Sena and made Ajit Pawar deputy chief minister.
After the alliance fell apart, as the NCP MLAs chose to remain loyal to Sharad Pawar faction, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar resigned.
As it became clear that Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance is going to form the government and BJP is out of the race, at least for now, many neo-right wingers started criticizing the party’s decision to ally with Ajit Pawar’s faction of NCP.
There is a series of political commentary on Twitter on why BJP’s alliance with NCP was ‘unnatural’, immoral’ and some even pointed out that ‘unconstitutional’. Some seasoned political commentators like Prashant Bhushan asked for the resignation of Kovind, Modi, Shah and Koshiyari.
If there was any ethics in public life, not only Fadnavis, but RSS man Koshiyari & Kovind along with Amit Shah&Modi should resign after this brazen power grab&Maha fiasco. If there was any ethics in media, those who called this masterstroke or chanakya politics should also resign
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) November 26, 2019
Apparently Ajit Pawar has been given a big offer by NCP-Sena-Cong. The only loser here is BJP. It has lost the moral high ground. No more victim #FloorTest
— Manak Gupta (@manakgupta) November 26, 2019
Many journalists, political pundits and analysts claimed that BJP has lost the ‘moral high ground’ after an alliance with NCP, which PM Modi termed as Naturally Corrupt Party. But, the question arises that when was the last time when people voted a party for taking ‘moral high ground’.
The reality of Indian politics is- people vote on their caste, clan and ethnic loyalties, at least in ‘assembly elections’. Despite billions of dollars scam by NCP, the people of Maharashtra have repeatedly voted for the party in assembly elections.
BJP’s attempt to make the government was legal, even if people call it immoral. As the only morality of the politics is- to grab power through any legal means, the BJP’s attempt completely justified and the party leaders needs to be applauded for fighting till last breath.