This week in Focus: Opposition’s EVM rhetoric takes flight only to crash in few hours; immunising country for mass hysteria

After suffering a humiliating defeat in Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi is yet to emerge from the trauma. The biggest bearing has been on the Shiv Sena (UBT) – the shoulder from which the Mahayuti was attacked and in fact, it was pretty sure to them that the Thakeray father-son duo will be crowned to the highest posts in the state. But the dreams have shattered and as there is no recourse, the directionless politics of theirs is ready to devastate the interests of the entire state. 

After the special session of the Maharashtra Assembly commenced, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray boycotted the oath taking ceremony stating that the mandate was not given to Mahayuti by people and it was a stolen mandate through EVMs and Election Commission. For an entire day, he maintained that hence no UBT MLA will take oath and created a hue and cry. However, in an ironic and ignominious U-turn he not only took the oath of MLA, strikingly he did it on SUNDAY. 

If his earlier stance is understood carefully, the UBT faction leader intended to convey that the people didn’t vote for Mahayuti and that EC was accomplice in turning the mandate. To back his argument, he had stated that if people had voted for the BJP, they would have been rejoicing which they are not. 

The remarks brazenly overlooks reality but since it comes from an elected MLA, it is necessary to bust this canard.

The UBT faction must enlighten the nation: when have they ever seen an entire state or a broad base of the electorate take to the streets to celebrate a political party’s victory? For ordinary citizens, life moves on with only minor changes—improvements or otherwise—apart from the actions of political parties and their supporters. However, it cannot be denied that a travesty of the people’s mandate would encounter a fierce pushback, one so palpable that no government or administrative force could suppress it. 

All that ordinary citizens can currently witness are the false-flag cries of the opposition and their ecosystem, which have taken their defeat in bad taste.

Moreover, going by the logic furthered by the UBT faction leader, when Pankaja Munde lost Lok Sabha elections in Beed constituency this year, many people committed suicide. Does it mean that her Lok Sabha result was manipulated by MVA using long established connections of Pawar? 

Besides, what the opposition leader said is a crude attempt to cast a pall on Indian democracy without any concrete evidence, a brazen attempt that warrants legal action for trying to sow deep distrust and fan mass anti-democracy hysteria. 

It is an undeniable fact that on multiple occasions, the EC has called the opposition parties, their leaders and subject matter experts alleging foul play to prove how EVMs can be rigged. But why did no one show interest in going to the EC office and prove the merit in their case? Is all the theatrics only limited for befooling common people? 

It has become a fashion for the opposition to question the authenticity of any institution when they do not get what they want. For them the BJP is so powerful that it is controlling every District Magistrate and every poll officer at booth level, remember what Congress General Secretary Communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh had alleged a day before the Lok Sabha and failed to corroborate on EC’s response. 

Nonetheless, is it even possible that ALL the DMs would comprise that too in favour of one political party? Are they government officials or members of a polit bureau? 

With this election, the opposition also crossed a line which a sensible person would fear. Their leaders have time and again suggested that in the areas where they won EVMs were good but the areas where BJP won, the EVMs were manipulated. So basically to prove to them that the EVMs are efficiently working, they want the EC to side with them and give them all the seats. 

Is the democracy they want? Besides, they also pitch for conducting polls through ballot papers. There is no century-old history when the ballot boxes were looted in many parts of India. In fact, when the ballot papers were used, leaders like Lalu Yadav, Sharad Pawar and others gained ground. So, it would not be wrong to say that these leaders may have become stalwarts by using such filthy booth capturing tactics during their times. Will the leftist and darbari Congress ecosystem admit this assertion?

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Their statement must also be seen into the light of what they may want to do now? After the Lok Sabha hiccup, BJP has emerged stronger. And that is the reason, every institution is being openly challenged. They want to create a narrative that since there is no recourse, people will have to come on streets. Recall what Yogendra Yadav had said. He called upon the people to come to the streets because according to him the Republic was in danger and it could never be saved from inside the Parliament. 

The intention of the ecosystem is clear, if they can’t win a battle legally they would paint the authentic system as autocratic and devastate the fabric of the very democracy they pretend to protect. 

What Aditya Thackeray has said was more clearly iterated by Rahul Gandhi prior to Lok Sabha elections. Addressing an INDI bloc rally in Ram Lila Maidan in Delhi in March, the Gandhi scion had said, “If BJP wins these fixed elections, and changes the Constitution, the country will be on fire. Remember this.”

The question here is who will prove that the polls are fixed? Gandhi’s brazen and provocative remarks would have ignited massive outrage in any other country but not in India still India’s democracy is in danger! 

Nevertheless, the results came and the BJP won but not even a single case of untoward incident came to light from the country, except in Islamo-leftist bastions and West Bengal. 

Can one conclude why? Because what the Congressi ecosystem had meant was that if  the BJP managed to pull what it was claiming ‘400 paar’, it meant that the people did not trust him and he couldn’t come to power again, so they would destroy India instead. 

But since the numbers of the BJP reduced significantly, the all-set Congressi arsonist ecosystem pulled back. Otherwise, if all it was suggesting was boil in the country, how is it possible that the BJP formed the govt for a third time and no boil erupted, unless they were the one who had the trigger. 

Electing BJP or not is entirely an option for the electors, but what faith these opposition leaders have in India’s political system leaves no room for doubt that they don’t care about the country, all they care is power and the sad part is that the cost is borne by the people of India as there is no concept of accountability and heads rolling for making wild anti-democratic remarks with impunity.