In 2014, the BJP gave the Congress its worst defeat. A staggering 336 seats had been won by the National Democratic Alliance. As the 2019 General Election nears, we need to understand what the mood of the nation really is. To do this, on the 28th of January, the Youths’ Lens had a tete a tete with MLC Ashok Dhawan.
Mob lynching will inevitably play a very big role in the upcoming elections. The tenure of the BJP has been saturated by cases of mob lynching. People have lost trust in the entire justice system of the country and especially in the government. When asked a question on the cases of mob lynching, he responded by terming the incidents unfortunate and highly disturbing. He also mentioned the Anti-Sikh riots of 1984, where members of the Sikh community were massacred at the behest of the government, and that the riots were state-sponsored. He also talked of the Godhra Kand, where devotees were coming back and singing hymns and were burnt alive. He said that the incidents are results of resentment, for there has been so much appeasement and malfunction governance for the last sixty years. Mob lynching will certainly be a very big factor in the 2019 elections, but the BJP will ultimately change the narrative and move past it.
The BJP’S state in West Bengal is not so rosy, as it enjoys only a single MLA seat in the state, but the MLC is confident about winning atleast 22 out of the 42 seats. The law and order in the state is at its absolute lowest and that corruption and various anti-social elements have become commonplace, said Mr. Dhawan. The citizens are certainly looking forward to a better situation, and thus the BJP is getting traction there.
Recently, the BSP, the SP, and the RLD announced an alliance for the General Elections. The MLC says that is an alliance which has been created solely out of fear and is a mere survival tactic. The parties have no similarities in their thoughts, ideology or the roadmap they have for the future the country. During the last Lok Sabha elections, he said, Mayawati had zero seats and Akhilesh Yadav had five, and thus they were badly defeated. He believes that the alliance will ultimately prove to be inconsequential and will not affect the BJP. The party dreams of going forward winning 72 seats in the region.
Opposition parties have latched onto another topic, Electronic Voting Machines and have suggested the use of ballot papers. MLC Dhawan has strong faith in the EVMs and believes that they are highly scientific. The Election Commission had even invited all parties to come and try out the EVMs. Thus, whatever the opposition feels is wrong with the EVMs, they were allowed to test them for themselves. The EVM argument does not hold true.
Ram Mandir has defined Indian politics for time immemorial. MLC Dhawan believes that it is a matter of faith for 100 crore people and that it should be built as soon as possible. When it is finalized, he said, it will be magnificent.
Employment is another issue which needs to tackle. Modi ji’s policies, he says are expansive and are not just limited to the youth being able to hold jobs, rather being self- reliant. Policies like the Mudra loan have empowered the youth and have aided them in starting their own enterprise. The BJP government encourages self-employment, he says, and that each person provides jobs to 2-3 people. The future is bright and will see a huge spike in self-employment.
Finally, what will majorly define the upcoming election is the President of the Indian National Congress himself, Rahul Gandhi. The MLC says that the Congress has formed the government in the Hindi Heartland but that is only because they won more seats, meanwhile the BJP had a larger vote percentage. He is very positive that the upcoming elections will yield even more seats than in the past.
All these are the major factors which are going to define the upcoming elections. MLC Dhawan strongly believes that the BJP will win the elections and Modiji will again come back to power.
You have discussed the major factors that will define the 2019 elections. What is your opinion on anti-incumbency? Do you believe that it will play a role in 2019?