Edits | July, 2024
Since the last editorial on these pages, in the month of May 2024, the entire landscape of politics has changed in India. With a fractured mandate, the Modi government comes in for its third term, and probably its last in this format, carrying now a baggage of a slew of compromises within the NDA alliance. If the government has to last a full term, it will have to keep bending its back and doing Namaste to various requests, akin to conditions for the NDA alliance to keep going on. So, what are the political alternatives in front of the new Modi government?
One. BJP could try to fracture within alliances parties like it did with the Shiv Sena. Herein majorly the JDU and the TDP could be split, with one faction being rooted with BJP and the other on its own.
Two. For sure the onslaught on the other parties has to continue since it would be within the NDA partners’ benefit that the opposition does not start standing strong.
Three. How long will this government stand is a matter of debate and discussion. It could well last the full term, with a strategy to keep the partnerships intact, in the style of the usual carrot and stick policy of BJP functionaries. But if the things of a political mandate are played out correctly, then the BJP may be going to a real action in the middle of its term, to obtain a greater majority (that is approaching 273 seats from the present 242) and be back in the driving seat, similar to the status of Modi 2.0.
Analysis of the loss of share of the Modi government is different in different parts of the country. Much has been written about it in newspapers and other media, and herein repeating shall not be necessary. But all said and done, it does show that India still remains a completely divided country based on caste, creed, religion, and sex. It has remained so in the last 75 years of independence and shall remain the same. The most interesting scenario was played out by the Samajwadi Party in UP, wherein it expanded its electorate by adopting a formula of PDA, the pichre, meaning backward, Dalit and alpsankhyak, meaning minority. In major states where BJP conducted major upheavals like Maharashtra and in the South, it did not quite get the formula right. Also, a lot of leaders who defected into BJP did not score too well for its new mothership.
It is being projected as the victory of the Congress, when technically it is the loss of the BJP because of the ambitious plan and its egoistic portrayal by the leader PM Modi to the populace of India. The Indian voter is a pretty smart person now since it votes for one leader in the centre and another person for its state. Hence, taking them lightly, which Modi did in this campaign, has resulted in his defeat.
Still, there is a shining line in the gloomy victory that BJP may be experiencing: it could get back the vote share with good politics. But in most likelihood, that may not happen since anti-incumbency has set in, way bigger and stronger, and that the Indian voters do not glorify or gloat over PM Modi anymore.
Question Papers, Money, and its Undeserving Ward
In India, as far as academics are concerned, question papers have always been leaked. There is always this beyond all functionary in a school, college, university, or the so-called NAT where for a price a printed paper is available, which happens to be the question paper. 99.9% of the students who appeared for an examination study for it diligently, their parents also put in their hard-earned money, burn midnight oil with their wards so that they become complete persons for the rest of their life. And mostly it works. The null hypothesis is that the examination system is good and that there is perfect competition within the system and that there is no cheating before the examination has begun. That said, the revelation of NEET and NET exams in India has thrown the confidence of students in the academics of this great nation into a dustbin. It is now evident that the conspiracy starts not at the level of peons and brokers but at the very top. As the booty of leaked examination papers is shared from the top to bottom and it could be collected at any level and then spread from top to bottom, no matter how and who collects it. There are parents who are willing to pay any amount of money to get wards into colleges undeservingly. Such is not new, and also despite being caught at this juncture, it is not going to stop. India is a corrupt country, where a lot of things can happen for money, if not all. And this is quite an example of that.
However, there will always be students who are always fair to their academics, and do not fret for the questions in the paper or the outcome of the result. They prosper in exams that are beyond the question papers too, and this category of students shall remain in more abundance than the parents who can buy papers and get their kids to become vagabonds right at the start of their careers.
CA Divesh Nath
Editor Woman’s Era LinkedIn: Divesh Nath