Evidently, the BJP juggernaut has compelled them to join hands to devise ways and means of countering the saffron storm-troopers. Unfortunately, however, the parties persisted with their negative approach which has been their bane ever since the BJP surprised them by securing a majority of its own in the Lok Sabha three years ago.

The basis of its victory was a positive outlook, articulated by Narendra Modi in his pithy aphorism, sabka saath, sabka vikas, or development for all, which has now morphed into the rather clumsy, saath hai, vishwaas hai, ho raha vikas hai. Although vikas hasn’t taken place as rapidly as the BJP may have wished, it is undeniable – as opinion surveys and elections results point out – that the people continue to have vishwaas in Modi. Nothing demonstrated this faith more than their quiet acceptance of the inconveniences of demonetization.

The problem of the opposition parties is that the people do not believe that they can overturn the Modi applecart – at least, not in the near future. Nor do they believe in what the parties say or do, as the manner in which the people ignored their tirades against demonetization showed.

The reasons why the opposition has lost its appeal are, first, the absence of credible leaders with a forward-looking vision; and, secondly, the failure to present an alternative policy. Instead, a dispiriting, unconstructive attitude has been the opposition’s hallmark and a propensity to find fault with virtually all of the government’s steps as is evident from the statement issued after Friday’s meeting.

It again underlined a negative attitude with a tinge of hyperbolic falsehood, for it blamed the government for “imposing unprecedented further burden on all sections of our people – farmers, working people, youth, SCs, STs, minorities, women and other weaker sections”.

It is possible that the Left had a hand in drafting this ringing declaration which excluded only the bourgeoisie - the rich and the middle class – from the exhaustive list of the discontented. It is strange, however, that the others fell in line with this exaggerated assessment which depicts, in the view of communists, a nation on the verge of a proletarian revolution.

If the others concurred, the reason is perhaps that they have never really understood why Modi is succeeding if he has indeed imposed “unprecedented further burden” on the common man.

This inability of the non-BJP parties to comprehend the factors behind Modi’s appeal can be ascribed to the fact that they continue to live in the pre-1991 era of a controlled economy when the country grew at 2-3 per cent, the so-called Hindu rate. It was also an era of politics dominated by caste and the quota system, doles and subsidies, black-and-white television and Ambassador cars and resistance to the introduction of computers and tractors.

Ironically, it was the Congress under P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh which put an end to that period of “socialism” and also pursued the programme of reforms between 2004 and 2014, resulting in the fastest reduction of poverty in history, as the Modi government’s chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramanian, has said.

But, as is known, Sonia Gandhi scuttled the reforms lest Manmohan Singh earned all the kudos, leaving Rahul Gandhi in the lurch. This unwise intervention in the economic field by the Congress president enabled Modi to snatch the baton of reforms and run past the winning post.

If Modi is still running well ahead of the opposition, it is because the younger generation still believes in the efficacy of the reforms. It is obvious that if the average voter suspects that the opposition is trying to turn the clock back to the Hindu rate of growth, he will not vote for it.

What the opposition needs to do, therefore, is to turn Right ideologically in accordance with what Amartya Sen said about the need in India for a secular right-of-centre party. Since Modi’s main disadvantage is the violent saffron fringe, the appearance of a liberal and yet Right-wing party will be able to win over the section which still stands by Modi because of his developmental promises but is uneasy with the murderous forays of the gau rakshaks, the diktats on culinary habits and the planting of virtually unknown RSS apparatchiki in respectable institutions like the Indian Council of Historical Research, the Indian Council of Social Science Research and others.

While the Congress will be expected to give the lead in moving in a Rightward direction if it can first dispense with the dynasty, the Left, too, can keep company in view of its realization that the private sector is not untouchable. This dawning of sense could be seen towards the end of Buddhadev Bhattacharjee’s government in West Bengal and again now in Kerala where Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has underlined the ease of doing business in the state. (IPA Service)