Retention of same voting pattern as in the last election by vote banks of three parties is again based on belief that the Modi-mantra of 2014 for rapid economic growth and demonstrative relegation of the traditional BJP agenda did not win additional votes for the BJP nor performance by the Narendra Modi government will have any impact on future voting patterns. The election in India is merely a plus and minus exercise of votes. If that were so, why the Congress did not win by a comfortable margin in 2014 as the anti congress vote was as sharply divided?

The country had to suffer the coalition politics for 25 years and no party gained a clear mandate in seven elections between 1989 and 2014. The Congress ruled for ten years without a clear mandate and on the basis of compromises necessitated by compulsions of coalition politics. The BJP also had to set aside its controversial issues to assembly coalition to be in the driver’s seat in 1998 and 1999 elections.

Indian voters are not dumb species that are not affected by performances of government and assumption that they would cast their votes in set patterns. Narendra Modi, as the chief campaigner for the BJP, had held out a brilliant dream that he would lead the country through rapid economic development to put India as a super economic power in 60 months. He would not allow religious and communal considerations as impediment to economic development. Instead, the four years passed turned out to merely a mirage, and he did not hold out even a single dream. The disappointment is evident as the BJP lost not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and had come to the verge of a collapse in the assembly elections in Gujarat. City dwellers allowed it to retain its nose. In all three states, BJP had delivered scintillating performance of winning all but two seats in Madhya Pradesh. In all three tests, the ruling party had faced only single party, the Congress, but was badly routed in UP bye-elections.

In four years, the NaMo government has not delivered a scheme that would enthrall middle class. The viral message on social media last week derides the government for its rates for GST. It reflects not disappointment but dejection. It says you earn only Rs. 70 a year by retaining two thousand rupees in bank account and Rs. 260 as interest against loan for the same amount, but you have to pay Rs. 360 as GST on your expenditure of Rs.2000 in any restaurant. It is an organized or legalized loot, the verdict on which the message concludes.

In the last four years, the economic activities’ scopes have dwindled down. The government has not improved growth rate. No new investments have come from outside to generate more employment. On the contrary, the demonetisation forced several small units to close down. The bureaucratic strangle hold over banks dried up capital for new units. No proper arrangements for imparting skills to educated young were organized to make them suitable for work outside. They were maligned as dishonest and tax evader Indians as the Prime Minister led the sustained and systematic campaign. Thus the government ensured reduction in their job potentials inside and outside the country.

No relief provided in tax structure but officials of known corrupt department were empowered without arrangements for hearings against harassment by them. Price control measures were not initiated in four years but new tax structure was imposed to make every service costlier than it was. Instead of offering new services to people at large, existing ones were tied to more restrictive structures. It enables the authority to deprive anyone of all services without ascribing reasons for it. Cancel Aadhar registration and citizen becomes without status for any service. It is draconian power.

In addition, political personalities were reduced in stature. Fear was driven into them that raising of any public issue would entail charges of corruption. In short, politicians cannot offer their services to take up even genuine grievances. Bureaucrats have no conscious inclination to listen and the Prime Minister remains not only behind the security barriers but also unavailable except through social media but via his bureaucrats. Most of the time, he is visiting foreign lands or is attending to visiting foreign guests. His contact with Indian masses is reduced to minimal.

The chief ministers of states won by the BJP tickets proved to be men without imagination and living only in the past glory of Indian civilization. No state has introduced an innovative scheme. Results in bye-polls show it. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh gave carte blanche to his police force to deal with elements they dislike. Thousand persons were eliminated physically or by denial of liberty only because police disliked them and branded them as criminals without responsibility to prove their crime. How can voters of the state favour the party that has brought misrule? The reverses in four states were not because of opponents closing their ranks but as people have realized they were shown only a mirage.

The conclusion is inevitable though it may sound harsh. After four years, politics is disoriented, economy is misdirected and socially we Indians are being torn apart. The BJP mentors are not allowing the Prime Minister to move forward and his ambitions are not allowing him to turn around.