The reverse-snub handed out to the SP-BSP-RLD gathbandan with the Congress grant of seven seats in return for the two Mayawati and Akhilesh ladled out to the grand old party, as if doing the Congress a favour, is demeaning and insulting, a slap on the face of “powerful” alliance which is looking to sweep UP in the general elections, give the country its next Prime Minister. It’s no secret that Mayawati is the gathbandan’s prime ministerial candidate and Rahul Gandhi is also in the race though sister Priyanka will not carry the banner on her boat.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad ‘Prayagraj’ and it was one of many places given new monikers by a politician with an obsessive-compulsive disorder to rename. But whoever thought the Sangam in Praygraj will be “confluence” to a contest between a three-party alliance and a solo party? Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has not set the Ganga on fire so far but she has singed both SP and BSP with no water in sight! Chaudhary Ajit Singh of the RLD keeping to an un-Jat-like silence maybe has another story to tell.

This when a “tracker poll” of a television channel Monday evening indicated a shift in favour of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh post-Pulwama and post-Balakote pre-emptive strikes. The saffron party’s vote-share and seat count are both up by several numbers in UP. The question, then is, what is the Opposition doing indulging in a water-war ahead of Holi? The colours are all getting mixed up and the one that is acquiring a sheen and shine is the saffron of the BJP, which just a month ago was reeling against the ropes, chin exposed for a sucker punch.

Today, the suckers are all bunched in the Opposition corner, every one of them punch-drunk in the pursuit of power, bent on giving each other a black eye. Mind you, it’s a heavyweight bout and nobody in the Opposition is a Muhammad Ali with the ability to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” on his or her own. They ought to break match rules and come in swinging, together. Nothing short of a knockout punch will do the trick.

Instead, with the bout almost to the last few rounds, there’s consternation and confusion in the Opposition corner. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s brief is to turn the tide in favour of the Congress, not for these elections alone but also for elections to come, in 2022 and beyond. The SP, BSP and RLD, if they are certain of their vote-banks standing by them, come hell or high-water, shouldn’t be “seen” as if unsure. Mayawati declaring that the BSP will fight the Congress in every state was statement of intent enough; dragging the fight down the Ganges can only drown chances.

The gloves are off but the gloves should be off for the Bharatiya Janata Party, not to give the black eye to sparring partners. Shadow boxing between ideological siblings doesn’t help anyone, after a point. These days of national and antinational, war and peace, when there’s a right ascendancy the world over, holding together is what will help land the killer punch to the BJP’s solar-plexus. The SP-BSP-RLD alliance shouldn’t make an issue of “seven seats”; look at the gesture as an insult. If it gives the Congress a feeling of the ‘feel-good’, it is not costing the gathbandan any. (IPA Service)