While Modi -Shah Combine continued to exploit the barbaric incident on the plea of protecting India’s prestige and promoting nationalism, the opposition was in a state of stupor. They should have realized the nature and content of the saffron game. The sheer fear of antagonizing the countrymen the opposition, especially the Congress went on defensive.

May be Rahul Gandhi is new to the game, but what about other veterans. How could they not look through the Modi plot? This incident put the Congress on mat and the party lost the momentum. Rahul should have realized that he was being caught into the trap of ultra-nationalism, a fascist political ploy of the capitalism. Balakot provided the much desired opportunity to the BJP to be back in the reckoning. While the Modi-Shah combine is determined to win the elections at any cost, the opposition parties are apparently lacking that kind of desperation.

This is clearly evident in the matter of seat sharing. We have seen how in Uttar Pradesh BSP chief Mayawati is treating Congress as pariah and trying to keep it away from the Mahagathbandhan. Little doubt she is the victim of over confidence. Even in Bihar the RJD is ill treating Congress. Tejashvi for the sake of some smaller parties have been insulting and deriding the Congress.

The situation in Bihar has taken an ugly form. Though efforts are on sort out the differences and reach at workable solution, talks have already been started by RJD to form an alliance minus Congress. It is beyond comprehension how RJD leadership could ignore the fact that Congress still has 11 per cent vote share.

There is no doubt that in alliance-building, the BJP has shown much greater flexibility and a spirit of accommodation than opposition parties. The BJP offered five of its seats, which it had won in 2014, to the JD(U). Not only in Bihar but in almost all the states BJP has been pursuing a dogmatic stance. BJP for the sake of coming back to power has literally surrendered to the dictates of JD(U). He had personally rebuffed Modi's overtures on more than one occasion, even returning the aid which was sent by the government of Gujarat after the disastrous floods in Bihar in 2010. He resorted to this action even after he was a member of the NDA. But Modi and Shah have preferred to ignore the insult inflicted on Modi by Nitish.

The BJP has been sending a strong and loud message: it intends to rule. In this connection it is worth mentioning the observation of senior BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj. Only four days back he said “this is the last election to be held in Independent India. After 2019 election the people will not get the opportunity to vote in future”. Obviously it implied that India will cease to be a democratic country. Some new type of governance, preferably Hindu Rashtra’s tenet will rule country. The manner in which the BJP is roping in small parties it gives the impression that it has swallowed its pride, forgotten the humiliations of the past, and is prepared to make sacrifices in order to win the forthcoming elections at any cost.

BJP’s stake is quite high. It may not come as surprise if the BJP manages to win the election. While Rahul has been tweeting and simply mocking him, except Mamata Banerjee worth name has courage to speak out publically against Modi and Shah. TV channels have shunted the opposition parties out of their war rooms. The consequences of polarising news debates are being felt but substantive attempt is not being made to counter it.

In view of this backdrop a fortnight back Tejashvi had urged the opposition leaders to boycott such irrelevant debates and discussion which treated the Hindu youths as mercenaries. In a open letter he appealed to all opposition political parties and “conscientious voices” to stop participating in television debates that seek to advance the ruling party’s agenda without any respect for journalistic ethics.

These TV channels have been urging them to take to arms against Muslims. It is really sad that BJP has been employing several channels to advance its political and ideological agenda. He alleged that the television anchors have been simply “spouting vitriolic hate in the Indian society, and incite violence”. He said that these news channels have come to be fully controlled by “fascist tendencies”. It is irony that the media has recognised the supporters of BJP as the only kind of viewer there can be.

The media is taking forward the BJP-RSS idea of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra. With this in aim the media launched its national curriculum as soon as the Modi government came to power in 2014. At its core was the idea of ensuring Hindu-Muslim divide. They are out to present every other man as the enemy of Hindus and that of country. It would not be an exaggeration to say they serve ‘Hindu frustration’ and present themselves not as the nation’s media instead as Hindu media. (IPA Service)