Much against the argument positioned forward by the RSS stalwarts for creating an illusion of victory, the cadres are not willing to budge. They are clear that Modi will become a perilous autocrat using the victory. Though they are sure that the BP will not win the majority, the party would emerge as the single largest party. In that backdrop, the President would certainly invite Modi to form the government. They point out that Amit Shah at the instructions of Narendra Modi is on a mission to garner support from smaller parties in case BJP does not get majority on its own.

Apprehensive of the emerging situation, the state-level RSS leaders and cadres have approached the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale to initiate preventive steps. The RSS cadres have in a letter to their leaders have also expressed anguish that it was their inaction that led to Modi emerging as the sole leader of the saffron ecosystem. These state leaders have also sought to know the reasons why no action was taken against Modi when he embarked on the path of destroying the culture and ethos of the organisations.

They have also pointed out that now in the changed situation, with large number of cadres and volunteers not coming to undertake electioneering task, Modi has been using Rajiv Kumar-led Election Commission to fraudulently and illegitimately boost the percentage of votes polled. They pointed out that the CEC correcting the figures of the votes cast in earlier two phases is an exercise in this perspective.

The third phase, which culminated on May 7, had been different in many ways than the previous two phases. The significant but crucial dissimilarity was the use by the police forces by the BJP-ruled states to chase away chunks of voters from polling booths. This happened in sharp contrast to Rajiv Kumar-led EC’s call to people to exercise their right to vote. The brutal and criminal use of police for chasing away voters was most glaring in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-governed Uttar Pradesh.

The constituencies which have higher proportion of Muslim and Dalits voters have been at the receiving end of such police-driven criminality, especially in UP. The saffron ecosystem and Yogi government strongly nursed the feeling that these two communities would vote for INDIA bloc, or any other opposition party.

The police and election officials had identified constituencies which were supposed to favour the opposition, INDIA bloc, candidates. Hence, in such constituencies, the voting percentage was quite insignificant till noon. The voters who were standing in queues were asked to go back even without casting votes. It was after 3 in the afternoon that the voting picked up. Even then the EC officials did not get the desired result.

As in the case of the earlier two phases, the averseness of the original and traditional BJP supporters for casting votes was quite apprehensible. Contrary to the enthusiasm exhibited by the turncoats, the traditional cadres and supporters of the BJP/RSS preferred to stay home.

A senior BJP leader said that after a long time, the RSS and BJP cadres in most of the cases did not form the booth committees and left the task for the BJP leaders and contesting candidates. A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 p.m. in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 94 constituencies spread over 11 States. Out of 94 seats, at least 86 seats were won in 2019 by the BJP. Naturally, the BJP is not supposed to gain much in this phase. Any gain for the opposition and INDIA bloc would be a major loss for the BJP, especially for the RSS.

Assam recorded the highest turnout at 74.86% followed by West Bengal at 73.93% while Maharashtra witnessed the lowest at 53.63%, with Bihar doing slightly better at 56.01.Modi who of late was refraining from using the phrase “400 paar”, once again used it at his Madhya Pradesh rally, at Dhar on Tuesday, when he said: “I want 400 seats in Lok Sabha to prevent Congress from looting OBC quota to benefit its vote bank.” “In last 5 years, we had nearly 400 seats, including NDA, regional parties and Independents; we used it to remove Article 370.” It obviously implied that Modi has been working on some plan to win the election.

Once again the saffron ecosystem has been actively projecting Rahul Gandhi as an immature politician, who can raise the issues but cannot govern the country. The ecosystem now plans to portray Rahul as a leader disconnected from the ground realities. According to the saffron sources, the latest disinformation campaign against Rahul is going to be the major task. However, without the underground network of RSS karyakartas, such a move would prove to be self-defeating for BJP.

Modi, stooping to a fresh low, has coined a new phrase: “Vote Jihad”. Exhorting the voters to choose between “vote jihad” and “Ram rajya”, he also tried to rake up the issue of Babri masjid, saying Congress would put a “Babri lock” put on the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Modi’s sinister ways to incessantly polarize the poll campaign go unacknowledged by the pliant and utterly incompetent Election Commission.

His clarification of Vote jihad is quite significant. He said: “Vote jihad means a particular section is being asked to unite and vote against Modi.” Truly speaking, it is not the Congress or INDIA that has descended so low in its appeasement bid; instead Modi has been trying to project him as invincible and denigrate the largest minority community in the country. In fact, some senior BJP leaders see through Modi’s utterances a much heinous design to rig the election. They hold that Modi’s comments should not be seen as a sign of desperation, but an attempt to galvanize the RSS and traditional BJP cadres and voters to shed their complacency and come out in support of the party.

Modi is seriously unnerved at poor turnover of 57 per cent in 10 constituencies in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The situation is more or less the same in Maharashtra. Maharashtra saw a voter turnout of 54.09 per cent in 11 out of 48 Lok Sabha constituencies. The first two phases had seen over 62% voter turnout. (IPA Service)