Union Minister Amit Shah found this perplexing, asking why the Congress cannot face defeat. Doesn’t Shah know that the Congress is sure the exit polls numbers would favour the NDA gathbandhan and that the INDI-Alliance would be left out in the cold?

Instead, Congress spokespersons, joined fellow spokespersons of the other INDI-Alliance parties on the YouTube channels of journalists, who too were left out in the cold in 2014 after Narendra Modi hit Delhi with a “wave” that the Congress says is missing in these 2024 elections. So how and why should the BJP win on June 4 minus a wave?

The lack of a wave is a reason why the INDI-Alliance is questioning the Prime Minister’s constant refrain of “abki baar 400 paar”. The Congress claims the BJP will be reduced to, at the most, 235 seats, and will be lucky if the number touches 260. Yet, even with this defeat awaiting the BJP, Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput point-blank refused to be part of the June 1 exit polls drama on TV channels.

Rajput was holding forth on the YouTube channel of a journalist with enough moolah to hire a team of unemployed scribes, stating that the “Godi Media” wouldn’t last long post-June 4. But if the ‘captive media’ was dreading their appointed hour, it didn’t show in their coverage of the meditating Prime Minister, who sat eyes closed behind a pair of reading glasses. How strange, asked some of the panelists on the YouTube channel?

In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mental make-up has become a matter of serious debate on these YouTube channels which are not shy in admitting that they’re “anti-Modi” and would remain anti-Modi till the cows come home. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is acting funny; Prime Minister Modi’s behaviour can be deadly for India; Prime Minister Modi’s weird comment on Mahatma Gandhi is so stupid – all these and more are being discussed threadbare on YouTube channels of these former full-fledged journalists.

Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput echoed spokespersons of other INDI-Alliance parties, like Lalu Yadav's RJD and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, all of them claiming that the BJP will be routed and the June 4 results, not the exit polls, will show the reality, and Modi will be “former Prime Minister” soon after becoming the “outgoing Prime Minister” on June 4.

The Congress is dead sure that the BJP government is on the verge of collapse and it’s just a matter of another three days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his Waterloo in Uttar Pradesh though he himself will not be booted out from Varanasi. But even this did not mean INDIA block parties would send spokespersons to TV studios on June 1 to celebrate the defeat of the BJP and the ouster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Not even the prospect of sweet revenge could draw Congress spokespersons to the TV studios of the “Noida Media”. Home Minister Amit Shah thought the paradox strange if not funny. The Congress decision to boycott the exit polls was proof that the Congress knew it was in for one more defeat. Shah ridiculed the hypocrisy and asked the Congress to take the “impending loss” on the chin instead of boycotting the truth.

The "Congress has been in denial mode for too long," was Shah’s verdict. “The Congress has accepted defeat”. Has it? Clearly, the decks are too heavily stacked against the INDI-Alliance. Don’t forget they are still dealing with a government which has made life difficult for opposition parties. But if the Modi government could control the central investigating agencies, why cannot it have sway over significant institutions like the Election Commission of India? Hasn’t the INDI-Alliance been claiming irregularities in the elections and laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Modi government?

Only the naïve and stubborn will not believe in Home Minister Amit Shah’s repeated claims of “abki baar 400 paar”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are the “government” and, sure enough, yet another Modi government will be sworn in post a sure-shot BJP/NDA victory on June 4. The June 4 results will not be any different from the one in 2019. The Grand Old Party is no fool to believe otherwise.

Of course, the INDI-Alliance’s “June 1 review meeting” will make things clear on the alliance’s response to the exit polls and what might happen after the June 4 results? There are unconfirmed reports that the INDI-Alliance will not take things lying down and will "hit the streets across the country.” There apparently was a meeting of “like minds in New Delhi's Jawahar Bhavan” and it was decided that the INDI-Alliance will not “accept defeat” at any cost. Come what may. (IPA Service)