words per minute
9
PUSHPENDRA_SINGH_YAD
00:00
Speed
With countless legislators and even Members of Parliament cross-voting in favour of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Mrs. Draupadi Murmu in the Presidential election, the fault-lines in the Opposition camp now stand exposed. The extent of cross-voting from the Opposition camp in favour of Mrs. Murmu showed that all the tall talk of forging a strong, united front of all Opposition parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA was nothing more than senseless lip service. That such a development should dog the Opposition just about two years ahead of the next Lok-Sabha elections in 2024, offers a good advanced idea of how the Opposition would behave at the hustings then. For the Opposition camp, this development indicates an early signal of political disaster. The reason for this collapse of Opposition unity is quite easily understandable from multiple points of view. One, the BJP-NDA's choice of the candidate for the Presidential poll. The success of the choice could be judged from the remark of Trinamool Congress Chief Ms. Mamata Banerjee, in effect, that if the BJP had consulted the Opposition, Mrs. Draupadi Murmu could have been a consensus candidate of all the parties across dividing lines. So apt was the choice by the ruling BJP-NDA that countless people in the Opposition camp felt morally drawn to voting for Mrs. Murmu. In sharp contrast, the Opposition’s joint candidate Mr. Yashwant Sinha kept drawing blank and after blank even after his name was officially announced by the Opposition. Factually, many people from the Opposition camp had strong reservation about Mr. Sinha's candidature which reflected itself well in the pattern of the Opposition voting on July 18, 2022. There were countless people in the Opposition ranks having strong doubts and reservations about Mr. Sinha and openly refused to vote for him. Mrs. Draupadi Murmu's choice was an absolute political masterpiece by the BJP-NDA. Her being a tribal and a woman and a person with considerable political and administrative experience made countless numbers of Opposition rankers felt drawn to Mrs. Draupadi Murmu. Good numbers of regional parties found their ranks splitting on the issue of voting for Mrs. Murmu. A more or less similar picture may be available during the election of Vice President. The BJP-NDA again made a surprise but apt choice of West Bengal Governor Mr. Jagdeep Dhankhar as their candidate. This very choice would push many Opposition voters into a dilemma that would not be easy to sort out. Mr. Dhankhar has earned his spurs through hard personal life and well-accomplished professional life, plus a wide range of experience as a Member of Parliament, a minister, a legislator and finally as an alert Governor who had the courage to take on a truly hostile ruling party in West Bengal as part of the Governor's mandate to preserve and protect the Constitution in letter and spirit. Mr. Dhankhar's stiff stand against the Trinamool Congress Government led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal was highly appreciated, and is still earning him a lot of admirers even in the Opposition camps. In sharp contrast, the Opposition's joint candidate Mrs. Margaret Alva (of Congress party), appears to have begun on a negative note and tone. Speaking to the media upon getting chosen by the Opposition, Mrs. Alva agreed that she was entering a tough fight, but fight she would no matter what. This language itself is defeatist and indicates the Opposition's tentativeness on the issue of the joint candidate.