THE efforts of the combined Opposition -- whether in the I.N.D.I. Alliance or outside it -- to confront Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s juggernaut appear almost pathetic, to say the least, as the Lok Sabha elections draw closer with every passing day. With the announcement of election dates just a few days away, the voters’ expectation stands almost belied that the Opposition would present a definitive narrative of development and growth and welfare as a counter to the narrative which Mr Narendra Modi is masterminding. It must be said at this stage that the combined Opposition does not have any definable narrative to counter the Prime Minister’s authentic assertion of what he wishes to do in the consecutive third term. The only point of insistence of the Opposition is that it wants to remove Mr. Narendra Modi somehow. And, frankly, that is no narrative at all. Factually, Mr. Narendra Modi’s developmental thrust stands on the foundation of the solid work his Government did in the first two terms of five years each. There was not one single section of the larger Indian society that the Prime Minister’s developmental initiatives did not touch. And Mr. Modi’s continued endeavour has been to keep looking for different and more varied segments of the society needing some help, some push, some guidance, some direction.

 

Mr. Narendra Modi is all eager to lend that to the needy segments in whichever manner possible. It is certainly not easy for any political Opposition to confront such a narrative and defeat it. In other words, the Opposition will have to think really hard and work really harder to create an alternate narrative as a counter to the Prime Minister’s thrust. It will have to come up with some idea that to push that Mr. Modi and his team have missed in the past ten years. There, of course, can be many -- since the challenges confronting India as as diverse as the big world. Because India has suffered centuries of subjugation to alien rule, it has suffered a lot spiritually. It is in this area that many the Opposition may be able to pick up issues to dare the Prime Minister ahead of elections. Unfortunately, most leaders of the combined Opposition do not feel strongly about the long periods of alien subjugation and therefore are not likely to find a counter narrative in that domain. This is actually an ideological problem that the Opposition is suffering from. The single point with the Opposition is that it wants Mr. Narendra Modi out. And as its leaders oppose Mr. Modi, they invariably end up opposing the larger idea of India.

 

The actual challenge for them is to find a slit in Mr. Modi’s narrative and exploit it using the original idea of India. That is not happening -- or not likely to happen -- because the Opposition is constrained by a narrow understanding of India as a cultural, civilisational and historical nation. Some Opposition leaders do talk about these dimensions in a touch-and-go manner, all right. Yet, their overall response is based on terrible ignorance of the metaphor named India. It is in this very area that Mr. Narendra Modi occupies a high ground which the Opposition has no wherewithal to assail. Given the current cumulative spiritual understanding of the Opposition leadership, it can be said safely that there is little possibility that an entirely new narrative can be created and built to last against the Modi juggernaut. In the nutshell, the fact is that the Opposition is just not ready even to give some thought to the challenge in an unconventional and fresh manner unencumbered with dogma. Going by this awareness, there is every reason to believe that Mr, Narendra Modi’s narrative will have no counter whatsoever from the combined Opposition.