AA Edit | As BJP raises Ram temple, Opp. should focus on jobs

The election to the Lok Sabha is an opportunity for the citizens to assess the performance of the government in the past five years and the promises it has made for the future; it is also the time for judging the ability of the Opposition to play a larger role in the affairs of the country. And hence normally, the party in power would put its best foot forward and the Opposition’s endeavour will be to expose the chinks in the government’s armour.

The BJP has been claiming that the NDA bloc will get more than 400 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha based on its performance in the past. The party alone will bag 370 seats, it says. The government side has placed a mixed bag of its economic performance as well as delivering on past promises, including the construction of the Ram temple and the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, before the people. India’s leadership of the G-20 nations and India becoming the fifth largest economy were two key components of the BJP argument, with a promise to take India to the third largest position among economies during its third term.

However, it appears the BJP has decided to shift its gear to an agenda revolving around the Ram temple as the elections draw closer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has of late concentrated his attack on the Opposition, especially the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, for their alleged animosity to the temple project. Mr Modi faults the Congress for opposing the project in the beginning, then declining the invitation to party leaders for the consecration of the temple, and also for taking action against leaders who visited the temple in spite of the party’s objections.

The Congress had carefully calibrated the impact of the political celebrations around the temple and decided to keep away from its launch saying it was a topic on the agenda of the RSS and the BJP, and that the Congress, as a political party, had nothing to do with it. A section of the party’s leadership, however, reminded the BJP of the contributions the Congress had made to the construction of the temple.

The BJP had the temple on its manifesto on several occasions in the past and hence has every right to put it on the agenda this time, too. However, it must realise that the law of diminishing return margins is applicable to politics, too, and that attempts to milk a topic has its limits.

The real issues concerning people, especially the question of unemployment and the distribution of the prosperity which the BJP has been claiming, will take centrestage at some point in time. The government’s record of spending money and improving the people’s lot in areas such as health and education will also come to the fore, and the government must be prepared to answer questions on these topics as well.

The BJP may be reminded of the 2004 debacle where its “India Shining” campaign failed to help it get a victory, and hence the renewed thrust on the communal agenda. The Opposition may do well not to engage the BJP in the discussion on the temple and concentrate on alternative plans for fixing the economy in its turn.