I wish I could say that what has happened in the last three months is unfortunate. It is not. It has been a policy blunder - a disaster beyond imagination. While I’m surprised that it is still being “debated,” it is pretty straightforward to me that the BJP government deserves the majority of the blame for this debacle.
Over the last seven years, BJP has passed various controversial bills and taken questionable decisions. We can debate the merit of each one of them - however, in handling Covid wave 2, BJP’s lapse in decision-making has cost India hundreds of thousands of lives. Families are struggling to cope with losing their loved ones, small businesses have shut down and people’s mental health hygiene is at an all-time low.
During times like these, a release point is important. Generally, that is finding someone to blame for all of it. A trend has emerged where BJP voters are being called into question. I think that is an unfair way of looking at things. The blame is not at all justified.
Firstly, a situation like this couldn’t have been foreseen. People have their personal reasons to vote for a particular party- and as long as they are justified, the vote shouldn’t be put under the scanner. Most reasonable people would agree that BJP has done a fantastic job from an infrastructure development perspective - look at the roads, highways and Indian railways. For many people, that is the priority while casting a vote. Think of the citizens of North-Eastern states that have spent most of their lives in “kaccha makkan” traveling on “kaccha rasta.” In that case, you’d probably be able to understand why the first thing they look for in a government is infrastructure development competence and not secularity.
It is not like they had India had many other options. When we blame BJP voters, we also imply that voting for some other party would have brought better results - which is a difficult conclusion to make, given our alternatives.
This is also a golden chance to talk sense into the people who are extreme right and neutralize their ideologies. An attacking conversation will only make them defensive (and more pro-BJP). We need to look at them as future voters of the opposition. It is time to empathize and talk sense into the far-right from a more logical approach.
I am totally against the section of society that is still defending the BJP’s handling of the second wave. I understand the frustration of the left-winged but blaming the BJP voters will make things worse and we’ll be left wondering in 2024 how Modi got 300 seats again.
Of course, some people will still have their reasons to vote for BJP. As individual voters, we are expected to vote for parties that will bring success to our constituencies. We need to respect that right. However, we need to keep pushing the blame to the BJP for bringing us into the state we are in.
That’s the only way out of their regime.
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