Yogendra Yadav, political analyst and national convener of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, speaks at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran
The 2024 Lok Sabha election result was a moral and political defeat for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a personal defeat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Yogendra Yadav, political analyst and national convener of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan.
Speaking on the topic “Are we back to democratic politics? Reading the implications of Verdict 2024” at the Asian College of Journalism, Mr. Yadav said, “Mr. Modi not only hoped but expected the BJP to get more than 325 seats and the NDA to get more than 375 seats. Anything below 303 would be a moral defeat and below 272 would be a political defeat for the BJP and below 250 seats would be a personal defeat for Mr. Modi. The election result has shown the moral, political and personal defeat for the BJP and Mr. Modi,” he said.
“In order to describe most countries in the world, we have to call them ‘competitive authoritarianism’, in which the government holds elections, which are structured in a way as to give the ruling party a structural advantage and there is very little democracy outside elections. India was a textbook example of competitive authoritarianism. We have moved much beyond a flawed democracy. In the last 10 years we have become a mix of competitive authoritarianism and non-theological majoritarianism, which does not officially declare itself a theological country but for all practical purposes follows majoritarianism… We were very rapidly sliding towards a full blown 21st Century-style authoritarianism and de facto Hindu rashtra. The first Republic of India inaugurated on January 26, 1950 had come to an end around 2019,” Mr. Yadav said.
He also said “this was not an election but a plebiscite”. “It was about getting public approval on dismantling our Republic. This election was not about the BJP or the NDA. It was about the Supreme Leader [Mr. Modi] seeking unconditional approval for his regime through ‘Modi ki guarantee’… But people refused to treat this as a plebiscite. They refused the invitation to a perpetual state of siege, anxiety and frenzy that we were kept in the last 10 years, where we would give up every other consideration except Mr. Modi,” he said.
“Since this was a controlled election, money, media and the Modi myth did work and they managed to salvage the BJP’s numbers, unlike the 1977 general election,” he observed and added, “We are poised at a very critical moment in the history of our country. We are in the no man’s land between the First and the Second Republic of India which makes the situation so critical and fraught with danger.”
“The battle to reclaim the Constitution and democracy should be combined with a social radical agenda. This moment in history offers one of the rare opportunities to combine the social and political agenda. The way to take on the BJP would be a social coalition at the bottom of the pyramid – a moment of sharp class politics in the country,” he added.
Sashi Kumar, Chairman, Asian College of Journalism, introduced Mr. Yadav. N. Ram and N. Murali, Directors, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited; G. Ramakrishnan, CPI(M) Politburo member; senior journalists, scholars from various fields, faculty and students were among others who participated in the event.
