In the last week of 2021, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his government’s decision to withdraw three controversial agriculture laws, it gave opposition parties something to be said about.
Moments after his televised retreat, a video clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi predicting the repeal of these laws went viral on social media platforms. Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) even announced that he will bring the government to its knees again on another controversial bill (the Election Act Bill 2021), which seeks to link Aadhaar numbers with voter ID cards. proposes.
However, the collective enthusiasm of the opposition parties, manifested in their belligerent mood in Parliament, has not found much resonance among the people, it appears from our latest nation’s mood poll. The January 2022 edition of the survey shows that 43.1 per cent of the respondents believe that opposition parties are responsible for frequent disruptions in Parliament, while 32 per cent put the blame at the door of the government.
58.3% West’s respondents think Congress would be better off without Gandhi family
The public anger and pain due to the devastation of the second wave of Kovid had put the Modi government on the defensive. Opposition parties also tried their best to corner the government over its handling of the pandemic, yet more than half of the respondents (53 percent) believe that opposition parties criticized the government for it; Only 32 per cent said that the opposition held the government accountable in a constructive manner.
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Graphics by Tanmay Chakraborty
The apparent lack of confidence in the opposition is directly related to the performance of the Congress. Two poor performances in back-to-back Lok Sabha elections (2014 and 2019) and endless uncertainty over the top leadership have badly affected public perception of the only truly national opposition party. Public discord between leaders in a handful of states hasn’t helped matters either. As a result, as seen in successive MOTN elections, popular support for the party has declined – only 33 per cent rated its performance as ‘good’ in this edition, down from 41 per cent in January 2021. Is.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee with NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai; (Photo: Prateek Chorge/Getty Images)
Despite constant criticism from the BJP and even other opposition parties, Rahul Gandhi remains the best bet for the party’s revival – with around 18 per cent of the respondents backing him as the leader best suited to revive the Congress , which was less than 24 per cent in January. 2020 but up from 15% a year ago. However, a growing number (from 45 per cent six months ago to 49 per cent in this edition) feel that the Congress would be better off without the Gandhi family.
There has been a decline in the public support of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi. In fact, Priyanka, who is trying to revive the party in UP and spearhead her campaign in the state for the upcoming assembly elections, has slipped to #4 in the list of most suitable leaders to revive the party. .
Graphics by Tanmay Chakraborty
In contrast, 30 per cent of respondents favored 89-year-old Manmohan Singh to lead the Congress (up from 27 per cent a year ago). The next most popular (12 per cent) non-Gandhi is 44-year-old Sachin Pilot, the former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan who rebelled in 2020 seeking to replace the incumbent chief minister Ashok Gehlot. However, Pilot’s stature as a Congress leader has waned in the public eye, with his rating slipping from a personal high of 17 per cent in the previous MOTN.
53% Children in the age group of 18 to 24 and 49 per cent of all age groups feel that an opposition alliance is possible at the Center to challenge the BJP.
Uncertainty about the party’s leadership and its dwindling electoral footprint has encouraged other opposition parties such as the TMC to stake their claim as a base for the anti-BJP opposition. Now the alliance is being negotiated and forged without the Congress playing an important role. For example, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has decided to campaign for Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party in the UP Assembly elections to be held in February/March. There is clearly public support for such pushbacks—around 48 per cent believe the TMC can build and lead an effective coalition of opposition parties. Buoyed by a sweeping victory against the BJP in last year’s West Bengal Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee has emerged as the favorite among opposition leaders to lead the alliance – with over 17 per cent of the respondents supporting her, just over a year more than 11 percent. First. In contrast, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who heads the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has seen a decline in his acceptance as the leader of the opposition alliance – from 20 per cent six months ago to 15.5 per cent now. Not good news for him, as his ambition is to maintain greater national influence, and his party forays into other states such as Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Goa.
Despite the rising popularity of individual leaders and the jockeying for influence among them, voters are expected to form an effective coalition to challenge the Modi-led BJP at the Centre, with nearly 50 per cent of the respondents supporting the idea. has done. What is even more encouraging for the opposition parties is that the share of opponents has come down from 43 per cent six months ago to 41 per cent now. Now its the difficult task of these opposition leaders to get their act together, to rise above personal ambitions and justify public trust.
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