BRS’ National Vision: Hollow Grandstanding

The massive meeting at Khammam, organised by the Bharatiya Rashtra Samiti (BRS) on Wednesday, witnessed more posturing and grandstanding than outlining any clear vision to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections. The meeting did draw some politicians and leaders from other parties such as Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan of the CPM, AAP chief and Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, as also Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. Together, they were to make a statement on how to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections next year, as also the assembly elections in nine states being held this year. Observers watched the conclave closely to see if any such signs of a strong united vision on behalf of the opposition would emerge. Instead, what one saw was KCR’s meandering speech peppered with sops, chiefly directed at Khammam and nearby areas.As for the other leaders, their speeches were along predictable lines. Arvind Kejriwal accused the Centre of using Governors to serve its ends. Akhilesh Yadav saw the promise of a new consensus in politics emerging from the South. The hypothesis is a shallow one, considering the DMK’s close proximity to Congress and the latter’s aversion to any tie-up with BRS, as of now. Bhagwant Singh Mann dwelt mainly on water disputes between various states and accused the Centre of not intervening to find a clear-cut resolution to these ongoing riparian conflicts. D. Raja of the CPI said that voting out the BJP is the only way forward to save democracy. It is another matter altogether, that his party has become completely irrelevant in the national political scene in recent years, thanks to the BJP. Interestingly, none of the other major political personalities from the opposition camp were seen at Khammam. Sharad Pawar of NCP, Congress leaders, Mamata Banerjee of the TMC, Stalin from DMK, Nitish Kumar of JD-U, and Tejaswi Yadav of RJD—none of these parties chose to attend the Khammam conclave. If anything, KCR has himself to blame for this. He has always been inconsistent in his approach to the NDA, blowing hot and cold, as it would appear. To expect Congress to trust him after how he treated the party following the formation of Telangana in the light of the understanding between the two parties is being over-optimistic. The allies of the grand old party are bound to have their misgivings too. KCR’s attack on the Centre on Wednesday was relatively muted, but his facts were hopelessly flawed. He said India is going about begging from countries like the USA! If anything, the contrary is true. India today is the fifth largest economy in the world after having overtaken the United Kingdom. It has been referred to by the World Bank and the IMF as the fastest-growing economy in the world. It has foreign exchange reserves of over $600 billion compared to the 4 billion dollars that Pakistan holds if that is the comparison he had in mind because it is Pakistan that is going around with a begging bowl around the world. As it turned out, the Khammam conclave of the BRS had little to offer by way of projecting a vision for 2024, in terms of a united opposition standing up to the BJP’s electoral juggernaut.