With opposition parties coming together to form the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP, he said an alliance is neither desirable nor effective to defeat the ruling party as there is already a one-on-one contest in nearly 350 seats.The BJP has been winning because parties like the Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD, NCP and Trinamool Congress are unable to take it head-on in their own turfs, he said.They have no narrative, face or agenda, he said.Kishor, though, rejected suggestions that a third straight win will clear the path for a long era of BJP domination, noting that the decline of the Congress began after it registered its biggest win in 1984 and has since been unable to come to power on its own.”This is a big illusion,” he said of the BJP’s perceived unstoppable march under Modi, while noting that opposition parties, especially the Congress, failed to capitalise whenever the ruling party was on the backfoot after 2014.He said the BJP had a long barren phase electorally in 2015 and 2016, when it lost several assembly polls except in Assam but the opposition allowed it to make a comeback.The party again had a poor run post-demonetisation after its win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2017 when it almost lost power in Gujarat and was defeated in several states in 2018, but the Congress “blundered” in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.Modi suffered from a dip in his approval ratings following the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 and the BJP lost badly in West Bengal. Instead of mounting any challenge, opposition leaders sat at their homes, allowing the prime minister to make a political comeback, he said.”If you keep dropping catches, the batter will score a century, especially if he is a good batter,” Kishor said.As a political observer, he is more focused on the post-poll scenario as to what will happen if Modi gets another big mandate, more so as the prime minister has frequently spoken about “big decisions” to be taken in his third term.While BJP supporters are happy about “fundamental changes” coming, he said, those opposed to the party ideologically or otherwise are worried if the big decisions will adversely impact the Constitution or democracy. People in the middle are also genuinely concerned, he said.Kishor has worked for many major parties, including the BJP, Congress and regional satraps, of different ideological moorings since 2014, but has dedicated himself to his Jan Suraj Yatra in his home state of Bihar since October 2022, with a stated goal to usher in new politics in the state.
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