Shikha Mukerjee | India’s leaders must leave the world of virtual reality

Rhetorical flourishes are a bad idea to begin with. Instead of responding to the distress, the Congress chose to turn it into a cheap jibe targeting Narendra Modi government; Jairam Ramesh, the party’s communications in-charge, seized on the indicator as the “dubious distinction” earned “of being the only government in the history of Independent India to steal mangalsutras from women.” The Congress’ conclusion is an insult to the distressed. It’s also a sign of how impervious the party is, like the ruling BJP led by its helmsman, Narendra Modi, to the granular details indicating the magnitude of the economic crisis in India. The problem is a downsized INDIA bloc that excludes the Congress is not a viable challenger to the BJP; a big party with a national presence and a history that even today has emotional resonance with voters like the Congress is a necessary ingredient to create a viable Opposition alternative, as the 2024 Lok Sabha election proved. The reality is that a rudderless INDIA bloc is not a viable challenger to the incumbent BJP unless it gets down to the business of representing its 36.7 per cent of the population that voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.