Opinion | 2024 Lok Sabha Elections: Five Significant Issues For India Are At Risk

India’s democratic process is in the last stretch of a protracted contest. It had fallen behind in the early going, but it has made an amazing recovery.

But will she be tempted to glance back, lose momentum, and fall behind once again as she gets closer to the vital closing laps?

This general election is not like the others. There are very significant issues at stake, benefits that India would like not to waste.

Let’s quickly review five priceless headstarts that India presently has under Narendra Modi but may lose if it were to suddenly change course.

A stable administration comes first. Apart from broad changes, the main factor contributing to the almost twofold increase in foreign direct investment from USD 45.15 billion in 2013–14 to USD 83.57 billion in 2022–2023 is stability. In terms of military might, it has defied China by bombing Pakistan’s terror facilities with jets.

Regressing to the coalition period will undoubtedly result in weak and unstable administration, frequent changes of government, and policy gridlock.

Combine that with the resentful and autocratic tendencies of the Congress and local leaders like as Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, and Uddhav Thackeray.

Secondly, the economic strategy will be completely destroyed. Rahul Gandhi’s reckless and desperate pledges, such as giving the impoverished Rs 1 lakh a year, provide a glimpse of what may be. With 30 crore households living below the poverty line, it amounts to an annual total of Rs 30 lakh crore. The budget for India in 2023–24 was Rs 45 lakh crore. Thus, the government would become bankrupt with astonishing efficiency and speed if the Congress were to take office and chose to keep its word.

India has the potential to become the third biggest economy by 2027–2028, but if the present Opposition takes office in June, things might soon spiral out of control.

Third, if an I.N.D.I. Alliance hotchpotch doesn’t meticulously undermine India’s comeback of civilization under Modi, it will cease. The Congress and Gandhis have demonstrated immense contempt for the Hindu religion and Bharat’s historic past, from boycotting Ayodhya Ram Mandir pran pratistha to ridiculing PM Modi’s underwater homage to Lord Krishna’s now-submerged Dwarka city. Karnataka is a prime example of how the Congress attempted to cover up cases of love jihad, such as Mohammed Fayaz’s murder of Neha Hiremath, and considered overturning the ban on the headscarf in schools. They also arrested a shopkeeper who had been threatened by Islamists for simply portraying Hanuman Chalisa. The several Islamist dictatorships in West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee, the murder of Palghar sadhus by Uddhav Thackeray, and the rapacious missionary conversions carried out by MK Stalin, Bhagwant Mann, or Jagan Reddy are indications of what may occur if the coalition succeeds in assembling a government at the center.

Foreign policy comes in fourth. In private talks, hardline Communists in Kolkata, for example, concede that no one can traverse the muddy swamps of a conflict-torn and complex multipolar globe better than the triumvirate of Narendra Modi, S. Jaishankar, and Ajit Doval.

India’s enormous successes in foreign policy, from vaccine diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic to rescue operations in the Gulf, from heading the G-20 to emerging as the voice of the Global South, would probably come tumbling down if a coalition government with a variety of pulls assumed power.

Fifth and finally, a fragile alliance with limited time to replenish its coffers and a majority of habitually corrupt members would most likely undo the numerous checks on corruption that Narendra Modi put in place through tax reforms, digital payments, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, or real estate regulations.

It is terrifying to consider the very unlikely idea of the I.N.D.I. Alliance dominating India. It will undoubtedly set Bharat back, if not permanently disable it. Because of this, every vote is worth far more than a bottle of scotch, a bunch of notes, or a moment of awakening.