Topic Of The Day:-“Imitating To Flatter? On The Opposition’s Response To Bjp”
The Opposition’s feeble and piecemeal response to the BJP’s challenge is mystifying
Whatever happens in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, or the decades thereafter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah have already won the prize for self-belief and swagger. They had announced a blitzkrieg of plans for 2022 when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government was not yet midway through its first term. At the party’s National Executive meet on the weekend, Mr. Shah took aplomb to unexplored heights by announcing the BJP’s intention to stay put in office for another 50 years. Of course, with the caveat that the Opposition had a window of opportunity in the 2019 election.
Belligerent BJP –
The BJP is genetically configured to exude confidence against the worst odds. But the current belligeren ceastounds in the face of the following: a less than exceptional record in office, a politics of polarisation that has kept the country in a state of tension and conflict, and new challenges to the party’s own carefully-constructed social constituency.
A microscopic scrutiny of the Modi government’s performance is beyond the scope of this piece. However, from the perspective of the common people, surely the failures stand out, especially those that have devastated the poor and small businesses. Among them: demonetisation; the Goods and Services Tax (GST); and galloping fuel prices pushed up further by a falling rupee. Today there is a near consensus (except in government circles) that demonetisation, while monumentally failing in its primary objective of nullifying black money and counterfeit notes, totted up unintended penalty points — slowing down the economy for several quarters and strangulating the cash-dependent informal sector. The GST, pushed at the midnight hour in an attempted equivalence with the new dawn at India’s Independence, has been turned into a byzantine nightmare by a government botching its implementation. The promised ‘Good and Simple Tax’ has become its ironic opposite.
On rising fuel prices and the falling rupee, it would be hard to beat the reactions from a different time — around 2013 when Mr. Modi and the then Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj,lacerated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with words that have come back to haunt them. Even the reported uptick in the GDP comes alongside feedback from the ground of severe distress among farmers, industrial labour and unemployed youth, graphically captured by a recent protest march by tens of thousands from these groups.
WORDS AND MEANINGS –
1) swagger
Meaning : walk or behave in a very confident and arrogant or self-important way.
Synonyms : bluster , sashay
Antonyms : deprecate
Example : “he swaggered along the corridor”
2) blitzkrieg
Meaning : an intense military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory.
Synonyms : assault , attack
Antonyms : defense
Example : Adolf Hitler failed with his blitzkrieg to defeat the western alliance.
3) caveat
Meaning : a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations.
Synonyms : admonition
Antonyms : consonance
Example : “there are a number of caveats which concern the validity of the assessment results”
4) exude
Meaning : (with reference to moisture or a smell) discharge or be discharged slowly and steadily.
Synonyms : emanate
Antonyms : deny
Example : “the beetle exudes a caustic liquid”
5) belligerence
Meaning : aggressive or warlike behaviour.
Synonyms : antagonism , aggressiveness
Antonyms : favor
Example : “Mortimer was eyeing Guy with belligerence”
6) astounds
Meaning : shock or greatly surprise.
Synonyms : astonish , confound
Antonyms : clarify
Example : “her bluntness astounded him”
7) scrutiny
Meaning : critical observation or examination.
Synonyms : analysis , audit
Antonyms : flash
Example : “every aspect of local government was placed under scrutiny”
8) devastated
Meaning : destroy or ruin.
Synonyms : ravage , raze
Antonyms : build
Example : “the city was devastated by a huge earthquake”
9) galloping
Meaning : (of a horse) go at the pace of a gallop.
Synonyms : dash
Antonyms : slow
Example : “we galloped along the sand”
10) strangulate
Meaning : prevent circulation of the blood supply through (a part of the body, especially a hernia) by constriction.
Synonyms : suffocate
Antonyms : breathe
Example : “a strangulated hernia”
11) byzantine
Meaning : excessively complicated, and typically involving a great deal of administrative detail.
Synonyms : daedal
Antonyms : glance
Example : “Byzantine insurance regulations”
12) lacerated
Meaning : tear or make deep cuts in (flesh or skin).
Synonyms : mangle , claw
Antonyms : aid
Example : “the point had lacerated his neck”
13) conviction
Meaning : a firmly held belief or opinion.
Synonyms : confidence , faith
Antonyms : distrust
Example : “she takes pride in stating her political convictions”
