The unity of Opposition parties to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will only help the ruling party as “good governance” will prevail over caste-based coalitions, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said. Voters will wonder how so many political parties can come together to run a government, Singh told The Indian Express in an interview published on Monday.
Opposition parties are getting together as they “need each other’s support”, but the BJP “is not scared”, the minister said. “If they are standing together, we don’t mind,” he said. “A strong opposition is a good thing.”
Politics should not involve “breaking society into pieces and creating hatred”, Singh said in response to the Opposition parties’ allegations that fear and insecurity had spread in the country under the BJP-led government. He urged the Opposition to introspect, and claimed that the government had followed a policy of “justice to all and appeasement of none” in its four years in power.
“You may have seen there is an increase in such incidents and criticism in the election year,” he said. “My view is that politics should be on the basis of issues. Politics should be done by earning love and affection, and by winning hearts.”
The Opposition wants to create fear against the BJP because they cannot accuse the government of doing nothing for women and the poor, Singh said. The 2019 elections will see “pro-incumbency” in favour of the BJP governments at the Centre and in the states, he said.
The BJP will keep its options open for more allies in the National Democratic Alliance before the elections, Singh added.
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