NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha election results showed that the parties, which maintained an equidistance from the NDA and INDIA bloc, have been decimated, experts said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in UP, which did not align with either pro- or anti-Modi groupings, could not get a single seat. The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in Telangana and Siromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab also faced a similar fate.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh, which stayed out of alliance blocs, received a double blow, as the two parties not only got reduced to political insignificance at national level, but they lost power in assembly polls.
Commenting on the results, retired Patna University professor NK Chowdhary told this newspaper that politics is all about taking pole positions and no one can afford to be a fence-sitter in elections particularly where “you have a strong polarising personality leading from the front.”
“In politics neutrality means nothing, as this can only be true and of some use in academics. But politics is not academics. Elections are there to take positions and if you don’t, the blocs see you with suspicion,” Chowdhary said.
“Neutrality weakens your strength and the same has happened to these parties.”
Political analyst and Delhi University professor Dhiraj Kumar said the country appeared to be divided between “pro-Modi and anti-Modi” blocs and the sentiments were seen on these lines in different states.
“In UP, people voted either in support of PM Modi or against him. Since Mayawati’s BSP was seen supporting neither the ruling NDA nor the opposition INDIA bloc, people had no choice but to dump her. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu people voted against PM Modi and the result was such that all 40 seats including one in neighbouring Puducherry went to the INDIA bloc led by the DMK and the Congress in the state,” Kumar said.
Among the losers the YSRCP tops the chart as the party came down from its 22 members in the lower house in 2019 to 4. BJD has been reduced to 1 from its strength of 12. The BSP has been reduced to nil from eight after 2019 elections and the BRS which had 8 members in the Lok Sabha drew a blank this time.
During the course of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure between 2019 and 2024, these parties supported crucial government bills in Parliament and took equidistance position during the election time.