According to the numbers, the opposition’s candidate for the presidential elections, Yashwant Sinha, does not have many chances of winning the seat. The veteran leader begs to differ.
Still believing in the idea that he has the numbers to win, Sinha has been vocal about his candidacy. He said he bears the confidence, something the three previous candidates lacked. Before Sinha, Nationalist Congress Party chief (NCP), Sharad Pawar, Jammu, and Kashmir National Conference’s (NC) Farooq Abdullah, and a former Bengal governer, Gopalkrishna Gandhi were offered the position of the opposition candidate.
Yashwant Sinha on his electoral rival
According to Sinha, between him and his rival for the polls, Droupadi Murmu from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he has much more experience in the matters of governance. He also states he might not be a tribal-like Murmu but he is a civil servant.
Sinha claimed that he had done much more for the tribals than Murmu even if he wasn’t one. He also said, “ (I am) vastly more experience of governance and various affairs of state then she has”.
Sinha’s experience claim is not false as he had served in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. And since then he has been a strong leader.
The Majority issue
In an interview with The Wire, Sinha was asked about his take on BJP already having the majority. He denied the fact that BJP had a majority and was persistent that the opposition had the numbers. In fact, he stated that the numbers were one of the reasons he stood in the polls.
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is supporting the NDA alliance but Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and other non-congress parties have declined their support to the UPA front. Hence, Sinha lacks the number.
Sinha disagrees. When asked the same question with the same data, he told the Wire that the information was incorrect. He said he cannot disclose any party names but the facts were incorrect. According to him, the truth would be revealed after the elections.
Yashwant Sinha said, “I can only repeat that your facts are totally wrong. You named a number of parties; keep a list of those parties. Preserve it. And we will talk after the elections.”
When asked about being the fourth choice, Sinha stated it didn’t matter whether he was the first choice, the second, or the fourth but the fact that he was chosen. In his view, the others had their own reasons to opt out of the offer but he said he was confident so he took it.
The Ideological Conflict of Yashwant Sinha
Sinha had previously stated that the election is a battle of ideologies. When asked on the same, he stated that the country at the moment is polarized. There is the ideology of the ruling party which wants to destroy the constitution and establish authoritarianism. He marked the recent bulldozer events and stated the bulldozer was a symbol of authority recently.
According to Sinha, when all the joint opposition parties who oppose that ideology chose him as a candidate, he accepted it as he opposes that ideology as well. He insisted that it was one of the prime reasons he left the BJP in 2018.
Modi Vs Vajpayee
The Wire interviewer asked Sinha whether this battle is a “Modi vs Vajpayee” battle. The veteran leader said those differences were “stark” but the BJP of Advani and Vajpayee under which he became a minister in 1993 was very different than this party.
He said, “The starkest difference is in the approach of the two governments where the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned.” He further stated that Vajpayee’s government was a government of “consensus” but Modi’s is a government of “confrontation”.
