Mandate 2024, Ep 3: Jail in Delhi, bail in Andhra. Behind the BJP’s ‘washing machine’ politics

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supposed crusade against corruption is mired in controversy. There have been allegations that agencies have been misused, reinforced by a perception that the opposition has been made to shoulder all the blame while the BJP readily accepts anyone who can help it despite a chequered record.   

In the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, Sreenivasan Jain dissects these claims on the ground, and how voters perceive the alleged “washing machine phenomenon”.  

On one hand, the Aam Aadmi Party is trying to put up a strong fight against the BJP despite the absence of its top leadership, including Arvind Kejriwal, jailed in the liquor scam.  

“The game plan of BJP was to arrest our leaders in such a way that there is no leader left for campaigning for the AAP”,  says party leader Saurabh Bhardwaj.

This, even as a liquor baron-cum-politician also linked to the scam, is freely campaigning as a joint candidate of the NDA in Andhra Pradesh. 

And in Haryana’s Kurukshetra, where the BJP has fielded business tycoon Naveen Jindal, BJP supporters seem to have forgotten the charges against the former Congress leader in the coal scam case. They say he is like a diamond in the coal mine, who has finally found his place. 

But are voters beginning to see through the double standards? Can the ‘washing machine’ be turned upside down?

Find all the answers in the latest episode of Mandate 2024: Claim vs Reality.

For ground reports that talk about real issues, we need a free press. Here’s why the World Press Freedom Week is a great opportunity to power such reports.