There is a famous Eminem lyric, "This opportunity comes once in a lifetime," which may not always be accurate. However, one cannot ignore it. The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 has given the opposition and the coalition partners of the BJP an opportunity. If they fail to utilise it, there may not be another one. BJP has only 240 seats and fought the election on Modi's guarantee and anti-Muslim rhetoric. The result clearly gives a mandate against them. The coalition partners must keep this in mind when joining the government.

Narendra Modi hurriedly extracted letters of support from the coalition partners without giving them time to consult their elected members of parliament, which shows his intentions. He has not reconciled to his defeat. He is still full of arrogance, treating junior partners with little respect. It will take time for him to realise that he is not the same Modi he used to be for the last ten years. Keeping in mind his ten years of misrule and mandate against his policies, the coalition partners must decide their role in the government.

Among the NDA allies, N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam party emerged as the most significant contributor of coalition partners, having won 16 Lok sabha seats. After the TDP, Nitish Kumar's Janta Dal United (JDU) has 12 members of parliament. Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has 7 MPs. There are other smaller parties that account for a total of 18 seats of MPs. Thus, the onus is mainly on Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar to control the coalition government's agenda. Both of them are shrewd politicians who know Modi's style. If Modi gets a breathing time of about six months, he can make any of his coalition partners redundant. Naidu must be wary of Modi-Shah's 'use, weaken and throw' tactic. Thus, it is high time to extract as many concessions as possible, not in terms of ministries but policies.

While Nitish Kumar remains in the ambit of suspicion, Naidu is the hope of the people of India. This election has busted two myths: one, that BJP cannot be defeated, and second, that communalism has penetrated the majority of the Hindu community. Those supporting secularism have heaved a sigh of relief from this result. Naidu must realise that the people of India are looking towards him in this hour of change, and he must not disappoint them.

Naidu has the majority in Andhra Pradesh and does not depend on the BJP to form government. He has emerged strong in his state. The BJP cannot destabilise his government in Andhra. This facility is not available to Nitish. Normally, party MPs attempt to toe the line of their leader.

What people have mandated in this election is freedom. Freedom of voicing concern and agitation, if required, against the government's wrong policies. For the last 10 years, voices against the government's policies were misconstrued as against the country. There was an overdose of nationalism, and Modi was projected as the greatest national hero.

Unfortunately, majoritarianism ruled. Minorities' spaces were shrunk to almost zero. No party was willing to take the side of Muslims and other minorities for atrocities perpetrated on them by BJP goons for fear of the charge of appeasement by the BJP. Blatant misuse of CBI, ED, the police and IT against opposition parties was the order of the day. Fear was everywhere, and people could not articulate their feelings openly.

The education system was completely overhauled to present a particular culture. Scientific thoughts were ignored, and ancient Hindu culture was given precedence. University appointments, especially the heads of institutions, were made from RSS backgrounds. In parliament, the speaker did not allow any discussion against government failure.

The new government is being formed against this background. The TDP must ask for the speaker's post to avoid these things happening again. This is extremely important; otherwise, any party will have its members reduced by inducement, and the speaker will allow it. The other ministry is the ministry of education, which must not remain with the BJP. The home ministry will be difficult to get, so a change of minister is a must.

Without these precautions, there would be no reason for the common man, who voted so wholeheartedly against the BJP and Modi, to rejoice.

(Mukhtar Ahmad is a former professor of electrical engineering at Aligarh Muslim University.)