There’s discontent brewing...

Farmers are once again on the streets demanding a complete loan waiver as promised during the 2024 Assembly poll campaign by the Devendra FadnavisEknath ShindeAjit Pawar alliance MahayutiIn the past few months massive damage has been caused to crops due to excessive rain with 29 of the 36 districts and 253 talukas badly hit Of the 143 crore hectares sown this monsoon nearly 68 lakh hectares have been damaged including 60000 hectares where fertile topsoil has been washed awayTo tackle the crisis Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a Rs 31628crore relief package the largest in the statersquos historyBut the relief announced by the government did not reach thousands of affected families and farmers before Diwali as promised This is resulting in rising anger among the ldquokisanrdquo fraternity and their families and threatens to snowball into a growing trust deficitFor now the government has quickly announced a committee to study and recommend a waiver policy within six months The move has come as a big relief for Mahayuti The committee report will come after the elections But it has not solved the current problem Whether it is a delay tactic or genuine efforts of the government the current remedy is not a solution to the issue Many in the villages who then had backed the ldquoTriple Engine Sarkarrdquo are wondering whether the same pack of leaders is running out of steamShifting to cities the story changes but the anger and the target remain the same The entire Opposition has come together to raise questions about irregularities in the electoral rolls The Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA and adding to the bandwagon the Raj Thackerayled Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS has joined those who are making allegations of ldquoVote Chorirdquo The Opposition may not have solid proof but their claims are catching the publicrsquos attention and becoming a talking point at every ldquonukkadrdquo street cornerRaj Thackeray added fresh fuel to the allegations by claiming that the state has nearly 96 lakh voters fake duplicate or with errors with about 8 lakh each in Mumbai and Thane aloneThe Oppositionrsquos accusation is that elections are nothing but ldquomatch fixingrdquo by manipulating the votersrsquo list The MNS and MVA leaders claim genuine votersrsquo names have been deleted and duplicate or fake entries have been found to substantiate their claims of deliberate tampering in the electoral rolls to tilt the contest The Opposition is demanding that elections not be conducted unless doortodoor verification of every name is completed to ensure the election reflects peoplersquos real voice and not fixed resultsAlthough allegations are directed against the Election Commission the governmentrsquos reputation is at stake as the rival camp is trying to build a narrative that anomalies in votersrsquo list are deliberate if not engineered to benefit the ruling party regime In rural areas the fight is about survival and in urban areas it is about fairness These two protests have started building a wave of perception against the ruling regime led by CM Fadnavis and his deputies Ajit Pawar and Eknath ShindeAs the BJP Shindersquos Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawarrsquos NCP face tough battles on two fronts the Mahayuti leaders are addressing problems through reactions press releases and social media postsThe Supreme Court has set January 31 2026 as the final deadline to hold local body elections across Maharashtra including 29 municipal corporations and several rural bodiesPolitics runs on performance but one has to agree that perception is equally important for any political party to continue in power Even if both issues fade before polling day scars and feelings may continue to fester within voters and reflect in the ballot boxThe Mahayuti is reportedly planning to go solo in several local body polls especially where the Opposition appears weak The idea is to test the ldquotriple enginerdquo governmentrsquos independent strength to understand its actual grassroots reach and popularity But this strategy will hurt ruling alliance partners as at present the discontent against the Mahayuti seems to be high A miscalculation will prove costly as it will not only hurt the poll prospectus but also deepen the existing cracks within the FadnavisShindeAjit partnership exposing tensions that the ruling alliance partners so far have managed to keep under wrapsThis means the state government has less than three months to get its political house in order The growing anger in villages will directly impact elections for Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis while unrest in cities like Mumbai could shape the outcome of civic polls in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC and 28 other urban bodiesIf the government is serious those at the helm of affairs need to quickly fix the problem before damage is done beyond repair And the only way to fix the issue is to win back angry farmersrsquo trust in rural areas and in metro cities to come out with a solid reply and evidence to counter the Oppositionrsquos claimSanjeev Shivadekar is political editor midday He tweets SanjeevShivadekSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper