THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- February 7, 2018 - Topic 1

Friends on BJP and its disgruntled allies

Alliances are needed most in wartime, even if they are best made in peacetime. The Bharatiya Janata Party does not depend on the numerical strength of any alliance partner for its survival in government at the Centre, but it could well need all the help it can get in 2019 for the next Lok Sabha election. In the south, where it requires electoral partners the most, the BJP counts only on the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, but the strains are beginning to show on this long-standing friendship. 

Suddenly, the BJP finds itself having to deal with a belligerent TDP, which is under some political pressure to demonstrate to its support base that it is doing all it can to get the best deal for the State from the Centre. Also, the glue that bound these two parties earlier — that of anti-Congressism — is wearing somewhat thin now. After the founding of Telangana, the Congress is no longer the TDP’s principal rival in Andhra Pradesh, with the YSRCP under the leadership of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy having emerged as a powerful political player. The TDP is painfully aware that the old relationship notwithstanding, the BJP may see the YSRCP as a potential ally, a party that it can do business with if the circumstances so demand. As things stand, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is reluctant to snap the tie. But it will be no surprise if he continues to ramp up pressure on a BJP that has been put on the defensive thanks to the mauling in the Rajasthan by-elections and the growing disaffection among a couple of its other allies.

In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has been on a confrontation course for some time now, and in Punjab the Shiromani Akali Dal has recently turned just short of hostile. The reasons for the strain in each of the three States are of course very different. In Maharashtra, the BJP and the Shiv Sena court a similar political constituency and to a large extent each can grow only at the expense of the other. This contradiction between being an ally at one level and a rival at another level is a source of perennial strain, which is why both parties prefer a post-electoral tie-up, as they did after the Assembly election of 2014, to a pre-election alliance. In Punjab, the BJP and the Akali Dal occupy different political spaces. While the former is no threat to the latter, the Akali Dal is chafing at what it sees as step-motherly treatment meted out to it. If in Andhra Pradesh the BJP has a choice of allies and if it is better off without one in Maharashtra, the situation in Punjab is different inasmuch as the Akali Dal remains its best bet. The BJP may not need to rethink all its alliances, but it must rework its relationships with its allies if it wants to head a strong coalition of forces in 2019.

Vocabulary

Alliance: a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations.

Example: A defensive alliance between Australia and New Zealand

Synonyms: association, union, league, confederation, federation

Antonyms: antagonism, discord, disunion, divorce, enmity

Survival: the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances.

Example: The animal's chances of survival were pretty low

Synonyms: selection, survival of the fittest, natural selection

Belligerent: hostile and aggressive.

Example: A bull-necked, belligerent old man

Synonyms: hostile, aggressive, threatening, antagonistic, warlike

Antonyms: peaceable, amicable, peaceful

Demonstrate: clearly show the existence or truth of (something) by giving proof or evidence.

Example: Their shameful silence demonstrates their ineptitude

Synonyms: reveal, bespeak, indicate, signify, signal, denote, show

Potential: having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.

Example: A two-pronged campaign to woo potential customers

Synonyms: possible, likely, prospective, future, probable

Antonyms: actual, effective, retrospective, existent

Reluctant: unwilling and hesitant; disinclined.

Example: She seemed reluctant to discuss the matter

Synonyms: unwilling, disinclined, unenthusiastic, resistant, resisting

Antonyms: eager, inclined, willing

Maul: wound a person or animal by scratching and tearing.

Example: The herdsmen were mauled by lions

Synonyms: savage, attack, tear to pieces, lacerate, claw

Strain: a force tending to pull or stretch something to an extreme or damaging degree.

Example: The usual type of chair puts an enormous strain on the spine

Synonyms: tension, tightness, tautness

Antonyms: unlax, relax, loosen up, make relaxed, unstrain

Contradiction: a combination of statements, ideas, or features of a situation that are opposed to one another.

Example: The proposed new system suffers from a set of internal contradictions

Synonyms: absurdity, demonstration, nonsense, paradox, sophism

Antonyms: axiom, truism

Perennial: lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.

Example: His perennial distrust of the media

Synonyms: abiding, enduring, lasting, everlasting, perpetual, eternal

Antonyms: one-year, biennial, two-year, annual, sporadic, short

Strain: a force tending to pull or stretch something to an extreme or damaging degree.

Example: The usual type of chair puts an enormous strain on the spine

Synonyms: tension, tightness, tautness

Antonyms: unlax, relax, loosen up, make relaxed

Mete: dispense or allot justice, a punishment, or harsh treatment.

Example: He denounced the maltreatment meted out to minorities

Coalition: an alliance for combined action, especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government or of states.

Example: A coalition of conservatives and disaffected Democrats

Synonyms: alliance, union, partnership, bloc, caucus, federation, league

Antonyms: antagonism, discord, disunion, divorce