Arun Jaitley says opposition has no leader, calls its push a ‘rent-a-cause’ campaign

Arun Jaitley, writing after the first phase of voting in the Lok Sabha election, argued that the opposition had no leader and no central issue, and described its effort as a “rent-a-cause” campaign. He said the opposition’s leadership situation looked gloomier than he had expected.

His assessment of the first phase

Jaitley claimed that the ‘Modi’ factor was visible across the country, and that BJP president Amit Shah’s call to party workers to aim for half of the votes in BJP strongholds, even where opposition alliances existed, appeared to be working. He argued that the opposition was in disarray in many states, that alliances had not materialised and that multi-cornered contests helped the BJP. He pointed to sparring between the Left, the Trinamool and the Congress, and between the AAP and the Congress, and said BSP leader Mayawati and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee were attacking the Congress president.

Criticism of the opposition’s issues

He argued that removing a popular government needed real issues, and claimed the opposition had spent two years raising issues that did not exist. In his view, the campaigns on Rafale, loan waivers to industrialists and EVM tampering had not carried weight. He also criticised signature campaigns by academics, economists, former civil servants and others against the BJP, saying some signatories had not consented to their names being used.

Jaitley wrote that the opposition was seizing a new issue each day for a tweet or press briefing, citing comments on Pulwama, Balakot and the anti-satellite missile test. He also questioned Rahul Gandhi’s academic credentials, claiming he had received an M.Phil without a master’s degree. He concluded that the opposition had no leader, no alliance, no common minimum programme and no central issue.

What happened next

The BJP won 303 of 543 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and Narendra Modi was sworn in for a second term on 30 May 2019.

Originally published on 13 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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