With just days until the results of India's massive general election are announced, it looks like the BJP is set to win a third consecutive term. But in spite of the odds, opposition parties are pushing to make a dent in the ruling party's likely victory.
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00:00An election rally for the All-India Trinamool Congress, or TMC, India's third biggest opposition
00:10party under firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee.
00:13Thousands of her supporters have shown up on the streets of Kolkata, where she serves
00:18as chief minister.
00:20They're trying to show there's an alternative to the ruling Biharatiya Janata Party, or
00:26BJP.
00:27If BJP wins, it's really a miracle, because in every state, anti-BJP projects, is now
00:33very much familiar to the citizens.
00:59With just days until the result of India's huge general election is announced, it seems
01:04that the BJP will secure itself a third consecutive term in government.
01:13The party's leader, incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been leading in public
01:18opinion polls, riding on the support of India's Hindu majority, who make up 80% of the population.
01:29But despite a likely loss, India's opposition parties, like TMC, are in the final push to
01:35muster together votes to demonstrate public disillusion with what they say is undemocratic
01:41rule under the BJP.
01:44What we fear is, what we have seen in the last ten years under the regime of BJP and
01:50the honourable Prime Minister, Mr Modi, is that the country is not progressing, it's
01:56progressing on paper.
01:58The voice of dissent are being silenced.
02:01Democracy is in danger.
02:03The Indian constitution, which gives equal right to every citizen to practice their own
02:10religion.
02:11People are being divided, or people are being polarised on basis of religion, caste, creed
02:17and colour.
02:1926 opposition parties have formed a coalition known as INDIA, India National Developmental
02:26Inclusive Alliance.
02:28They say the BJP is becoming increasingly authoritarian under Modi, with the country's
02:34Muslim minority facing more discrimination and even violence from Modi supporters' Hindu-centric
02:41rhetoric.
02:43Human rights groups also say the BJP's rule is constricting civil society, clamping down
02:49on critical voices and arbitrarily detaining journalists.
02:54Ruling BJP officials say that such claims are fabricated.
02:59These criticisms have arisen from the fact that the BJP is not a woke, liberal outfit.
03:12If you say that in terms of constitutional rights, in terms of welfare rights, in terms
03:16of any other rights Muslims have been discriminated against, it's a con art.
03:23It has not been found to be true at all.
03:26Political analysts say the opposition's claims of social marginalisation may fail to find
03:32an audience in this election.
03:34I think that's a narrative that the opposition has constructed, and quite reasonably so.
03:41But that's a narrative that's not being bought very well by the young voters.
03:46With polls showing that a BJP win is all but assured, the opposition is trying to unite
03:52under the loose INDIA coalition to make a dent in Modi's share of the vote.
03:59Just a couple of days until the results of the world's biggest election are announced
04:03and people here are not convinced that a BJP win is a done deal.
04:08They're hoping that by creating as much noise as possible, they can save India's democracy.
04:14John Su, Suvarn Pal and Sally Jensen in Kolkata for Taiwan Plus.