by Rajesh Kumar Sinha 24 January 2024
It goes without saying that for a democratic state to survive and flourish, a strong, credible and active opposition is required. A delve into the Indian state since independence, however provides a dismal picture of the state of opposition politics in the country. The opposition during the post-independence era at best may be described as combative and directionless. The situation has not changed in the last 9-plus years of Modi-era either.
In the post-independence initial era of 1950s, the early demise of Sardar Patel saw the Congress emerging into a leader-based family party and that has not changed a bit since then. Congress gradually metamorphosed into a dynastic party led by a family, acting as the leader, face, guide and policy-maker of the party. During the entire Nehru period, prominent opposition leaders like Lohia, Gopalan, Gurupadswamy and others were mostly overshadowed by Nehru’s name.
In spite of his many blunders, the opposition politicians hardly were able to put him on the mat or confront him politically, inside the Parliament or beyond. No wonder, India during 1950-1964 ran almost wholly on the whims and fancies of Nehru, costing the country hugely in domains of economy (inspector, license raj, very slow economic growth, over bearing bureaucracy and a perceived self-acclaimed moral superiority), security (1962 debacle, gifting of UNSC Seat to China, internationalizing Kashmir issue) and so on. Some of the opposition stalwarts were virtually content being talked of in laudatory terms by Nehru and failed to take the government of the day to task on many issues of significance.
Shastri during his brief tenure had to face more opposition from within his party (especially from Indira Gandhi and her sycophants) and left early in January, 1966. Indira Gandhi though circumspect during her initial days, quickly gained control of the party, its organization and the country. Gradually, her domination over the Indian political discourse increased, her popularity peaking with the victory in Bangladesh War in 1971 and eventually suppressing the entire opposition, polity, media, judiciary during the emergency era. Her return in 1980 saw her slightly restrained in dealing with the opposition yet her strong-arm tactics in politics gained her the epithet, ‘Iron Lady of India.’
Rajiv Gandhi in his initial times as the PM like his mother was cautious, was quite open politically and tried to usher in a new era of reforms in the country. However, post-Bofors scandal, a lot of other political and economic issues was mishandled by him. Consequently, soon he too changed tunes and tried to ride roughshod the political opposition in which he succeeded only partially.
India saw a full-fledged non-Nehruvian politician at the helm for the first time in 1991. In spite of severe political and economic limitations, PV Narasimha Rao led the government and the nation in early 1990s quite admirably. India at that time was under severe economic stress and Rao, used his political skills to secure the support of both left and right opposition, in one form or the other, to get things done. Though his party never stood in support of him, Rao’s contribution to the remaking of Indian economy and foreign policy needs to be recognized and appreciated.
The Vajpayee-era saw a more nuanced and harmonious ruling-opposition discourse. As Vajpayee was more conciliatory in nature and leading a disparate coalition government, the need for such an approach was imperative. Though some of his decisions, including nuclear tests, Kargil invasion and (mis)handling of Indian Airlines hijack crisis led to some fireworks inside and outside Parliament, overall the period was one of the best as far as ruling-opposition party relations is concerned.
The 2004-2014 eras witnessed two kind of opposition, working simultaneously. With the head of government Dr Singh constantly seen as weak and vulnerable, he had to face an overtly aggressive BJP as the opposition, particularly during the post-2009 period. The first five years however, saw one of the principle coalition partners, leftist parties keeping the government on tenterhooks and incessantly bombarding it with all sorts of political ammunition that even brought the government on brink of collapse on the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2006, tacitly at the Chinese prodding.
The post-2014 period however, has witnessed unprecedented level of acrimony and distrust between the ruling party and the opposition. There have been instances of ruling BJP-led NDA alliance trying to ride roughshod against the opposition, especially on important issues like CAA and Farm Laws that required a more calibrated and consensual approach. However, the response of opposition, more particularly after the impressive electoral victory of BJP in 2019 general elections, has been extremely irresponsible.
The job of an opposition is to criticize but in more cases than none, it should act responsibly. The word ‘responsible’ is wholly missing from the performance of the opposition. Instead of holding and questioning the government on real issues of employment, seasonal inflation and issues of cohesion the society, most of the opposition parties Congress, left, regional parties and their leaders have led personal attacks against the PM Modi.
Many of the programmes of the government have helped in promoting the economy, national security and global image of the country. But the opposition has refused to acknowledge and talk about them. Instead, they have only been indulging in superficial issues. Few instances of illegality, atrocities against poor have been twisted to project the government as oppressor of minorities, specially Muslim and dalits which is far from true. As most common people, including poor and marginalized, have acknowledged the positive role of the incumbent government in promoting socio-economic development sans any discrimination.
The pathetic role of the opposition politicians and parties came to the fore during the peak of Covid crisis and endeavor for indigenous development of vaccines. Its sarcasm of ambitious but successful government push for Digital India and Made in India, along with direct unsubstantiated allegations of PM’s role in corruption, targeting of top Indian corporate and politicization of PSU reforms and India-China border conflicts are some of the major instances where the opposition has been seen and credibly perceived to be acting in connivance with forces inimical to country’s interests. No wonder, the current government continues to do well domestically and globally while PM Modi’s popularity ratings remain high.
The recent tweaking and re-making/re-branding of opposition parties in the form of I.N.D.I.A. is another attempt of disparate, desperate, non-credible leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Udhav Thakre, Rahul Gandhi, Yechuri, D Raja to form an instable alliance just to secure power and remove Modi. The fact that most of them, including Kejriwal who made the political entry with a lot of fanfare are facing the scanner of law-enforcement and anti-corruption agencies, effectively proves their collusion.
It is a fact that in most part of India’s 76-year of democratic polity, the opposition parties have failed to act as a responsible opposition. However, in the last 5-6 years, their role and actions have led many to question their credentials more explicitly. It is time the opposition gets into an effective reassessment of its role, expectations and behaves in a more rational, flexible manner…act opposition, not for the sake of opposition but for the sake of the people, society and the country.