The opposition should have ideally drawn an appropriate strategy to checkmate the ruling party, but nothing of that sort has happened till now.
In a democratic system particularly in the parliamentary form, the role of the opposition is very crucial for making governance effective, people oriented and equitable.
After the incredible victory of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the April-May held Lok Sabha elections this year, the opposition parties without an exception are rudderless, not knowing what to do against political rivals like the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah doubling as de-facto party chief.
A clear message from its worst ever defeat in the Lok Sabha polls for the entire opposition including the Congress, is that, unless they draw appropriate lessons from their massive defeat they are not very far from their respective extinction. The lack of an effective opposition is already a tragedy for the parliamentary democracy but complete extinction would be its death.
The country’s oldest party-the Congress- is in a state of utter confusion having failed to rise to the occasion to find a suitable leader to replace Rahul Gandhi who had resigned from party’s leadership in the wake of the party’s second successive defeat in the general elections. Other parties are in no better position to play the role of democratic watchdogs in the parliamentary form of democracy. Over a month has lapsed since the announcement of the results of the general elections, yet no opposition party has come out either with a strategy or a concrete proposal to counter moves of the government.
Ideally, the opposition while remaining alert should have drawn an appropriate strategy and an effective action plan to checkmate the ruling party inside Parliament and outside but nothing of that sort has happened till now.
Though the battle for ballots is ideological yet, at the same time, it requires not only a convincing narrative but also an emotional connect with the large sections of society. There is no doubt that the Hindutva driven nationalism threatened by internal as well as external enemies is on the march. While Pakistan symbolises the external enemy, forces within are Muslims. Massive propaganda machinery of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) successfully drilled in gullible minds that Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone can defend the Indian nation.
Victory at any cost whether through fair or foul means is the motto of the ruling party. The BJP, being in the government, had multifold advantages and would continue to have it even in subsequent Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The scenario is not going to be changed in 2024 either.
In the given conditions, the opposition indeed requires a serious introspection to be able to come up to the challenges that exist today. While the Congress has relatively more responsibility to take a sincere initiative to unite the opposition, the first step should be to invite all those political parties like leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), YSR Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for serious deliberations on forging a unity. Such an initiative, even if does not get an adequate response, is sure to create a positive political environment that will find resonance among people at large.
The call for unity should go from the collective set of leaders of the Congress making it clear that all top posts including that of the party chief of the new Congress would be open for contest. To begin with, a committee of senior leaders of those parties that emerged from the Congress should be formed to prepare the blue print of unity. The NCP chief Sharad Pawar should head the committee.
Parallely, the left parties or the parties that formed the Left Front in West Bengal and Kerala should take similar step towards unity. In this direction, the CPM should take the lead and form a committee. In the same manner, former socialist leaders should also take the initiative.
After the unity, these broader ideological forces that were part of the freedom movement and dominated the post-independence politics of the country before the rise of the BJP on the scene should form a federal alliance that should work towards evolving a common vision of the country that is inclusive and implementable.
Common vision should be shorn of rhetoric and high- sounding ideological verbosity and should contain ideas that have the potential of changing the lives of the ordinary citizen and common persons. This is all the more important because the RSS-BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi has successfully created an environment of anti-intellectualism in the country.
High university degrees and education in premium academic institutions and institutes of higher learning have become suspect in the eyes of those living in small towns, villages and deprived pockets of the urban conglomerates. Not only suspect, they have come to be identified as anti-nationals.
Therefore, systemic work is required to re-establish the credibility of academics. For this, common vision would need to focus on primary and high secondary level education system where corrective steps are urgently required.
The biggest challenge today is to prepare a counter narrative to counter the Hindutva narrative and for that the secular forces need not take an-anti-religion stand while fighting against the fundamentalist forces of all hues including that of Islam. Sanatan Dharm is one broad concept embedded in the popular ethos of the country through which Hindutva could be effectively challenged and countered. Each political party that emerges after the unification process would have to work at the grassroot level to extract the venom that is being injected in the society by the Sangh and the BJP.
If the opposition continues to remain divided and is not ready at all to play its expected role, people alone would have to rise to the occasion to teach these irresponsible parties,that seem to have lost the will to play the expected and designated role, a lesson.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Satish Misra was Senior Fellow at ORF. He has been a journalist for many years. He has a PhD in International Affairs from Humboldt University ...
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