Ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament, the Opposition to the Narendra Modi Government is desperate to reinvent itself.
The Opposition, led by the Congress, has failed to put up a united voice in almost all the issues it had taken up — from the appointment of Nihalchand Meghwal into the Cabinet to the hike in Railways passenger fares – in the month since the Modi Government assumed office.
The other parties in Opposition – the AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and the Left parties – have remained sceptical about cooperating with the Congress on such protests. They maintain that the Modi Government is following the same route taken by the Manmohan Singh Government on policy issues.
The Opposition parties are likely to engage themselves in a more coordinated way during the Budget Session. The Congress believes that its future will be bright despite a massive defeat in this year’s elections.
“We will certainly have a good chance of proving ourselves right in the coming years,” said Congress leader and spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil. “There is a huge mismatch between what Modi promised during the campaign and what he is doing at the moment. Be it the spiralling prices, passenger fare hike or the induction of a rape accused in the Cabinet, it is apparent that Modi has fooled the people.”
Gohil, who was also an Opposition leader when Modi was Gujarat CM, said their protests did get response from the public, particularly in Mumbai and Delhi.
When asked why the protests were just token ones, he said the Congress will be a constructive Opposition. “There is a mandate for this Government. We, however, will be a proactive Opposition. Our protests were not for the sake of protesting. We get good response from the public,” he said. Indecision prevails, however, in the Opposition camps.
Leaders and spokespersons of the Congress were talking in different lines on what should be done to revive the party.
Party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who did not want to lead the Congress in Parliament, has been talking to various MPs from other parties. Apart from that, the party mechanism had to work overtime to douse the rebel trouble in States like Haryana, Maharashtra and Assam.
Lack of clarity In the Left parties too, though the central leadership has taken responsibility for the historic defeat, there is no clarity on the future direction.
In the Samajwadi Party, there is huge resentment against Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav. The Bahujan Samaj Party, too, has failed to assess the real reasons for the defeat and is struggling to revive itself in the heartland.
Presidential governance The CPI(M) said the initial actions of the Modi Government indicate that it is favouring a presidential type of governance. “Ordinances have been issued when a Parliament session was imminent, thus avoiding any democratic debate or accountability in Parliament,” said CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury.
“Ordinances have been issued to facilitate the appointment of chosen individuals in important positions of the PMO. These tendencies smack more of a presidential form of government rather than the constitutionally ordained form of parliamentary democracy.
“Tendencies aimed at undermining parliamentary democracy engendering authoritarianism.”