Prof. M. K. Bhat
The biggest threat for any democracy lies in its weak opposition. A strong opposition acts as watch dog for the interests of people and a weak makes rulers autocratic. It fails to restrict the Government from taking any wrong decision. India today is undergoing a period of immature opposition. People today are not only disgruntled by acts of opposition for lack of its seriousness on crucial issues but its immature approach becomes evident through their acts of unity for self interest. They speak something, do the other way and have no manifesto for the welfare of people. They fight elections against each other and come together to oppose Modi Government and at times even compromise their ideological differences. People take them as non serious actors and are bound to take refuge in the policies of the present Government for its defined election manifesto for which it works steadfastly. The current opposition has given enough space to Government for promoting itself as the legitimate savior of the rights of people. Actually they had much earlier distanced themselves from the general public, but the lack of alternative was a compulsion for people. As Modi Government is unfolding its model of governance, people feel attracted and the development of last seventy years on the ground level is getting exposed. It is bound to create flutter in those who enjoyed all these years at the cost of the poor and downtrodden.
The Opposition is a victim of its past records and fails to react to the policies formulated by the present Government. Even a layman understands the importance of swatch abhyan, Jan Dhan Yojana, surgical strike or demonitisation to name a few. The absurd reactions from opposition have zeroed the things to Modi v/s Rest paradigm which directly adds to the stature of Modi and cuts opposition further to a low level in the eyes of general public. They unite not for the sake of country but to keep Modi out .The shaking of their fiefdoms often makes their unity a drama before people. Contrary to this the new time bound model of governance unfolded by the present regime is being appreciated by all.
The country today is getting polarized as pro Modi or anti Modi. The oratory skills of Modi, his clear concepts and his direct contact with public are making things quite difficult for opposition. In fact, Modi today stands atop to every politician of India in public perception. The bureaucracy seems as yet too far in activating itself so at sometimes the results are not as per calculations. It takes time to change the mind setup of bureaucrats. Those who enjoyed at the behest of their masters in the last seventy years are perplexed. They no doubt propagate the cause of their masters, but fail to understand the mood of public and become a suspect in the eyes of people.
The three big mistakes committed by opposition in 2016 gave enough space to Modi Government to propagate its sincerity and exposed opposition. These mistakes were the flimsy grounds on which 1) Intolerance 2) Surgical strike 3) Demonitisation, were criticised.
In case of intolerance, the ruling party openly propagated that the promulgators of emergency talk of intolerance and it clicked with people, and then the return of awards by the beneficiaries of previous regimes further rebounded. People not only doubted the intensions of award winners but even questioned the selection methods. The reason for not returning awards after Emergency or Bhagalpur incident or Sikh massacre was made clear to people through social media and they started to make a fun of award return drama. Those in Government exposed the opponents for showing cold shoulder towards the intolerance when Kashmiri pandits were put on the roads. Opposition believes that the memory of people is very short but the hardcore and live examples leave a lasting impression and cannot be totally ruled out.
The second mistake of opposition was its denial of surgical strike. Certain opposition leaders went to the extent of demanding proof of such strikes as if the soldiers had gone on a picnic across the borders. The number of soldiers falling to the bullets of the enemy country was enough to incite the reaction from public. The doubts raised by opposition were used by Pakistan as propaganda. This further infuriated people. It would have been prudent on the part of opposition to welcome the courageous move of the Government as Atal Bihari Vajpayee had acted at the time of 1971 war by terming Indira as Durga .This would have created positivity about their role in public.
The third mistake was agitation against demonitisation and stopping the parliament from doing its usual business. This not only taxed exchequer heavily but also exposed opposition. Demonitisation by all counts was much needed and no one can have any objection to the utility of this bold step. Opposition first demanded the presence of Modi and when this was overcome by his physical presence the next day they changed the goal post to something else. Some opposition leaders took position on this issue and people suspected their intensions for supporting black money holders. The illogical statement of getting an earth quake in the country became a laughing stock for people in the social media and made Rahul looked too small in front of Modi.
Opposition in the last two and half years never tried to oppose things in a constructive manner rather it resorted to the technique of opposition for the sake of opposition and created no value addition. They still feel themselves on the throne of Delhi and their boardroom politics is getting a befitting reply at the hands of Modi’s poor people centric policies. The present regime is currently dealing with basic things which should have been dealt much earlier. These policies get an instant touch with general public.
The recent past of the opposition parties being highly plagued with corruption charges is also haunting them. People have accepted certain parties as synonym for corruption, besides family based Indian politics at present is getting resentment in general public. Every family based party however big it may be, makes the seat reserved for the next kin of the same clan. Congress doesn’t see beyond its Yuvraj the same is the case with other parties. People term even the sacrifices of such leaders/ parties as an investment for furthering family prospects.
The acceptance of good intensions of the present Government, were quite evident from the discipline in lines outside banks and was also manifested by the election results in Chandigarh and other places. The present Government is working cautiously to provide good governance, transparency, accountability and better economic policies for downtrodden people. No case of corruption has come into existence in last two and half years of its rule in Delhi. Contrary to this opposition is still failing to realize that people are much smart than they appear to be.
Hope 2017 brings sense in opposition for the betterment of democracy.
(The author is Director (M.A.I.M.S) Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi)
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