BJP excesses: Can the opposition unite?

Tagore had written in an essay titled ‘What is a Nation?’ that it “is a vital spirit, a living entity” and in another he observed “everyone in a nation sacrifices his interest to promote the national interest.” But these have become theoretical propositions as people are not quite satisfied with the manner of functioning of leaders of most political parties, which leaves much to be desired as they do not have any national developmental perspective in mind.

In this connection it is significant to mention that a certain section of intellectuals have started raising their voice against certain policies of the NDA government which appear to be not quite conducive to the healthy growth of society. The fumes of hatred and religious animosity let loose in the country at the behest of the ruling consortium leading to decline in brotherhood and fellow-feeling has been a serious problem in recent times.

Apart from this aspect the somewhat autocratic attitude – which is quite normal for institutions with full powers at its command – of the government, leading to excesses is also another problem. The question arises what effect would these have in the state of affairs or to be more specific in the next Lok Sabha elections. However, much would depend on the shape of things that evolves in the coming months before the elections.

One may recall that the poor the state of governance in the country and reports of corruption at various places led to the rejection of the UPA government. Though things have started moving well after the NDA came to power with an inspirational leader in Modi backed by able implementation of various plans and programmes, there have been certain aspects in its functioning that have evoked widespread criticism.

Religion was never directly brought into politics by any previous government. This lack of religion and State has eaten away at India’s religious amity. It was stated that “the State shall not establish, endow or patronise any particular religion.” But unfortunately, the present government has started playing with this aspect by trying to highlight the Hindutva doctrine while neglecting the minorities, specially Muslims in the country.

A government should function on the basis of certain declared intentions of the parties that form the coalition not on the philosophy of organisations like the RSS, Hindu Mahasabha. This has led to growing animosity and led to violence in several parts of the country. Apart from all these, the lack of consolidation of forces against the present establishment is not quite strong.

Moreover, the Congress has not been able to provide the much-needed leadership to build a strong opposition. Added to this, the exit of Nitish Kumar from the opposition fold has been a serious setback. The surprise element in both UP and Bihar contributed immeasurably to the sense of dejection and desperation in opposition ranks.

Political analysts feel the significant fallout of this development has been that opposition unity has been further jeopardised. The Congress due to various factors which included lack of a viable leadership, previous involvement of its leaders in various scams and most importantly loss of contact with the masses has failed to pose a major challenge to the BJP and the present government. Its credibility is at a low peak and the grand alliance, which it may head before the Lok Sabha elections, may not prove to be quite effective.

This is because the NDA has been steadily gaining popularity through various programmes, with 2019 being somewhat of a foregone conclusion. Modi’s connect with the masses aided by the strategy of his party is increasing its popularity. However, there is criticism of some of his economic policies, specially those related to the farm sector. But with the present development in Bihar, the prospects for the BJP and the NDA have become still brighter.

Meanwhile, some remedial steps have been taken by the Congress. While Rahul Gandhi is making all efforts to reach out to the masses, a significant development has been the recent formation of All India Professionals Congress (AIPC) headed by Shashi Tharoor. This appears an ambitious initiative into a social realm that doesn’t make its political choices on an ideological basis.

The AIPC would have a national executive with city-level chapters as its basic building block to help professionals meet their aspirations and demands. Moreover, each chapter would have a Social Economic Welfare Action Committee (SEWA) to carry out projects/campaigns on economy, jobs, women’s empowerment, urban infrastructure, environment, health, education etc.

While this appears to be a significant step, there is also need to counter the BJP’s aggressive attitude in weaning out legislators from other parties which does not go well with the people. Added to this is the fact that only through money power, it could form the governments in Goa and Manipur though Congress was the largest single party. Even in Meghalaya, BJP formed the government through unscrupulous means.

It is time that there has to be a sustained campaign to propagate ideal secularism in the country, specially as there are various religious minorities having different religious beliefs and way of life. Whether it is Gandhi, Deen Dayal Upadhyay or many others all of whom talked of giving various religious groups the right to live their own way of life within the framework of the Constitution, this appears to be throttled presently.

The excesses being committed by the BJP needs to be corrected if they want to withstand opposition attempts to unify the parties. Moreover, its strategy of undermining leaders such as Nehru does not lead the NDA to any favourable position. The Congress has thus to build both an ideological and political campaign to counter the ruling party’s way of tackling social and political issues by involving the masses as also the educated elite.

Though there is no leader worth the stature Jayaprakash Narayan now, who will lead? Will Rahul be acceptable? Regional leaders like Naveen Patnaik, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Sitaram Yechury and others have to come forward unitedly to lead the campaign against the BJP. Most of these leaders have a relatively clean image and, as such, this would go a long way in receiving acceptability of the masses, a certain section of which are not quite satisfied with the NDA.

The State elections, especially that of Gujarat in November this year, before that of the Lok Sabha would only reflect how strong is the strength of the opposition. Though in Gujarat, reports indicate that Congress may increase its strength dislodging the BJP from power appears rather impossible. Meanwhile, at the national level, a lot needs to be done through strong organisational tie-ups and sustained campaigns in different parts of the country.

Finally, the character of politicians has to improve as also their dedication towards nation-building. Through greater stress on decentralisation and involvement of the panchayat raj institutions, governance of the system can become more responsive and reach the lowest tiers of the population. Whether the present government would be able to carry this forward and gain strength in the forthcoming elections or whether the opposition would consolidate and pose a sizeable force remains to be seen.

By Dhurjati Mukherjee