Floor meeting of opposition parties in the chamber of Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on December 15, 2023.
Counterpoint: When the Opposition is in disarray…
By Vivekanand Jha*The opposition alliance of I.N.D.I.A. after much ado of making soundbites at the initial stage during the formation of such an alliance to take on the Narendra Modi phenomenon appears to have slipped into hibernation, even if not in a comatose state, after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide victory in the recently held Assembly Elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh.
Unequivocally, the sullen mood in the opposition camp is becoming obvious. Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United supremo Nitish Kumar, who wanted to take the battle directly into the BJP camp by addressing a “mammoth” rally in Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi on December 24, 2023, unceremoniously called it off at the last moment for the reason best known to him. Did he apprehend any fiasco that could greet him, once he had gone ahead with his plan?
The very mood of the Opposition camp, in the wake of the recent drubbing of the Congress Party in the hustings in recent assembly elections, appears sombre.
The very architect of opposition unity, Nitish, faces a credibility crisis in the wake of his ramblings in Bihar Assembly, where he donned the role of a sex educator. He also lashed out with a derogatory overtone against Jiten Ram Manjhi, a former chief minister of the state.
In the meanwhile, several Aam Aadmi Party leaders – from Manish Sisodiya to Satyendra Jain –have been languishing in jail on the charges of corruption. Besides, Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha, for her alleged direct involvement in the cash-for-query scam, is a big jolt to the Opposition. Besides, the latest suspension of various opposition leaders cutting across party lines, including Derek O Brian (Trinamool Congress) of Rajya Sabha, and thirteen other leaders from Lok Sabha, for disrupting the proceedings of the House, on the account of the latest security breach at the Parliament House on December 22, 2023, too appears a strategic failure of the opposition parties.
To add insult to injury, the very semblance of opposition unity, which was pretended to be robust at the beginning of the formation of I.N.D.I.A, has already developed cracks. Take for example Akhilesh Yadav’s deep resentment against the Congress Party for not ceding the seats in its favour of the Samajwadi Party, which substantially irked Akhilesh into walking out of the alliance in spirit, even though in letter, he might remain with the Opposition. Another example is that of the Trinamool Congress Party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She, especially in the context of the decimation of the Congress Party at the hustings, has already upped the ante, and her party leaders have increasingly begun demanding the position of prime ministerial candidate for their leader.
Such incidents are enough indication of the fact that the members of I.N.D.I.A are increasingly at loggerheads for leadership positions.
Moreover, the wily Sharad Pawar, too, is reported to be increasingly wooed by Gautam Adani to move away from the opposition alliance. Mahua Moitra, along with Rahul Gandhi, were spewing venom against the Adani conglomerate, both inside and outside the Parliament.
It is more than obvious that the divide within the Opposition is so very strong, that the post of Convener of the I.N.D.I.A, remains vacant. This also means that the very aspiration of Nitish Kumar to grab the post continues to elude him as no one trusts him today. If the rumour mill is to be believed, Nitish Kumar’s reported meeting with Harivansh, the Rajya Sabha deputy Chairman who is perceived as close to Modi, for almost two hours, has even given rise to the speculations that he might once again switch sides. After all, the recent raids of the Enforcement Directorate at the offices and homes of a leader of Nitish’s alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal, has already accentuated the discomfiture of the Bihar Chief Minister. Further, the ‘job for land’ scam, where the family members of RJD supremo Laloo Yadav are purportedly involved, continues to give Laloo and his family sleepless nights.
Unequivocally, whereas the opposition is in tatters today, the BJP’s confidence is at an all-time high also because of the recent landslide victory of the BJP in the three states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, while improving its performance in Telangana –both its vote share as well as seats.
The elevation of far lesser-known people like Mohan Yadav and Bhajanlal Sharma, as the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, at the expense of the stalwarts like Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje, demonstrates the control that Modi wields today– what Modi thinks, he will do it. Unequivocally then, with BJP has reasons to be gung ho at a time when the general election is just around the corner.
*Author, Academician and Public Intellectual. Views expressed are personal.
