As India returns to the coalition era after a gap of 10 years with Narendra Modi being sworn Prime Minister of the NDA ministry, the Opposition has a major role to ensure that the institutions of the country function and that it remains democratic upholding constitutional values. For it to happen, the Opposition also has to function as a well-knit coalition.
The strength of the Opposition in the 18th Lok Sabha has almost doubled from that in the previous one. Rules dictate that the leader of the largest Opposition party with not less than 10 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha be named the Leader of the Opposition. The Congress will get the position now, a privilege that was denied to it in the previous two Houses because it fell short of wining the required number of seats.
The rise in the Congress’ numbers reflects the popular mood, too, as well as the shape of the polity. The people had overwhelmingly approved the saffron agenda and given Mr Modi and his team the mandate to run the government in the last two consecutive terms. The very same people have now decided that the BJP and Mr Modi seek a larger consensus instead of unilaterally guiding the nation.
It is now for the Opposition to ensure that the government acts as per the will of the people. In fact, it has been appointed by them as the executioners of their will. The previous two Lok Sabhas witnessed the sight of the government getting bills, even very important ones, passed in a hurry, owing to the failure of an emaciated Opposition to put up a resistance. The government did get almost the entire Opposition suspended from Parliament using its brute majority in the previous Lok Sabha’s last session. Never mind if such acts run contradictory to the principles of democracy.
The INDIA bloc that was formed last year represents a wide variety of opinions and aspirations which at times lie in contradiction to one another. A major chunk of the bloc is formed by regional and state parties which will have their respective agendas. In fact, several of them fight each other in their own strongholds. But it is their collective antipathy towards the saffron ideology and the BJP’s style of governance that keep them together. The Congress will, therefore, have a tough time keeping the INDIA alliance together.
That the BJP depends on two allies who have joined the alliance a few months ago to run the government will be a cause of concern for the Opposition. The BJP has a history of dividing and/or swallowing its allies in the states; there is no reason why it would not try it at the Centre as well. The ruling party will legitimately use the difference of opinion among the Opposition ranks to woo away potential allies, too, for it has power and pelf to offer in return. It will be up to the Congress and Mr Rahul Gandhi, whom the party has named as the Leader of Opposition, to ensure that consensus becomes the language of transaction and also to force the government to speak this language.
