The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha, which opened on Monday — after a flummoxing election in which the ruling BJP returned with an improved, sweeping mandate — casts a special burden on the truncated Opposition. It must now challenge the government on vital issues of the day without appearing churlish, but also with energy.
The ruling BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be under scrutiny. It must not seem overbearing or disdainful of political and ideological opponents. Genuine debate must take precedence over the mere thumping of desks and show of hands by the ruling party in a display of deadening triumphalism. If that were to happen, the emergence of democratic authoritarianism will be on everyone’s lips.
While the Speaker, to be elected in a couple of days, will obviously have an important procedural role to play in the running of the House, the signal for fair play must emanate from the powerful PM himself, such is the structure of power — and its channels of articulation — in a country like India in which, especially of late, those at the top seem to count for more than the formal institutions of democracy.
The current state of the Congress, the largest Opposition party, cannot but be a matter of concern in a scenario such as this. While the principal Opposition party has elected Sonia Gandhi as leader of its parliamentary party, the party’s leaders in the two Houses have not yet been named.
This is perhaps down to Rahul Gandhi. The Congress president took moral responsibility for his party’s emphatic electoral defeat and announced his resignation, but his party has so far refused to let him go. Whatever its inner workings, this is hurting not just the Congress as a party, with confusion prevailing at the Centre and in the states, but also the work of the Opposition in Parliament. Even if Mr Gandhi insists on stepping down as party chief, he should take charge as the leader of the Congress group in the Lok Sabha.
In recent years his voice has gained gravitas. The Lok Sabha will be the principal forum of jousting between the government and the Opposition. When major national political battles are fought, it is in this House that they are inaugurated and find their most publicised articulation.
At the all-party meeting on Sunday, on the eve of the Parliament session, the PM renewed his appeal for “one nation, one election”, and urged the Opposition to not be obstructive. At a time when the country is faced with a financial stasis, plummeting economic growth, the sharpest unemployment in 45 years, and pressure on food prices, any action by the Opposition, or criticism, can be misconstrued as obstructionism. This must be avoided at any costs and the Opposition must speak in a persuasive but strong voice.
