The just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament was virtually washed out. The so-called Hug Diplomacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly became an unsavoury national debate. Senior Congress leaders boycotted the Independence Day celebration at Red Fort. This is not to list the political developments of the last week but an attempt to find out which direction the world’s largest democracy is moving.
Looked at closely, a common thread behind these unpleasant developments can be linked to one individual, the uncrowned king of the Indian National Congress, the incumbent Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. He appears to be working with a single-point, though misguided, agenda that the Opposition must oppose everything the government does.
Surely, the ruling party cannot expect the Opposition to become its ally. However, one concept seems to have been buried. After failing to win an election, political parties invariably accepted the people’s verdict. They announce that they will work as a Constructive Opposition, a concept fast disappearing from the dictionary of Indian democracy. From day one, they, especially the Congress, start devising means to pull down a duly elected government instead of gaining the trust of voters who rejected their bid for power. They are no longer willing to bide their time, expose the government’s misdeeds, gain public trust, and then seek a mandate.
The larger question is: do people elect their representatives to raise their issues in Parliament, debate, and discuss? It is not for nothing that elected representatives are also called lawmakers. Has the present Opposition really fulfilled its designated role? Instead, MPs shout, raise slogans, create chaos, and force adjournments.
Fresh laws are still being made, as they must be, to keep pace with changing times. Unfortunately, the Opposition no longer debates these proposed laws, points out shortcomings, and presses for amendments. Instead, when it walks out, bills are passed by voice vote and become law without meaningful debate. If this goes on, a time may come when people will not vote for those they believe are best suited to represent them. They will be elected for their lung power, as the only job of an Opposition MP seems to have become shouting in the House at the loudest possible pitch.
Rahul Gandhi cries hoarse in India and abroad that democratic institutions are being demolished by the ruling BJP. What he forgets is that the principal Opposition party under his leadership is damaging the biggest democratic institution of all, Parliament. Since his only goal appears to be preventing the Treasury benches from functioning, he keeps shifting the goalpost. This is best illustrated by his demand for the resignation of the erstwhile education minister Dharmendra Pradhan as a condition for allowing Parliament to function. Pradhan resigned. But the logjam continued, with the Opposition demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah over the use of police force against students protesting paper leaks. The government agreed to Shah’s statement, but that too failed to end the logjam, as the demand then shifted to Shah’s resignation. Supposing Shah steps down, the next demand could be the Prime Minister’s resignation.
A democracy is not run by the whims and fancies of one leader but by established rules. More importantly, elections are not won by creating chaos; they are won by patiently earning the confidence of voters. A growing sense is emerging that Rahul Gandhi may not be the right person to hold the post of Leader of the Opposition, perhaps because of his inability to debate issues constructively. He has become more of a rabble-rouser, believing in the politics of shoot-and-scoot.
Issues such as where the Leader of the Opposition sat at the Independence Day celebration could have been debated publicly by arguing that the leader of a party that won 21.19 per cent of the Indian vote was being deliberately slighted. Notably, the difference between the Congress and the BJP in the 2024 elections was not as huge as many might think: it stood at 15.37 percentage points. If Rahul Gandhi had attended the Independence Day ceremony and made an issue of the inappropriate seating arrangement, it might have made a greater impact than boycotting it. What he and his advisers forgot was that it was a national celebration, not a BJP event.
It is not that everyone in the Congress agrees with him. They simply lack the courage to speak against someone raised with the understanding that he was born to rule, since his three previous generations ruled India for more than 37 years. He has been made to wait in the wings, something he appears unwilling to accept while the BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, remains firmly in power after repeated electoral victories.
There is no dearth of Congress leaders who can speak without creating a ruckus in the House and do so far more effectively. Sadly, they are in a minority. Sycophants masquerading as loyalists are ruling the roost, and few dare tell a Gandhi in the Congress that he is wrong.
The Opposition's job is not to make Parliament ungovernable. Its job is to make the government accountable. There is a world of difference between the two, and the Congress under Rahul Gandhi appears increasingly unable, or unwilling, to recognise it.
Ajay Jha is a senior journalist, author and political commentator.
