NEW DELHI: In the current protest-prone charged up environment, there are challenges that afflict the government and the principal opposition party alike. The Congress may be preening itself on the tough time it gave Narendra Modi’s government in Parliament, but all indications are that the crisis of leadership it has faced ever since party vice-president Rahul Gandhi came to the forefront is not ebbing anytime soon.
Under the independent initiative of NCP president Sharad Pawar, a non-Congress non-BJP front is being floated. The language of protest marked this too, as Pawar led his first proper farmers’ rally in 35 years.
What was as striking as the Congress’s omission from those who are now in coordination mode—which includes the JD-U’s Sharad Yadav and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee—is the surprise new addition: Arvind Kejriwal, a politician who has believed in going solo till now.
Pawar has obviously settled on the most salient face of the opposition to the BJP, and the worry for the Congress is that it’s not Rahul Gandhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also at the centre of a parallel initiative on federalism where it’s again coordinating with other parties, a first for AAP. Among those attending its seminar on federalism is the CPI-M, a fact that may hold some significance in the future.
As for the Central government, it has initiated a two-pronged response to the challenge it faces in Parliament and outside from a belligerent Opposition. Up front, it used the ceremonial occasion of August 15 to put on a confident, responsive face.
In his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, Modi addressed three areas on which the Opposition targeted his government: corruption, farmers and their lands, and disaffection among ex-servicemen. All of this was wrapped up in a feel-good, pro-growth slogan, ‘Stand up India, Start up India’.
But while Modi upped the ante in a politically loaded speech, virtually equating the UPA rule with corruption, behind the scenes there might lurk the possibility of diplomacy and dialogue, at least for a limited purpose.
The clue to this lies in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government is considering a three-day special session of Parliament towards the end of August to push through the crucial GST Bill.
With the Congress still showing no signs of retreating from its uncompromising stance, it is obvious that even a special session may not prove fruitful if the principal opposition party carries its unhelpful attitude into it.
So a degree of softening and give-and-take may be a prerequisite if the key legislation has to fructify. Indications are that the government may open channels in the next few days. But the necessity of accomplishing this with honour intact forces the government to keep up its morale-boosting and positive vibe, with one eye on the upcoming Bihar election.
Countering the damage it may have suffered in public perception due to the Lalit Modi episode and Vyapam scam is essential for that.
And so, the PM emphasised a zero tolerance approach. He made it a point to cite the high number of anti-corruption cases the NDA regime has filed in just one year (1,800) against the “800 filed by the UPA” in a decade.
The disaffection that could have been spread among India’s farmers on account of the now-retracted Land Acquisition Bill was another focus area. The renaming of the Agriculture Ministry as Farmer Welfare Ministry signified this outreach. This, combined with tactful retreat from the hitherto maximalist position on the Bill may prove crucial in Bihar, for the BJPs opponents could have made political capital out of it.
Modi was also at pains to assuage the feelings of ex-servicemen, who are presently in protest over the delay in announcing the one-rank-one-pension (OROP) policy. He was committed to bringing in OROP, and the delay was only due to last-minute fiscal fine-tuning, he promised.
The fruits of the present initiative, conducted on various fronts, will be visible in coming days.