The Congress has finally taken the initiative to breathe oxygen into the INDIA bloc, which was in a state of paralysis since the Lok Sabha elections last year. And the last fortnight should, if anything, be a learning curve for the grand old party in Parliament coordination as well.
Before the start of the Monsoon session last month, the Congress convened an online meeting of Opposition floor leaders, something it had not done in the previous sessions held after the Lok Sabha elections. And in the last fortnight, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leaders of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, respectively, have chaired multiple meetings with their INDIA bloc partners to ensure smooth floor coordination. Now, the top leaders of the alliance will meet over dinner at Gandhi’s residence on Thursday and there is a planned march to the Election Commission (EC) headquarters in Delhi the day after.
Behind these moves is the Congress leadership’s understanding that it can rally Opposition parties — for a prolonged Parliament disruption or a campaign — only on issues of immediate concern to them. This is in contrast to a couple of sessions ago, when the party found itself almost isolated after it forced Parliament disruption over bribery allegations against industrialist Gautam Adani in the US.
The Congress and its allies again find themselves on the same page. While almost all of these parties had demanded convening a special session of Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, it was the EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar that actually alarmed them. Even when the government agreed to discuss Operation Sindoor in the House, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which was also keen on a debate, felt the Opposition should have extracted an assurance from the government that the SIR would also be debated.
For many of the Opposition parties, it is the prospect of a nationwide electoral roll revision that is of key concern. And that is what is uniting them. “Special Intensive Revision is a very serious issue…The EC, by way of revising the electoral rolls, is disqualifying many people from having their voting rights. In a country like India, fair and free elections have to be ensured… Asking to prove citizenship is not within the boundaries of the EC… Today it has started in Bihar, tomorrow it will be Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and all other parts of India… Opposition party voters will be deprived of voting,” senior DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said.
“Though we have numerous other issues, the entire Opposition, from the Left to the TMC and the Congress to the AAP, has come together to fight against the SIR because the original sir (head) of this SIR is sitting elsewhere (and) not in Nirvachan Sadan,” said CPI(M)’s John Brittas. His emphasis on the TMC and the Left and the AAP and the Congress — parties that have been bitter rivals — was not lost on anyone.
The AAP, which had walked out of the INDIA bloc, on Wednesday attended a joint Opposition press conference on the SIR issue, which has paralysed Parliament. The TMC, which does not consider itself part of the INDIA bloc, will attend Gandhi’s dinner. This is despite the fact that the Mamata Banerjee-led party would not like to be seen rubbing shoulders with the Congress or the Left just months before the West Bengal elections.
This is perhaps the lesson for the Congress. The revision of electoral rolls has become an existential concern for many in the Opposition and regional parties would be willing to join hands with it in disrupting Parliament on issues that concern them, especially federalism, including the allocation of funds or overreach by Governors. There is no coordination among the Opposition parties outside Parliament anyway.
Issues that matter
The regional parties may all talk in one voice on various issues, but what concerns them more are issues that hit closer to home. So, the TMC talks about SIR and in the same breath, it speaks of the alleged ill-treatment of Bengali migrants and the BJP’s “insult” of Bangla. With elections in Kerala just eight months away, the Left is as vociferous on the SIR as on the arrest of two nuns from the state in Chhattisgarh.
While the Congress will want to try and score some political points over the government on the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as Vice-President, many of the parties feel it has no resonance in their states. So, they will be happy giving token statements. For example, during the Budget session, the Samajwadi Party was more concerned about the stampede at the Kumbh Mela as it presented the Uttar Pradesh-based party a political opportunity to target the Yogi Adityanath government.
It is also a fact that some of the smaller parties are keen to see Parliament transact normal business so that they can ask questions and raise matters of concern to them. But most are on the same page on the SIR issue. That is why leaders of parties such as the CPI(M) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (India), which voiced concern about the continued disruption of Parliament at the INDIA bloc meeting on Tuesday, were at the joint Opposition press conference on SIR.
With the Opposition displaying a rare sense of consensus, the challenge before the Congress is to keep the unity intact for the Vice-Presidential elections on September 9. With the numbers clearly in favour of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), there is little surprise about the outcome. But many in the Opposition feel the choice of the joint candidate and a sharp political narrative on this is crucial.
“He or she (the V-P candidate) should not only be acceptable to all the parties we should be able to create a narrative… The candidate should not be any random person. There should be a story,” a leader said.
“Look at the choice of the BJP’s Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees. There is a clear narrative. Dalit, tribal woman, a so-called farmer’s son. We should take note,” said another leader.