People across the country knew
the fate of the no-confidence motion called by the Opposition against the
Narendra Modi-led central government in the wake of the violence in Manipur.
But still, deep within, they were expecting the new Opposition alliance to come
up with an intense and intellectual criticism against the government.
Unfortunately, when the Opposition leaders rose to speak on the no-confidence
motion, there was nothing but some babbling, some citing of dialogues from old
Hindi movies followed by a walk-out from the House, thus leaving people in
despair. And hence I feel that even now, if there aren’tany amendments made in
the code of practice by the Opposition, in future, the Opposition – a crucial
constitutional system, will lose its worth.
This reminds me of reading about
the peace agreement signed in Punjab and Assam during the 80s and how the
Bharatiya Janata Party, the main Opposition party and its leaders had staged
intense resistance backed by intellectual arguments and coordination keeping
only national interest in mind. Let me briefly elaborate – in the 80s, violence
had flared up in states of Punjab and Assam. Both these states were
geopolitically very sensitive. There was a huge influx of Bangladeshi citizens
in Assam and the Assamese protested against this intrusion. But Indira Gandhi,
who was the Prime Minister at that time, had ignored this agitation. The locals
were agitated as the Bangladeshi infiltrators were getting their names added to
the voter lists. At that time, Atalji had asked Indira Gandhi to exclude the
names of the infiltrators, who came to Assam between 1961 and 1971, from the
voter list. But Indira Gandhi ignored it. Later, in February 1983, the Indira
Gandhi government suddenly came to terms when the natives’ discontent erupted
in Nelli in Assam. This culminated in the Assam Accord where it was agreed to
secure borders against future infiltration.
Be it Rajiv Gandhi’s agreement
with Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal for peace in Punjab or be it Indira Gandhi’s
measures to bring Bhindranwale under control in Punjab, the BJP leadership in
those days, had always kept differences aside and supported the then government
by even giving their suggestions from time to time. In June 1984, when Indira
Gandhi had contacted Atalji before carrying out the ‘Operation Blue Star’ in
Golden Temple, Atalji had suggested not to undertake this operation and that
she must resort to other means to drive Bhindranwale out of Golden Temple.
Atalji had warned of serious ramifications of sending the armed forces in the
Golden Temple. Veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta had commented adversely about
the Akali Dal – Bharatiya Janata Party alliance when violence in Punjab was at
its peak. At that time, Atalji had called on Gupta and told him the importance
of this Akali Dal -BJP alliance keeping the national interest in mind. When
Atalji, with conviction, stated that Bhindranwale was responsible for spreading
Hindu – Sikh enmity and that to foil his attempts the Akali Dal – BJP alliance
will be crucial, Shekhar Gupta recalled that he had stopped writing about it.
For BJP, national interest has
always been of paramount importance. Today, those who are talking on the
Manipur issue, need to be apprised of these instances as well. The violence in
Manipur is undoubtedly alarming. It has its own religious and ethnic facets but
it also has international references. In this perspective, keeping aside party
politics, it is necessary to look at the events in Manipur from the standpoint
of national interest. Similarly, in national interest a detailed discussion
and exchange of views was
expected from our policy makers in the Parliament. But instead, there was only
exchange of shallow metaphors like ‘Murder of Bharatmata’, etc. Even before the
no-confidence motion came up for debate in the Parliament, union home minister
Amit Shah had called for an all-party meeting to discuss the Manipur incident.
He had also appealed the Opposition leaders to come up with constructive
suggestions, proposals and initiatives regarding Manipur. But what we saw in
the Parliament was only rant that Prime Minister Modi did not visit Manipur.
At least after realizing that
their rant was getting monotonous and not yielding expected results, the
Opposition should have changed its strategy. But since they lacked this basic
understanding, they continued with their verbal onslaught. While talking during
such a discussion, the main Opposition leaders were expected to exhibit
thorough understanding of the situation. But expecting Rahul Gandhi to show an
understanding over such serious and sensitive issues is a futile attempt. His
advisors must have told him that in order to emerge as an effective Opposition
leader he must stand with hands on his waist and must take pauses in between
his speech while planting Salim Javed style dialogues. But hoping that he will
go beyond such advices and do his self-study on subjects like these is
expecting a bit too much from him. Also, by now, he has realized that by
criticizing Modi he can garner fame and hence he is least interested in
changing his approach. He also got applauded from his party MPs for delivering dialogues
like ‘Bharatmata ki hatya hui hai’.
History still remembers how,
after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, in November 1984 the Sikhs were
slaughtered by the mercenary thugs of Congress leaders in Delhi and a few other
places. At that time, Rahul’s father and then Prime Minister of India Mr. Rajiv
Gandhi in a filmy style had said that ‘when a big tree falls, the earth
shakes.’ When Sikhs were rampantly massacred, wasn’t it the ‘hatya’ of
Bharatmata? Hasn’t Rahul Gandhi heard stories of how Sajjan Kumar, HKL Bhagat,
Jagdish Tytler and other Congress leaders, with the help of police and the
entire government machinery, murdered Sikhs?
The conflict in Manipur is
between two local tribes and other local social groups. Things are gradually
coming under control here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while replying to the
debate in the Lok Sabha in a promising tone reassured that ‘peace will be
restored in Manipur’. He also informed that the wrongdoings by the concerned
state government or the local bodies, if any, will be rectified. Even the union
home minister Amit Shah made a moderate comment while speaking in the Lok Sabha
on the situation in Manipur. Had Rahul Gandhi carefully heard this speech and
then tried to come up with explanations and suggestions in an effective manner
to further improve this situation, he would have emerged as a ‘true leader’.
But since none of the Opposition leaders possess this mentality, they will have
to continue to sit in the Opposition only.
(Article Pre-Published in Times
of India -14 August. 2023)
Keshav Upadhye, Chief
Spokesperson
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