Anil Anand
My way or highway increasingly seems to have become a norm steadfastly being followed by the Indian political system more so the ruling BJP and the premier opposition party the Congress. The approach which appeared in patches in the past decades started strongly emerging during UPA-II with BJP, then in opposition, taking the cake. It is the reversal of role in the current context.
The question has become pertinent in the face of logjam which has led to the near wash out of the ongoing Monsoon Session which is almost in its last leg. The stalemate is more due to my- way or highway approach incidentally adopted both by the ruling dispensation and the Opposition (read Congress) than anything else.
Such situations had arisen in the past as well that had led to acrimonious exchanges leading to disruption of the two Houses of Parliament for days together. At the end discovery of some meeting ground led to the resolution of disputes. It happened primarily due to willingness of leaders, particularly on the ruling side, to offer and accept a chance to break the logjam.
The current situation in Parliament 2015 is not only entirely different but has acquired dangerous proportions in more than one ways. The most alarming, which is fraught with alarming consequence of setting a bad precedent, has been the total silence on the part of Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and his ostensible unwillingness to establish a contact with the Opposition leaders which has led to confusion both in the ruling as well as the Opposition camps.
Mr Modi, eversince his thumping victory in last Lok Sabha elections, has shown penchant to follow out-of-the-box methods to tackle issues and even shunned traditional ways of electoral politics and in the matter of governance as well. One had hoped that he would tread the same path to break the Parliament deadlock. But from all available indications it appears that he is not inclined to adopt any first-approach doctrine towards the Opposition leaders.
The Prime Minister’s political advisors must be best placed to guide him in adopting a tough demeanour. But in the Parliamentary democracy such tough posturing or more succinctly putting across, political arrogance has no place. Posturing is certainly an important component of politics in a democracy but certainly should not be an end in itself. If that be the result is what the people are witnessing in the current Parliament Session.
Since there are no indications of Mr Modi looking for some out-of-the-box solutions to resolve present crisis, it can be safely said that he could have tried one or two traditional approaches or followed the precedents. A tried and tested mechanism, successfully followed in the past, is a phone call as ameans of breaking the ice with agitated Opposition leaders.
It is still not clear weather Mr Modi would follow this precedent which has been successfully tried in the past by leading political lights such as Mrs Indira Gandhi, Mr P V Narsimharao, Mr V P Singh, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee ( all former Prime Ministers) and more recently the then UPA chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi who was the symbol of concentration of political power during the UPA rule. The results were for everyone to see.
The other mechanism often adopted by the ruling parties, in particular, is to convene an all party meeting. A free and fair discussion with the Government of the day showing its willingness to offer elbow space to the Opposition, most of the times in the shape of a face saver, makes all the difference.
For unexplained reasons Mr Modi thought it prudent not to attend the all party meet convened by his party and Government managers. One ostensible suggestion which his advisors would have made in not attending the meeting is the obduracy of the Opposition to scale down that could have led to embarrassing moments for the Prime Minister. If it is so then perhaps they have forgotten that such an exercise is meant to face the wrath and then ultimately find a way out of the situation.
Political parties, be it the ruling or Opposition, have a unique art of justifying their actions even if it is not convincing the people. Parliamentary affairs minister Mr M Venkaiah Naidu said the all-party meeting was convened to break the logjam, but the Congress continued to stick to its demand for the resignations.
Congress leader Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was happy that the government called the meeting, but said that “unfortunately, it wants to run the House on its own terms and conditions”.
This is an index of the stalemates that result out of mindless adversarial politics. And an exercise such as the all party meeting is meant to find common minimum ground as a way out of the politics of rivalry at least in the matter of Parliament functioning.
Unfortunately, the ‘Luxman Rekha’ defining the electoral politics and Parliamentary practices has almost evaporated. The mechanism to resolve disputes related to Government and the Parliamentary issues is absolutely different from direct hitting and mud-slinging usually attached to routine politics. There are definitely no meeting grounds in the normal competitive politics. But that is not true of Parliament/ Legislators where the two sides differ to finally converge at some point in public interest.
As the dictum goes, it is the responsibility of the Government of the day to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament or state legislators. Mostly, the dictum is followed by the political parties as long as they are in the Opposition. The context changes with the shifting to the Treasury benches.
The ten years of UPA rule followed by the current BJP-led NDA government are the glaring examples of this political flip-flop which has been the outcome of political arrogance and expediency. These factors are avoidable and should be shunned in the overall interest of the Parliamentary democracy and well-being of the nation.
Both the Ruling and the Opposition should avoide my-way or highway approach which is glaring in the ongoing stalemate. A more accommodative posture particularly by the dispensation in power is what is needed. The Monsoon Session, true to its nomenclature, has been washed not by rains but by political hardline. Endeavour should be made to save the next Winter Session.
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