The position of the Leader of the Opposition presents a golden opportunity to anyone not only to prove his/her leadership qualities, but also his/her oratorical skills as well. Rahul Gandhi has got this opportunity.
Moreover, almost the entire opposition is united behind him through the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). This is an additional advantage for him, which other Leaders of Opposition in the past have mostly lacked.
However, Rahul either does not seem to realise the significance and importance of the position, or is not taking his job seriously. Being the Leader of the Opposition he is actually expected to lead the opposition against the government inside the house.
Somehow the ‘floor-managers’ within the Congress, if there are any, instead of planning to corner the government on the floor of the house appear to have opted for an easy way out by raking up the ‘Adani’ issue.
Given the strength and robustness of the opposition parties and their hostility towards the BJP, the Congress gets additional support in disrupting the house.
Rahul could have planned his strategy in a much better way. In fact there is no strategy right now. The opposition party MPs, including those from the Congress appear to be focused on ensuring the disruption and consequent adjournment of the house, without letting any business in the house get conducted.
In the due course the ‘treasury benches’ have also adopted the same strategy that “if you (the opposition) can do it (disruptions) we can do it better”.
Eventually the precious time of the parliament is getting wasted and the country is looking towards a washout. It is the opposition that gets blamed for disrupting the house in the public perception.
Rahul should take a queue from his predecessors, both from the Congress as well as the non-Congress parties, particularly the BJP leaders of opposition like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj who won the hearts of the people across the country with their great oratorical skills.
It is not that Rahul cannot speak like them. If and when he speaks, he does make a forceful impression.
But the only thing is “if” he speaks and takes the lead inside the house. During the last two sessions, since he became the Leader of the Opposition, he has not proved to be an effective leader.
The Leader of the Opposition sets the agenda for the house to at least discuss and debate. But what Rahul did recently only showed his lack of seriousness about the job he is primarily supposed to do.
Conducting mock interviews of Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Modi outside the parliament, certainly did not suit the dignity and the persona of a leader who aspires to be the Prime Minister of the country.
These may end up as good social media ‘reels’ and memes, but these certainly do not make any serious impression on anyone.
Also, Rahul is overstretching the Adani issue beyond reasonable limits.
It is alright to refer to his proximity with the Prime Minister and the benefits he is deriving from the relationship for a while. It is also Rahul’s duty to question if Adani is establishing any monopoly. But he will need to convince the people of the country with logic and reason. Otherwise, it looks like he is against Adani, just because of his being close to the Prime Minister.
All big businessmen are close to the powers that be. Moreover, Rahul appears to be dragging the issue beyond limits leading to ‘Adani fatigue’ across the country, possibly even among his supporters also.
Rahul can take some lessons about the business-government relationship from the party seniors as the Congress has been in power in the country for most of the time since independence. That time there was the additional advantage for the government to exercise discretion through ‘licence-permit-raj’. Now it is an open competition.
Moreover, the ‘Adanis’ are not the only ones close to the government and getting advantages. There are others also. No business can survive without government support. The difference in patronage they enjoy is of degrees only.
No country can survive without the private business conglomerates.
They are the wealth and job creators. They help and supplement the governments in building up and strengthening the economy. Demonising them is an outdated and outrageous idea influenced by the extreme left.
Rahul runs the risk of squandering away the precious opportunity he has got.
He should take the hints as various opposition parties in the INDIA bloc are already making noise for change of leadership in the INDIA bloc. This is a clear disapproval of the way of his functioning and conducting himself. The leader of the opposition is and should not be known to lead the ruckus and disruptions and mock interviews.
He should provoke the nation to think, to debate and discuss. That is how he can and will be taken seriously. And it is not that there is any dearth of issues in the country, which he can take up.
He needs to come out of the ‘Adani-trap’ as also the ‘caste-census’ and claims that just ’90 privileged officers’ running the country, while 90 percent Indians, according to him, remain deprived even after 77 years of independence. Rahul should not squander away the opportunity.
Unfortunately, nobody within the party is telling him that, either they don’t want to tell him or they don’t dare to tell him. Both ways, it is a disadvantage for him, his party and the country as a whole.
Because, the country needs a strong and effective Leader of Opposition as much as it needs a strong Prime Minister.
The onus lies on Rahul to take the responsibility.
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