Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha not being invited for the state dinner of visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin is in absolute bad taste. Although the government was not bound by any reasons to invite them, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge should have been invited. Those having chosen to omit them from the guest list have not done any good to themselves or to the country. Rather, this has sent across a wrong message during the visit of the President of “all-weather friend” Russia.
There would have been grace in inviting them. The government should have left it to Gandhi and Kharge to decide and had they still abstained, the onus would have been on them.
Never ever have the ruling party and the Opposition been so hostile towards each other in Indian history since Independence. The only exception was the pre-emergency period when the Opposition led by Jai Prakash Narayan wanted to unsettle the Indira Gandhi government. The confrontation and strong resistance put up by the Opposition that time eventually led to Gandhi imposing emergency in the country.
While it is impossible to imagine any such situation emerging now that an emergency will “need” to be imposed, the hostile confrontation between the ruling party and the Opposition has touched another extreme. Normally and mostly the ruling and Opposition parties would restrict their rivalry, not enmity which now seems to be the case, to policies only. There always used to be social and interpersonal bonhomie between the two. There always used to be multiple meeting grounds among political rivals.
But sadly, that is no longer the case. Our ruling and Opposition leaders behave as if they are personal enemies to each other. A lot has been contributed by unrestricted and unregulated social media, the troll brigades of parties and also the spokespersons on both sides of the aisle. While the troll warriors are mostly anonymous, spokespersons who are the familiar faces resort to extremely rabid criticism against their political opponents, where they make no difference between policy matter and personal character. This, for sure, is being done to oblige their own bosses in their respective parties and score brownie points. But this creates bad blood.
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Imagine the Narsimha Rao-Vajpayee era, when Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao specially assigned Leader of the Opposition Atal Bihari Vajpayee to lead the Indian delegation to the United Nations to defend the country’s case against Pakistan. Imagine the External Affairs Minister of State and Finance Minister being part of the delegation that was led by the Leader of the Opposition. The country won the case and the cause then.
And remember when Rajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister specially included Vajpayee in a delegation of the Parliamentarians to visit the United States so that he could get treatment there. That was the era of grace and dignity.
Unfortunately, now the hostility between the ruling party and the Opposition is so extreme that it is unimaginable to think that the Prime Minister can trust the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament to represent and defend the country at some international forum. When US President Donald Trump criticised India and said the Indian economy was dead, he was seconded by Rahul Gandhi. While that really is not the case, even if it had been so, Gandhi should not have said so as Trump had derisively tried to hurt and humiliate Indian pride.
The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition do not see eye to eye with each other. They often resort to bitter personal criticism and attacks against each other, unbecoming of them. The rivalries have touched such an extreme that it is difficult to conclude who is at fault. The fault is mutual. So is the mistrust. This percolates deep to the grassroots level, which his further amplified by the ‘troll warriors’.
Like Rahul Gandhi said, the Opposition parties and leaders represent India as much as the ruling party and its leaders. Our foreign policy has always remained consistent and constant irrespective of the regime in power. Moreover, the Indo-Russian relationship owes much to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who signed the Indo-Russian friendship treaty that has stood the tests of the times. The point here is when it comes to national interest, whether it is the Congress or any other party, every other interest is kept aside.
It is high time that both the sides, the ruling as well as the Opposition, evolve a ‘minimum working relationship’ when it comes to national interest. That can be possible with inter-party confabulations. Ideally, the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition should be talking regularly, if not frequently. But that will only be possible when the two of them respect each other, at least for their respective constitutional positions. Rivalries should be left and restricted to elections. Let them find a middle path in the interest of their own nation, which belongs to everyone and whose interest must be paramount, beyond partisan and personal preferences and prejudices.
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