Even as the Opposition has upped its anti-demonetisation rhetoric over the past week since it was announced, the Government is digging in its heels, standing firmly by it.
It’s yet another major face-off in a nation polarised on debates, but who comes across on a moral high ground?
The Opposition – and the Government -- will be judged at the polls not on opposition to government itself, but the issues the rival parties pick on.
At the moment, for instance, the Opposition is ganging up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reverse demonetisation even when credible authorities like the International Monetary Fund, besides various economists, have welcomed the initiative as a way to curb black money.
In their wisdom, the Opposition parties have chosen to focus on the step to clampdown on black money, picking it over the Bhopal "jail break" where undertrials were shot dead in a controversial encounter – a number of loopholes in the police theory are widely reported -- followed by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister saying no questions should be asked.
Further, the Chief Minister, in a seeming bid to justify the state killings, made a sensational claim linking the SIMI prisoners to biryani eating in jail – a taunt with communal undertones, given Ujjwal Nikam had said the same for Kasab and admitted later it was a lie to incite passions and move the case against the terrorist.
This is shocking also because "biryani" is a dog whistle for minority-targeting in the extreme Right wing whose members are core supporters of the Government and seen as being emboldened by rhetoric. A sitting Chief Minister of the ruling party must be held responsible for such insinuations, especially as later reports say no biryani was involved.
The Right has won in US and India but from the perspective of secular democracies that US and India are, the chief work of the losing Left-liberals, namely the Opposition and the media, is to hold the ruling party to account on bigotry, inciting anti-minority sentiments and authoritarian tendencies that leaders of the winning party or their supporters have displayed at some or various points in their rise.
The US, which saw the Republicans, represented by Donald Trump, win the election in what was termed as a “stunning victory” last week, has got this right away. The widely respected Democrat Bernie Sanders, who lost the primaries to Hillary Clinton, was quoted early after the defeat, saying he is ready to work with Donald Trump, but not with his “racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti environment policies”.
After the win, TV personality Stephen Colbert is bringing up these very issues on his show, to keep them alive almost like a secular-liberal to-watch list. A new, improved Trump, on his part, is responding by deleting his sensational “all Muslims will be banned” election promise from his website and making pleas of unity and peace, and praising the liberal Obama as a very funny and a great guy.
On the other hand, the Opposition and media in India are either ignoring or coming out in support of these issues, instead of locking horns with the Government on policy, which will be seen as obstructionist politics.
There are no doubt problems – foreseen or unforeseen -- in the execution of the demonetisation scheme, but the man in the pilot's seat has conceded as much and asked to bear with the initial trouble for 50 days. The Opposition not willing to do so will alienate masses who see it as a concrete move to remove black money.
And this is not even the conservative traders core base of Modi but the urban and rural middle classes and poor, traditionally Congress supporters, who are positioned as those standing to benefit by removal of black money from the system -- “corruption free” India is an election promise that resonated with voters in 2014, and was seen as leading to Modi’s win.
On issues such as free speech or "sedition" on JNU campus -- certainly issues of individual rights and free speech, which should be the ideals represented by the non-conservative Opposition -- the Congress is seen as being busy agreeing with the Government. It even got an MLA suspended in Maharashtra Assembly for objecting to forced chanting of “nationalist” Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan. The Opposition had also raised a ruckus on the documentary India's Daughter as being “anti national” and damaging the image of India, helping in its ban by the Government.
The media is no better – news channels are seen going on the anti-national rampage often, like in drumming up support for “ban of Pakistan actors” – a targeting of individuals when even the Government has announced no change in civil or trade ties -- after the surgical strikes announced by the Army.
Even in the case of the Dadri lynching the “growing intolerance” flag raised – justifiably, as Hindutva elements seemed to give anti-Muslims speeches in the aftermath – was by members of the civil society. In pubic memory, intelligentsia owns the “growing intolerance” campaign, not “secular” Congress which only climbed onto the bandwagon belatedly with a march, nor the media, much of which went along with the ruling party’s initial defensive stance (Arun Jaitley called the campaign “manufactured” though later Government softened its stance with Rajnath Singh appealing in Parliament to the civil society intelligentsia to take back their returned awards and saying their concerns are important to Government and will be kept in mind).
What is the Opposition and the liberal media standing against? Is it standing against Modi's mandate which it wants for itself or in its favour, but didn’t get? Or is it standing against majoritarian politics, free reign of bigotry and sexism and through democratic checks and balances keeping a watch on the emergence of authoritarian tendencies, which conservative regimes and their core supporters in both the US and India are seen as being prone to?
The interest of the nation lies in letting the Government work as ordained by the people and hauling it up when it infringes on constitutional individual rights and dignities. The Opposition’s track record two years after Modi’s win is not looking great. The Right wing BJP Government under Modi walked off with corruption free India votes in 2014 and with its bid for voter base expansion, may just have the secular liberal votes as well in 2019 by being seen as paying heed to the intellegensia, if both thr Opposition and the Government continue on these paths.
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