G L Raina

President of India, on the recommendation of Government of India, has approved the proposal for summoning of both the Houses of Parliament for the Budget Session, 2024 from 22nd July, 2024 to 12 August, 2024, subject to exigencies of Parliamentary Business. Union Budget, 2024-25, as is reported, will be presented in Lok Sabha on 23 July, 2024. Will we see repeat of first session of 18th Lok Sabha. Or will the opposition block realise its responsibility.

We are past ferociously fought general election. Narendra Modi ji and his council of Ministers have taken oath of office and secrecy. Newly elected members of the Parliament have also taken oath. The Speaker stands elected and first session of the newly constituted lower House has concluded.

Acrimonious Bickering and bitterness of electioneering must end now. “We The People of India that is Bharat” have chosen people for different roles. Good or bad the choice has been made and cannot be undone now. Competing alliances, both NDA and INDI Block asked for a mandate to form the government. People thought better to re-elect NDA and assess the performance of INDI Block as a responsible opposition.

‘We The People’ recognize that the success of democracy depends on the constructive role of opposition parties. They must offer ethical criticism of the policies and programmes of the government in office and uphold its accountability in the legislature. Projecting an alternate view of public opinion is an accepted role of the opposition.

Unfortunately in the recent past “We the People” have been witnessing an opposition that plays essentially a negative role. They mostly register their protest or disagreements with disruptions, boycotts and noisy disorders. They even boycotted the Constitution Day celebrations in the Central Hall of Parliament in 2012 amidst protecting The Constitution claim.

There are five different types of committees-standing committees, subcommittees, select committees, joint committees, and the Committee of the Whole. Participation of opposition members has been less than satisfactory in this regard.

“If the ruling party has power, the opposition must at least have its say. But at the end of the day, democracy says that the opposition must have its say and the government must have its way because it is as per the mandate of the people,” Venkaih Naidu said in his first speech as the Rajya Sabha Chairman. “Democracy is not about numbers but to understand and appreciate each other’s point of view. We must debate, discuss, decide and deliver,” he added.

That is what is actually missing. And if indications are the sign of coming events the scenario may not be any different in future as well. It is not the treasury benches only who have to appreciate the viewpoint of opposition. Opposition parties also have a responsibility to appreciate the government perspective. Both Ruling party and the opposition are accountable to “We the People” at the end of the day.

Contextual confrontation : The discernible hostility between the ruling alliance and opposition block has a context. The 2014 general election for the first time in the history of independent India saw a shift in governance from ‘entitled’ ruling elite to general masses. ‘We the People of India that is Bharat’ were till then owners of our destiny on paper only. 2014 saw a paradigm shift in governance and government.

Aided by the latest technology the administration almost eliminated corrupt and inefficient middlemen. For delivery of a minor service like LPG cylinder or a Toilet or an electricity connection the poor, illiterate and deprived citizen found officials looking for the deserving to take the benefit.

Financial inclusion with a simple zero balance JanDhan account worked miracles. So did scores of other people centric schemes like Ayushman Bharat and Kissan Samman Nidhi.

This approach was completely different from election time favours or soaps to bribe the voter. The new approach was delivering a rightful owner her/his due without accompanying Kritagyta (gratitude).

Both the ‘entitled’ ruling elite and beneficiaries of the old system of governance were in a real shock. First they thought it to be a passing spectacle. Volumes of commentaries’ were written to dub the new regime as helpless outsiders, who can do nothing.

Speaking about the era of Emergency, during the Motion of thanks in Lok Sabha on July 2, 2024 the Prime Minister reminded opposition block that those ruling the nation had created a dictatorial atmosphere in the country causing widespread cruelty to the citizens and injustice to the nation.

He also recalled the time when Baba Saheb Ambedkar resigned from the Cabinet citing his resentment towards the then government. He also highlighted the atrocities caused to other prominent leaders such as Jagjivan Ram ji, Chaudhary Charan Singh ji and Sitaram Kesri ji. That environment is not possible anymore.

Decade of persistent performance : Re-election of the NDA government in 2019 with an improved mandate stunned supporters and managers of the ‘ancient regime’. They began to find out more surprises. Change in voting pattern of hitherto captive vote banks rang the alarm bells. Change was happening at astonishing levels irrespective of distinctions and fault-lines.

Amusingly for them, not Bharat, the decade also saw various forces at global level to be equally unhappy and outraged by the performance of India that is Bharat. They were equally hurt and miffed by sudden denial of access to high offices in New Delhi.

Their policy intervention scope and space got squeezed. New regime instead, they found, successfully unleashing the potential of Bharat- transforming ‘we the people’ into a confident, aspirational and achieving nation with a universal outlook.

New Horizons of activity at all levels with a transparent, accountable and performance oriented system created an atmosphere of competition. Favouritism replaced by impartiality pushed cronies out of their comfort zones. An alliance of these forces was only a natural consequence.

Visibly invisible Hands : There are a number of reports published both nationally and internationally who have exposed unprecedented foreign meddling in the LokSabha Election 2024. An influential section of global media and academia financially supported by powerful organisations and foundations were involved in a sinister plot of influencing the decision of millions of voters through an orchestrated “narrative” peddling campaign.

In a first move of its kind, OpenAI – the company behind ChatGPT – said it disrupted a covert influence campaign originating in Israel that used its models to generate pro-Congress and anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) content and spread those online in a bid to disrupt the on-going election process.

Regime change was the declared motive for these external forces driven primarily by business and financial interest of their companies and or their countries. This intention cannot be attributed to Indian political parties in general, corrupt conduits notwithstanding. They can be at the most termed as opportunists who have used ‘pushed’ narrative to win an election.

Moving Ahead : The election is over and all the elected representatives and their respective political parties have begun to settle in their new roles. ‘We the People’ now expect all these parties from both sides to usher in a new era of democratic norm in the country. Let there be healthy criticism of the government and its policies.

Let there be constructive criticism of schemes aimed to further improve them, not disrupt their delivery for the fear of political disadvantages. Let the elected representatives not indulge in spreading disaffection among people by telling lies on the floor of the House as was seen regarding now redundant Article 370.

‘We The People’ have been observing parliamentary proceedings with agony and anguish. Respect for elected representatives who indulge undisciplined, unruly and uncontrolled behaviour diminishes considerably irrespective of the party affiliations.

We the people of India that is Bharat actually crave for mature, considerate, proficient and stimulating opposition that can force the government to further accelerate the speed to reach Viksit Bharat destination and help raise the standard of living of 1.4 Billion Indians.

(The author is a former Member of the Legislative Council of Jammu Kashmir.)