An Ordinary Opposition Response to An Extraordinary Political Situation
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Loading... - Viransh Chabra
- 10 Jun 2022
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The Narendra Modi government is currently facing one of its biggest diplomatic crises following an international outcry over remarks against the Prophet by two official spokespersons of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Such has been the pressure on the Union government that the BJP – which has made anti-Muslim rhetoric its primary political plank – was forced to not only remove both the spokespersons from their official positions but also issue multiple clarifications on the matter.
For a government that has mastered the skill of scoring political brownie points from even its supposed failures, the situation it has found itself in at the moment is extraordinary.
But what should have been an opportune moment for the opposition to push the Modi government harder was lost. Instead, the country saw tepid – if not ordinary – responses that failed to put the BJP and its affiliates on the mat.
The vindication that the opposition parties and sections of civil society have found in the controversy is perhaps natural, given the way they have been outclassed by the BJP in terms of political tactics and strategy over the past few years. Yet, the fact that their criticism of the government was confined to the same old rhetoric reflects both a lack of imagination and leadership in the ranks of the opposition.
Immediately after the Modi government’s diplomatic defence that hinged on blaming the hateful remarks of prominent BJP leaders Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal on “fringe” elements, opposition forces were quick to ask the most-obvious question – how can official spokespersons of a ruling party be dismissed as “fringe”.
But having struck at that very loophole, they seem to have missed what could have been a great political opportunity to effectively confront the saffron party in domestic politics.
While pointing out that BJP spokespersons were not “fringe”, Rahul Gandhi and other leaders from the Congress, along with those in Trinamool Congress, Left parties, and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constituents hit out at the saffron party for incentivising bigotry that caused India’s isolation in the international arena.
Most felt vindicated that their criticisms against the ruling party have been noted internationally, ignoring the fact that 40% of the electorate who chose to hand the BJP two successive victories with a comprehensive majority would likely double down on their support in the face of this “international pressure”.
Similarly, the critical section of civil society mostly scoffed at the Modi government and the BJP for bringing disrepute to India.
Indian minorities, who have been the biggest victims of BJP’s exclusionary politics, restricted themselves to pushing the government harder to initiate legal action against Sharma and Jindal, despite the fact that their protests and demands have mostly been defanged with the use of state violence in BJP-ruled states.
This cocktail of lethargy and wishfulness in the opposition ranks was in sharp contrast with the BJP’s clever doublespeak and the Sangh parivar’s own ‘opposition’ to the Modi government. Despite having been caught completely off-guard this time around, the BJP and the Sangh responded to the situation in a more hands-on manner.
While the Modi government extolled the Indian republic’s values of plurality and diversity in its official statements to tackle the international backlash, the BJP quickly extended its helping hand to it by making statements in the media saying that all its official spokespersons have been “warned” against criticising any religion, its symbols or religious figures. The BJP top brass also said that “for no provocation (in television debates or elsewhere), can they violate the party’s ideals”.
At the same time, the Sangh parivar unleashed an army of social media users to lampoon the Modi government, in what appeared to be an organised attempt to politically contain any opposition within the spectrum of the political Right. Hindutva foot soldiers crowded social media platforms with a multi-layered campaign against the Modi government that, to a great extent, deflected attention away from any genuine opposition criticism. Read More...
