During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 135-minute speech in Parliament on Tuesday, the Opposition packed in a month of interminable screaming and sloganeering.
The lung power and stamina were admirable, the content and intent absolutely low-grade, childish, and dismissive of the Prime Minister’s position as well as every tradition of India’s Parliament. It was led by the Leader of the Opposition from the Congress, Rahul Gandhi.
The Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, had to chide Rahul for standing up while PM Modi spoke, turning around, inciting his bunch to storm the Well of the House.
But Rahul Gandhi has tasted blood after improving Congress’s tally from 52 to 99 and restricting the BJP to 240 in the general elections, and he would have none of it.
He is on an adrenaline rush to avenge all the mockery of failure that he has endured, ironically after leading the Congress to its third biggest failure in parliamentary history. When you set your bar at the height of a door threshold, clearing it feels like an equestrian feat.
But Rahul Gandhi’s misbehaviour is not as recklessly spontaneous as it seems. The abrasiveness and vicious mocking by the Opposition including Rahul, Akhilesh Yadav and TMC leaders are aimed at constantly humiliating Modi and shattering his strongman image. A vulnerable Modi is going to be like a falcon without its beak. The Opposition reckons that if it can drag him to that state of helplessness, his image of invincibility will disappear among his supporters and opponents alike. His allies will desert him. The government will fall.
But here is the caveat.
Modi became what he is today after being hounded by a ruthless Congress and a biased, predatory mainstream media for 12 years.
He is firmly getting work done, both on and off the stage. Unfazed by the ruckus, the new Parliament’s first session posted 104 per cent productivity and had seven sittings of about 34 hours. A total of 41 matters were taken up under Rule 377, three Statements were made under Direction 73A, and 338 papers were laid during the Session. In all, 539 members took oath. The Prime Minister introduced the Council of Ministers. The Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address went on for over 18 hours, and 68 members spoke. Fifty other members delivered speeches.
Rahul’s unruly and disrespectful behaviour towards the PM and Parliament, his attack on Hindus, and his looming air of arrogance are not going to go down well with Indian voters. If the nation’s collective wisdom has snipped the BJP down to coalition size because of complacency, the Congress’s hubris without heft will quickly be punished.
And lastly, the Congress should at least be careful, not cavalier, against a political force like the BJP. It still controls all the institutions, and is privy to every misconduct, scam, or treachery. PM Modi sounded ominous on Tuesday when he warned the Opposition that every affront, every conspiracy by the ‘ecosystem’ will be answered in its own language.
His opponents will be naive not to take note.
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
Comments
0 comment