Opposition Conclave: Another Janata experiment in the offing !

Chandigarh/Bengaluru: Although the two day Opposition Conclave beginning today in Bengaluru raises some hopes of revival of a sane competition for Control over Seat of Power in 2024, at Raisina Hills, New Delhi.  The scheduled meeting of  25 odd opposition parties, comprises of mainly regional outfits barring  grand old Congress Party.

Every Citizen of India aspires to have a stable government at the Centre and deliver its promises, policies, in given Five Year term without facing unstable moments and making unhealthy compromises to stay in power. After all, 75 years of practice in democracy should  be sufficient time to make a stable system of deliverance in consonance with the Constitution of India and aspirations of its constituents. Any ruling political party at the Centre should have an ideology, a roadmap and a benign commitment to provide 140 crore countrymen a strong, benevolent  governance without bias, fear and exploitation.

‘We, the People’: As we read these holy words in the Preamble of our Constitution, we must remember the intent of inserting these Powerful words, when India’s holy book was written. It firmly emphasizes that We are our Own Masters, makers of future as also responsible for choosing our pat

h to future life and governance. When we chose a Political Party to be ruled by, we forget to analyse the choices we have at the table. So, the onus of choosing a sincere, truthful and genuinely committed Party lies on We, the People of India. After voting them to Power, we need to watch, monitor and cajole them to deliver nothing less than their election manifesto.

So the responsibility of being Own Bhagya Vidhata lies on ourselves Only!

Our Unique Democratic Advantage: When our Constitution makers sat in the Assembly for over two years from 1947 to 1949, they had the burden of writing a holy book with a plethora of objectives and aspirations of an Independent nation of 30 Crores, who had struggled for centuries and had no clear idea of what fruits of Independence will they reap.  So the Members of Constituent Assembly decided to have a Parliament comprising of Two Houses, namely: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, to ensure direct representation through elected members and allowing states to send Elders to Upper House, with experience, wisdom and moral commitment to maintain checks and balances on decision making by the governing Party.

The noble idea of having directly elected members to Lok Sabha was to give power to ‘We, the People’ representing each and every corner of the vast country espousing their priorities and wills in shaping the future of  a devastated country looted by invaders over thousands of years. The guiding principle of having a Lok Sabha was to have a congregation of members thinking Unitedly for India, forgetting their regional aspirations, leaving to the State Assemblies. But over a period, the division  for regional and personal aspirations overtook the National thought.

Our Unique Democratic Disadvantage: Freedom is a very pious word. Even  most Indian religious and cultural books advocate freedom to all human beings, But Freedom without Knowledge, without ability to distinguish Good and Bad or between Sugar and  on could lead to a disastrous result. Freedom without Responsibility could lead to

anarchy and chaos. So has our Democratic Disadvantage led to recurring unstable situations and  directionless governance several times in the last 75 years. The periods of directionless governance have been  1966-70, 1974-80, 1989-91, 1996-98, when a minority leading to directionless, ideology deficient coalition governments ruled the country. (period 1974-80 is  mentioned because it was created due to extraordinary individual decision of imposing Emergency and later Janata Party coalition formed without ideologic unity; anti-Emergency outfit collapsing in two years).

Right to Rule, has often  been misinterpreted as Freedom to Rule, but it is neither among the Fundamental Rights nor among the Guiding Principles of  the Constitution.

When any political party or group of parties, goes to contest Lok Sabha elections, it must have an ideology, a roadmap, a commitment supported by their Past credentials of administration without any blemishes, corruption, criminal actions. Merely forming a coalition with slogans like  ‘Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao’ or ‘Loktantra Khatre Mein’ …doesn’t suffice to be elected to gain the Seat of Power, by misguiding ‘We, the People”.

No doubt, many of these Opposition leaders must have struggled hard and fought for many public welfare causes during their political Leaders like Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav, Sharad Pawar have suffered during Emergency and were followers of Jaiprakash Narain, the crusader of 1974-77 movement against the tall Congress leader and then PM,  Indira Gandhi’s autocratic behaviour, most of these have got imbued in their regional hues, aspirations and petty political compulsions. How can they forget their own state constituency and sacrifice some local compulsions for National priorities? Many states have language, territorial, river water issues with adjoining states.

None amongst these opposition parties except Congress has presence in more than  two states. Mamata Banerjee, though having national experience and   stature, has behaved more as a Bengal ruler than a national stalwart. Congress, on the other hand, has a presence at the national level, yet it is bogged down by the Family-control and aspiration to stick to power. If Congress gets  more than 100 seats it will never allow any other party to Control the Seat of Power at Raisina Hills. Rahul Gandhi will be the strongest eligible contender for PM post, if any such Conglomerate gets 273 seats in Lok Sabha.

(more later, after the Bengaluru Conclave and NDA’s strengths which could lead it back to Power, for third time in a row.)