JULY 08, 2019 News the Newsbehind 5
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Indians are highly proud of their
democracy and even at times when
the ruling party had brute majorities,
the “numerically small but articulate
political formations had grass-roots
support in pockets and many veterans
of movements.” Th is is what is lacking
in todays parliament.
To take on a party like the Modi-
Shah-led combine therefore, Rangarajan
says “there has to be a reinvention of the
opposition space....”
Bharat Bhushan, political analyst
sums up the state of the Opposition in
a diff erent manner. While the Congress
is gasping for breath, “parties that were
formed in the 1980s and the 1990s
are not much better off. Th ose based
on reservations for certain castes and
communities have run out of steam.
Others that rode the wave of regional
aspirations were rewarded electorally,
but now face diminishing electoral
returns.”
ALLIANCES BASED ON
CASTE, RELIGION AND
REGION MAY NOT WORK
ANY MORE
Th e general elections and the defeat
of most of the regional parties, has
lessons which state leaders will ignore at
there peril. Opportunistic alliances and
compromises will not succeed anymore.
Alliances based on caste, religion and
region may not work any more.
The SP (Samajwadi Party), BSP
(Bahujan Samaj Party) alliance in Uttar
Pradesh proved so. Th e grand alliance
of SP-BSP-RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal)
appeared formidable arithmetically
with 28.32% vote share of the SP,
22.23% of the BSP and if one includes
the votes won by the RLD, the leaders
of the gathbandhan (grand alliance
) had hoped that they would secure
more than 50% of the votes cast. But
the opposite happened. Shashi Shekhar,
editor-in-chief, Hindustan writes “If we
look at it superfi cially, it seems that the
Yadav voters of the SP, Dalit voters of
the BSP and the Jat voters of the RLD
couldn’t accept this alliance. Th e social
enmity of years could not end with this
political tie-up. Th is is a half-truth.”
Th e upcoming by-elections for the
12 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will
be interesting as they are going to be
multi-cornered. The BJP, Congress,
SP, BSP, RLD etc will test their luck in
these elections. Th ese will in a way lay
the foundation for the 2022 assembly
elections in UP. If the Opposition
continues to fi ght the way it is, then
it should be ready for more bad news,
opines Shekar.
The alliances in Bihar and
Jharkhand also prove the same point.
By “defeating such alliances the voters
have proved that only the politics of
caste and religion won’t work. One
reason behind it is that people who
considered leaders like Shibu Soren,
Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and
Mayawati their pride are now marginal.
Th e third generation has become voters.
Th is younger generation is a deciding
factor in the elections now and its
concern and thinking have changed.
The rapidly increasing urbanisation
and migration in search of employment
have also strengthened this tendency.
Th e 2017 Assembly elections in UP
had hinted at it and this was reaffi rmed
in 2019.”
“Now the upcoming Assembly
elections in Jharkhand and Haryana
will prove what is stronger-- the pride
of a community or concerns of the
younger generation.”
Regional leaders will now “have to
give an account of the public welfare
work done by them instead of slogans
based on caste and community.”
Th ey need to “take some lessons from
neighbouring Odisha. Th ere, the Biju
Janata Dal has won the elections for thefi fth time, in a row,” on the basis of the
work done by his government.ONE NATION, ONE
ELECTION: THREAT TO
FEDERALISM
P Chidambaram, former Congress
Minister fi nds a hidden agenda in
the BJP government’s “One Nation,
One Election” slogan. “In a federal
parliamentary democracy, the council
of ministers in the Central government
and the state government shall be
collectively responsible, respectively,
to the House of the People [Article
75(3)] and to the Legislative Assembly
[Article 164(2)]. Th e ‘responsibility’ to
the Legislature means that the council
of ministers must enjoy the confi dence
of the majority in the Legislature every
day and every hour. Th e moment the
council of ministers loses the support
of the majority, it should go......”
Suggestions to the effect that the
tenure of a Legislative Assembly can
be extended or curtailed despite the
prescribed term, says Chidambaram,
are unconstitutional.
Th e “real intention is to change the
Constitution. Th e direction of change
is also visible: unitary, not federal;
stronger Executive, weaker Legislature;
uniformity, not diversity; common
identity, not multiple cultures; and
majoritarian, not consensual. The
direction is toward a presidential system
of government.” Th e One Nation, One
Election campaign is thus, a precursor
to changing the Constitution, suspects
Chidambaram.
The Statesman agrees with the
Congress leader that although
Parliament is empowered to amend
the Constitution, it cannot alter its
basic features like federalism.
It also writes that “Th e ONOE
(One Nation, One Election) system