Opinion Empty Basket

The Congress has two other answers for the Opposition. First,that the BJP/NDA was more corrupt than Congress/UPA. This may be good political infighting but the people notice that they are being offered a choice between two evils. The Opposition has frustrated the government by blocking all business in Parliament. This may be deplorable but the response of the PM at the plenary session shows that it worked. He has offered to appear before the PAC but not the JPC. This was not a masterstroke as Digvijay Singh said but the beginning of the end. By Wednesday,Pranab Mukherjee was offering a special session of Parliament,but with a condition that there be a debate about the JPC.

Thus,a second step has been taken to concede the demand for a JPC. This is death by a thousand cuts. The Opposition has kept up the implicit threat that it may frustrate the Budget session as well. I expect that the final position will be much closer to what the Opposition wants than what the Congress wishes to concede. The Trinamool will vote against the UPA in any vote in the Lok Sabha on the JPC issue. If the DMK is placated,then the Congress will look even more naked about its anti-corruption claims than it did last weekend.

In the weeks since US President Barack Obama left India,Indian politics has been through its biggest challenge. Normally in Westminster-style politics,the government with a majority always has the upper hand. The Congress enjoyed that privilege for forty-two years,between 1947 and 1989. It still thinks it can command the legislature and get away with anything since it holds the upper hand. This is how it won the Nuclear vote. But this time the Opposition has found its way through a chink in the armour. By preventing Parliament from functioning,it devised a technique which proved very effective.

This is why the Opposition has no interest in offering to negotiate with the Congress. The number of scandals which have broken out all at once—2G,CWG,Adarsh Housing,Radia tapes,has changed the scene. The Congress repeats its accusation about Tehelka etc,but those are not only in the past,but they were small beer compared to what has happened now. The Congress did not realise it last weekend but since then its strategists must have realised that it has few options.

This is where the Congress unleashed its second weapon. This was the communalism card. The Congress’s new strategy is to accuse the RSS of being a Hindu terrorist organisation. Digvijay Singh fired off a salvo that proved a damp squib since he could not prove Hemant Karkare had blamed the RSS for his impending death. But the plenary session saw a repeat of that charge. However,the communalism card is now less effective than it used to be. The Congress was confused when the Babri Masjid verdict came and when Nitish Kumar in Bihar was unhurt by his partnership with the BJP in Muslim constituencies. People are not stupid,not even the old reliable Congress vote banks of Muslims or Dalits. They see the Congress slipping in North India and better governments coming in.

The Congress needs some new ideas. The plenary session showed that at 125,its basket is empty.