The one thing that stands out in this Parliament session is the role of the opposition. After nearly a decade of the Modi Government the opposition has finally found its voice. Whether it was the reply to the government on the President’s Address or on the budget the opposition has not been found wanting in its reaction. With Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav leading from the front, the TMC & AAP have played a stellar supporting role. The mood was set from the Speaker’s Election when both Rahul and Akhilesh congratulated the Speaker on his re-election but also cautioned against his playing a partisan role.
What is also commendable is the choice of issues raised. No longer is Rahul restricting his attack by harping endlessly about the Adani-Ambanis or the hold the RSS has on the government. Instead he is raising issues that the ‘aam-admi’ would like raised – from NEET exam, MSP to the Indexation rollback. Indeed the Modi Government has done itself no favours with this budget since it holds nothing but more taxes for the middle class. As a result, Rahul Gandhi whose politics until now were now aimed at the middle class has suddenly emerged as the next-best-alternative. Infact the Modi Government has gifted Rahul Gandhi a whole new constituency with this budget.
Geopolitics is something that has always caught Rahul Gandhi’s interest. He was one of the first to raise the threat from China in parliament as had other Congress leaders specially Manish Tewari. The latter has been taking on the government on some of its geostrategic moves and the collapse of Bangladesh only underlines the fact that the Modi Government needs to walk through its neighbourhood policy very carefully. In this it should take the opposition along for it has been a long stated practice for any Prime Minister to brief the Parliament about his trips abroad. This is not a practice Prime Minister Modi follows very keenly (for instance the House is still to be briefed about his Russia visit and why he chose Putin for his first bilateral with the Ukraine-Russia conflict looming large). However, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar did brief Rahul Gandhi on Bangladesh. This is also what is due to the Congress leader for Rahul is also the Leader of the Opposition. Both in terms of his individual politics and the position he wants to portray to the rest of the opposition it was a smart move for Rahul to take up the LoP position himself and not appoint any other Congress leader.
And so with the Monsoon session drawing to a close, both in terms of opposition politics and the spirit of democracy it was a refreshing sight to see debate back in Parliament..