Nitish mishandled migrant crisis, yet Lalu’s son and heir made no effort to step in.
New Delhi: It’s interesting to see the role of Opposition parties post Covid and China. In both cases there have been very definite and crucial gaps in the government’s handling. Yet, the Opposition hasn’t been able to capitalise and convince the public that it could have handled things better. Yes, the lockdown was badly planned, the timing has also been questioned, as to whether we locked down too early or opened up too soon, but as BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy pointed out, all this is with the benefit of hindsight. “No one questioned the lockdown on 23 March,” he says. In that he is right.
Instead the Opposition kept silent as almost the entire country lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the swiftness of his decision, commenting that no other leader save Modi had the political capital to lock down a country this large. But soon and especially when the migrant workers hit the roads, it was clear that the lockdown had not been thought through and was executed in haste. That was the time for the Opposition to have made its presence felt. But except for a kerbside meet with a group of migrant workers in Delhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did little else.
He did, however, conduct several television interviews with economists, industry leaders and nurses on the current crisis. The idea apparently was to portray the image of a leader who listened (presumably a dig at the PM who is known for consulting very few, other than his chosen lot). But while this may appeal to a certain section of the public, it was lost on the masses. Rahul needs to move out of the armchair leader mode and hit the streets, but if you ask me, that ship has sailed. Privately, Congress leaders point out that had Covid not happened, a rebellion against the Gandhis was brewing. But since it was a leaderless revolt, it would not have amounted to much.
It’s not as if the Congress was entirely deprived of leadership during the Covid crisis. Its four Chief Ministers, Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Bhaghel and V. Narayanasamy handled their states better than some other Chief Ministers (both BJP and non BJP), showing that when it comes to governance, the Congress veterans know their game. The other Congress leader who was active during lockdown was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who took on Yogi Adityanath on the issue of providing buses for the stranded migrant workers. Before this, she had been protesting against the BJP on the CAA issue, and at least in optics has succeeded in taking the Opposition’s mantle away from Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh. The only catch being, the Congress lacks an organisation to back her. There is talk of her moving to Lucknow and Allahabad to set up base there, but this gesture would have had more heft had she done it before being served an eviction notice on her Delhi bungalow.
In a smart move, her colleague from the state, Jitin Prasada has floated the Brahmin Chetna Parishad to try and woo the Brahmin vote back to the Congress. The timing is right because the Brahmin voter is wary of the perceived pro-Thakur slant prevalent during the Yogi government. Initially known as a Brahmin-Baniya party, the former are feeling marginalised during Yogi’s tenure. Traditionally the Congress was known for its Brahmins from UP, whether it is the country’s first three Prime Ministers, or state leaders such as N.D. Tewari, Kamlapathi Tripathi and Sripati Misra. During the 2017 state elections, election strategist Prashant Kishor had suggested fielding Sheila Dikshit as the CM face to win back this vote. While the more progressive scoff at such blatant caste politics, they should take a look at the social media posts following Vikas Dubey’s encounter death, where he is being eulogized as a sort of Brahmin Bahubali. “The fear is that the BJP is going to make the Brahmins the new Muslims by marginalizing them,” says a senior Congress leader. And don’t forget the Brahmins (including Bhumihars) form 11% of the state’s vote, influencing around 120 seats in UP’s 403-member Assembly. Incidentally, BJP’s Manoj Sinha, whose claims as UP CM were overtaken by Yogi, is a Bhumihar.
It’s not just the Congress. During the lockdown, apart from the non BJP CMs such as Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray and Arvind Kejriwal, other Opposition leaders were also missing; from Tejaswi Yadav to Akhilesh, from Mayawati to Stalin. The case of Bihar is worth noting, because that is a state which will face the first set of elections post lockdown, and this is also one of the states (apart from UP) where most of the migrant labour originates from. What made Tejaswi’s absence more glaring was that Nitish Kumar had so obviously mishandled the entire crisis, leaving workers from his state stranded in the capital. Yet Lalu’s son and heir made no effort to step into the leadership breach. The RJD’s older guard, used to Lalu’s hands-on leadership, has opened talks with Nitish Kumar. Five of the party’s eight MLCs have already jumped ship to the JD(U) and at least 15 of its 58 MLAs are reportedly negotiating their departure. Party senior and Lalu confidant Raghuvansh Prasad Singh too is unhappy with the state of affairs. Ask any political analyst as to who has the upper hand if elections in the state are held today and most will point to the JD(U)-BJP coalition. Sensing this the Mahagathbandan allies have made it clear to the RJD that they do not see Tejaswi as CM-candidate material. Meanwhile, the BJP has kicked off its campaign with a series of virtual rallies.
The Congress, however, still backs the RJD because of Rahul’s comfort factor with Tejaswi, who refers to him as “Boss”. But this comfort is missing with the other Yadav, Akhilesh. In fact, the SP is none too pleased with the UP Congress for putting up Akhilesh’s posters with the word “missing” in his constituency, Azamgarh. In return, SP workers point out that the Congress only won Rae Bareli because of their support but this time they will ensure that the Congress loses in Sonia Gandhi’s stronghold.
The anachronism is that while Congress is the weakest link within the Opposition, it is also its strongest platform. It is the only non BJP, pan national party. Yet, in the Modi era, the Congress has done little to inspire credibility. And so finally, while one may criticise the PM for his handling of Covid to China, the BJP has little to worry about. Because when one looks for alternatives, all one sees is a giant Congress shaped vacuum.