Opposition Rallies against BJP  

The momentum of Opposition unity gathered with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee meeting Congress president  Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

While acknowledging the Congress’s importance in it. “When elections near, the Opposition parties will decide. The country will fight Narendra Modi. There will be many faces to fight against him… The BJP may be big in size, but from the political angle, the Opposition will be stronger.”

Sending feelers to other parties, Banerjee said: “I have good relations with Naveen Patnaik (Orissa CM), Jagan Mohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh CM), M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu CM) etc. If it does not happen today, it can happen tomorrow. If there is a political storm, you cannot stop it.”

Adding that there was “enough time” for a common platform to fall into place, she said, “Every regional party is strong. If the regional parties are together, they will be a force… stronger than a one-party system. If there is sincerity, there will be solidarity and there will not be any division of votes.”

Pegasus: 14 parties vow to fight the spyware battle together

Separately, as many as 14 parties stood shoulder to shoulder Wednesday and vowed to fight the Pegasus battle together, less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to drive a wedge in the Opposition by singling out the Congress as the disruptor of parliamentary proceedings.

“The entire Opposition is standing here today because our voice is suppressed inside Parliament,” Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, addressing the media with the leaders of 13 other parties. Trinamul Congress members were absent, but the party is with the rest of the Opposition on the Pegasus controversy.

“We are asking one question: Has the government purchased Pegasus, yes or no? Did the government use Pegasus on our own people, yes or no? We are clearly told that no discussion will be allowed on Pegasus,” Rahul added.

According to some political analysts, in recent memory, there has been no occasion when so many Opposition leaders took a common anti-BJP stance.  These include DMK, Trinamul Congress, the Left, Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena, NCP, CPI, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)

It is however, too early to say whether the consensus on the Pegasus controversy would become the launch pad for a more durable understanding in the months to come.

Mamata announces panel to probe snooping allegations

In anther politically motivated move,  using the Pegasus handle, Mamata Banerjee Monday suo moto announced  a commission to probe the Pegasus snooping allegations. During her meeting the Prime Minister, she asked him to convene an all-party meeting on Pegasus and decide on some sort of a Supreme Court-led probe after taking opinion of all the parties.

West Bengal’s two-man commission of inquiry will be made up of the retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Madan B. Lokur, and the former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya. It has to submit its findings and recommendations within six months. This is unprecedented as no state has earlier set up a probe on an issue releasing to the Central government. Mamata however,  said the Bengal government was well within its rights to institute the probe under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, as the state is home to people whose phones may have been hacked via the Israeli spyware Pegasus.

Bengal’s move comes at a time two public interest petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation into allegations that the Centre has snooped on judges, politicians, journalists and rights activists with Pegasus. The Narendra Modi government is yet to formally deny having bought the spyware.

Mamata’s move is expected to put pressure on the Centre to order a wider probe as the possible targets for surveillance — as identified by a global media exposé on phone numbers earmarked for hacking through Pegasus — are based in multiple states.

Farm protests, another  rallying point for Opposition

Farmer protests are another area where the Opposition, the Congress in particular,  is applying pressure on the BJP.  Rahul Gandhi drove a tractor outside Parliament premises Monday in support of farmers protesting against the three farm laws.  The tractor had a big banner that read "Roll back all three black farm laws.”

Speaking to reporters, Gandhi said, “I've brought the farmers' message to Parliament. The government is suppressing the voices of farmers and not letting a discussion take place in Parliament. They'll have to repeal these black laws. The entire country knows these laws only favour 2-3 big businessmen."

“The government says our farmers are happy with the farm laws and those who are sitting in protest are terrorists. But in reality, farmers' rights are being snatched away,” said Gandhi, adding that the three controversial farm laws must be repealed immediately.

Farmers are currently holding meetings in Delhi to highlight their demands as their protest against the three farm laws completed eight months on 26 July.  It so happened, writes Yogendra Yadav (national president of Swaraj India) “that Rahul Gandhi chose the same day to drive a tractor to Parliament with a banner opposing the three farm laws, leading to a day-long detention of some of the Congress MPs. Within the House, all opposition MPs followed the whip issued by the farmers’ movement and continuously raised the issues flagged by the farmers. This rare coincidence of protests inside and outside Parliament may have meant little to the Narendra Modi government, but it did indicate the political clout of the farmers’ movement and its role as the opposition in the country, currently.

Saving the idea of India: “The question now is not what the farmers can secure for themselves. The prime issue is not about if and when the farmers would succeed in their immediate objective of repealing anti-farmer laws and securing legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP). The real question is what the farmers can secure for the entire country— whether they can lead the larger battle for saving the very idea of India.

Yadav answers in the affirmative. “Not because I draw upon ‘insider information’ as a participant. Not because I believe in any special virtues of the peasantry. I believe the farmers can play a decisive role in reclaiming our rapidly shrinking republic because their class interest happens to coincide with the project of saving the soul of India. If democracy, diversity and development are the three key pillars of the idea of India, farmers’ movement cannot but provide anchors to all these ideas. In saving themselves, the farmers save the republic of India.”

But “this won’t happen by itself. The alignment of interests ensures that the farmers are well placed to play a historic role. But it all depends on how consciously and carefully the farmers’ movement takes up this task. It depends upon how the present movement combines the immediate economic issues of the farmers with the larger political issues involving their long-term interest. It depends on how well the movement succeeds in spreading itself beyond its current geographic epicenter and in uniting all sections of Indian farmers, from big land-owners to the landless peasants. That is the historic responsibility of the farmers’ leadership.”

Congress no threat to BJP

Ruhi Tewari (Associate Editor for ThePrint) however is of the view that the strategy by the opposition, in particular will not result in either displacing the BJP or even put pressure on the Modi government.

During  the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, the Congress has been unable to put the BJP under pressure. Not that there aren't issues to be exploited.   lists them as “the whiff of irregularity in a defence deal, a sagging economy, farmers’ anger, a humanitarian disaster, public health mismanagement, fuel price hike and a spying scandal….. try as it may, the comatose Congress party is just not able to turn these into winnable campaign politics. Even a tractor ride to Parliament isn’t taking off.

“Essentially, the Congress has been unable to crack the formula on how to take Modi down, something leaders like Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi have successfully managed…..

“The Congress has grappled with the issue of countering the BJP, with Modi’s popularity, Amit Shah’s electoral engineering, and its own directionless and disconnected top leadership aggravating its problem. Nothing seems to stick on ‘teflon’ Modi, not corruption allegations, not questioning his intent or policy decisions and not questioning his party’s ‘anti-minority’ approach.”

The Congress has not been able to exploit optimally, even the  Covid crisis and the heart-wrenching images of migrant labourers walking back home barefoot following Modi’s first nationwide lockdown in 2020. Similarly,  the new citizenship law also did not damage the BJP.

Therefore, says Tiwari, although the Congress “wants to attack the Modi government on everything…..yet, it looks like the party is lost, uncertain of what to focus on and where to channelise its attacks and energy for maximum impact.”

States, however, are different, writes Tiwari. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee didn’t need any one issue to corner Modi with, because she herself is a formidable leader who can pose a challenge. Ditto with Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi. And so in their respective elections, it was a direct battle between Modi and the two leaders, and both Mamata and Kejriwal came out winning. Because they had what it takes to defeat Modi — mass appeal and the ability to convince the voter.

“For the Congress at the national level, until it finds a leader who can truly lead, it needs to rely on finding something else that can give it a leg-up — perhaps a strong issue that resonates with people and convincingly puts Modi in the dock.”

Congress ‘revival plan’

The Congress leadership is discussing a “plan of action” proposed by poll strategist Prashant Kishore to rejuvenate the party and make it battle-ready for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Sources in the party said members of the Congress Working Committee are meeting in groups to discuss the “reform and revival” agenda. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is believed to be the driving force behind reform in the Congress.

Kishor has suggested setting up an empowered group to take all decisions, and steps to make the state and district committees strong.

According to a party leader “Right now, the challenge is to face the forthcoming Assembly elections. 2024 is still three years away. But the leadership seems to be serious. In a large party like ours, discussions and meetings will keep happening.”

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