Govt faces aggressive opposition, says Vrinda Gopinath
Even reformist lawyers are moving into the heart of the action, as the zesty former solicitor-general Indira Jaising has shown in the sexual harassment charge against a high court judge in Madhya Pradesh.
At last, the self-styled libertarian, secular, tolerant posse is right where they should be - where the action is, as the last few days have shown - from Congress 'Crown Prince' Rahul Gandhi's startling intervention in Parliament when he rushed to the well of the House with party colleagues, to the party's stand that it wants the Insurance Bill to go to a Select Committee for consultations.
Even reformist lawyers are moving into the heart of the action, as the zesty former solicitor-general Indira Jaising has shown in the sexual harassment charge against a high court judge in Madhya Pradesh.
It seems the Latte Liberals have finally seized the rhetorical device that the BJP used so successfully. As the just concluded general elections have shown, the BJP's election hyperbole and pizzazz pulverized the ruling Congress-led UPA government to nothing. In a cacophonic, strident and harsh campaign, the BJP and its pontifical head, the RSS, blasted their way in to completely take advantage of a haughty, tongue-tied, incoherent Congress, and are now successfully sneaking in their parochial Hindutva agenda.
Tactics
You don't have to look beyond the tinkering of history books, hate crimes and communal violence that have erupted in the country ever since Modi came to power two months ago. So, how have liberals decided to change tactics after being punched in the face? After all, Libs have always believed, at least theoretically, in group think, everyone should be consulted, every issue examined, every view respected; that they don't need a divined leader, a top-down approach, like the opposite side. Remember the classic joke: the old-fashioned want a leader, the liberals want a meeting. But has the socalled liberal mindset diluted opinion, and delayed action; or conversely, used the democratic notion to not take any action? At least the latter was the excuse that we heard during UPA-II. Of course, democratic action need not be fuzzy, it can be proactive once a decision is taken.
Rahul Gandhi's flash of spirit when he disrupted the House and accused the Speaker of being partial for not allowing a discussion on communal violence, has been seen as an assertion of a beleaguered party leadership. In that his tactics was successful was evident when the vast lynch mob of top dog BJP ministers, pundits, prime time anchors, and muckrakers derided Gandhi for suddenly waking up (for which, it must be said, Rahul must largely be blamed for his inbred arrogance). But it could not be missed that the Congress' 'Reluctant Prince' was no longer just posing with a worldview, but was going to plunge in and get his hands dirty.
On the Insurance Bill too, the Congress declared it's no pushover and rightly so. After UPA-II's indecisive tenure, the party leadership seems to have dug its heels in.
The Congress has always taken the middle road - conciliatory, compromising, and ready to negotiate; as opposed to being principled, righteous and trustworthy. But in the passage of the Insurance Bill, it has twice stopped the Modi government from introducing the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, by corralling Opposition parties on its side, even splendidly exposing the BJP's duplicity and fraud.
Hypocrisy
While BJP leaders bleat about the Congress' hypocrisy to stall the Bill on flimsy grounds of more discussions, it must be said it was the BJP, in Opposition, that was obstructive in passing crucial bills, both pro-reform and pro-poor. And if Modi will make his awaited visit to the US in September, with no assurance for global insurance companies, it will be a victory for the Congress, at least for the time being.
Mercifully, it looks as if the Congress and Opposition allies are finally getting serious about political messaging, and the art of changing the possible. Congress leaders are already kicked that Rahul G has realized that news is not just about ideas or concepts, but about things that happen.
Headlines are about storming, occupying, and direct action, and as any self-help book on political messaging will tell you, conflict and irruption is the name of the game. If Rahul is serious about his role in the Congress, he should keep the heat on Modi for the 600 communal riot cases in the last few months. There should be sustained public questioning, demands for answers in the House, and highlight exposes on the collusion, biases and flaws of the administration and government.
Actions
But if the Congress continues to hunt with the hound and run with the hare, its duplicity will be its undoing. Similarly, on the Insurance Bill, the Congress needs to stick to its guns. It's time the party did not negotiate for personal gain, like bargaining for the status of Leader of Opposition in Parliament, at the cost of betraying the beliefs it stood for. In fact, the Congress has to move on from being a reactive party, constantly berating and chastising its major opponent, the BJP, and become proactive, by encroaching, and taking charge.
It's a guerrilla tactic being employed by civil society, as the latest clash between reformist lawyers and the government over sexual harassment charges in the MP High Court. Last week, as reports surfaced about the distress resignation of a woman district judge in Gwalior for being sexually harassed by a High Court judge, reformist lawyers took an unusual route. While there were dharnas outside courts by lawyers and activists, the women's lawyers corps, led by Indira Jaising, went for the jugular - Parliament must initiate impeachment proceedings against the HC judge immediately.
As Jaising explained, while the judge would have been dealt according to the Vishakha guidelines (which looks into sexual harassment in the workplace), it was time to take the battle straight into the heart of the matter - immediate suspension and impeachment of the accused judge. This not only sends a forceful, and decisive message to serial offenders who think they can get away with their repeated crimes, it is also a tough way of demonstrating Parliament's and society's commitment to women's safety. No more traps of waffling investigations and verbose enquiries, it's time to use legal remedies and statutes that are effective, lethal and final. Indignation and dialogue, for the Libs, is over. It's time for a brawl.
The writer is a freelance journalist