You could say the bloc has gone from making noise to following due process. Following a strategy session in New Delhi on Monday, its top brass put out the word they will be in touch with the CJI over the Special Intensive Revision and what they term ‘vote loot’. They are also after Pradhan’s resignation as Education Minister, given the row over the exams.
Why the ruckus now
They are latching onto two things at once: the credibility of our elections and our exams. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has put it this way – the whole exam situation is a let-down for hundreds of thousands of would-be candidates. He sees governance failures running head-on into a public that is already on edge about jobs and the cost of living.
He made it clear the Union government needs to be put under an all-party microscope for what he views as a shaky economy. It’s not just that; you have unemployment, the state of the farmers, and the kind of atrocities being meted out to the oppressed, all chipping away at people’s confidence.
What was put in place at the New Delhi huddle
Twenty-five parties were in the room. Kharge says they came to an understanding on five or so key items to keep the pressure on. This isn’t about a one-time show of force; it’s a rolling agenda that mixes what you can do in Parliament with some outside-the-box outreach.
Here is what was put on the table after the meeting:
– Put in for an all-party sit-down on the economy and jobs
– Get together every couple of months to plan
– Have a morning huddle in the LoP’s office, no exceptions
– A note to the CJI
– An end to Dharmendra Pradhan’s tenure, now
We’ll see them in Hyderabad in August for the next round of coordination, though the day is yet to be fixed. Come Monsoon Session, the plan is to convene in the Leader of Opposition’s chamber to make sure everyone is on the same page and their comebacks are sharp.
Who was in the room and how the coalition is holding up
Kharge was at the helm, with Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee by his side. You had Sonia Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Abhishek Banerjee, Tejashwi, Omar, Mehbooba and Supriya Sule in the mix as well.
Uddhav Thackeray and Hemant Soren were on the line, which shows a certain give-and-take in how they work. According to Kharge, each party had its say before the group found a way forward for the coming weeks.
On the contents of the letter
They will be writing to the CJI on the SIR and the matter of ‘stolen’ elections. The bloc sees it as a way to bring in some institutional weight. Kharge says the letter is on its way, so don’t expect to wait long for it to be made official.
Making the exam row the story
There is a method to asking for Pradhan to go. It’s to put a spotlight on who is to blame in the education system. With the NEET leak and the problems with the CBSE On-Screen Marking, the bloc is of the opinion that the hard work of many a student has been put at risk.
If you connect the dots between the exams and the general malaise among young people, you can make a case that this is as much a jobs issue as anything. That’s a line of argument that might find some purchase in the House and beyond, with the way prices and the economy are going.
Calling for an all-party meeting is a change of tack. Kharge has laid out the need for a proper venue to get some straight answers on the economy, the farmers and why everything is getting more expensive, instead of just causing a scene in the Hall.
Meeting bi-monthly is part of a longer play. If you have a set calendar and brief your MPs every morning at the LoP’s office, you don’t get mixed signals and you can make more of an impression when the Monsoon Session comes around.
Do this right and it could alter the tenor of how the opposition does business in the House. A little regularity can make for some good, sequenced pressure on the issues you want to see in the debates and on the record.
Then there is the judiciary. The letter is a side-bar to the political wrangling, meant to add some gravitas. In asking the CJI to look into the SIR and the ‘vote loot’, they are making a case for some checks and balances to fix the problem.
The next stop is Hyderabad in August to see if any of this is having an effect and to recalibrate. Until then, it’s a matter of daily huddles and the push for that all-party meeting to see if the bloc can deliver on what it has put on the table.
