As the Shiv Sena (UBT) appears to head for another split, there are whispers from Uttar Pradesh that the Samajwadi Party could be next. By now, the Opposition parties should have been familiar with the machinations of the Bharatiya Janata Party, having been the victims of such Machiavellian moves in small measures in their own fiefdoms in the past. But the Opposition has been reduced to a mute bystander, looking on as if this hollowing out of its parties is happening to some distant entity. The phrase, 'Aya Ram Gaya Ram' is of the 1960s’ vintage. The BJP has upped the scale and widened the canvas, adopting a shock-and-awe strategy to paralyse its opponents. From the stated goal of a Congress-mukt India, the project now seems to be to turn the country into one sans the Opposition. The incentives for the turncoats, the grapevine suggests, may include astronomical sums or other forms of quid pro quo. It is evident that there are enough black sheep in the Opposition camp to help the powers that be queer the pitch for the former. The net result is that a perpetually bleeding Opposition is failing to mobilise public support even though there are enough causes of discontent.
Comparisons are odious but today’s Opposition resembles a pale version of the one that survived the Emergency. For one, the then Opposition had taller leaders and a rallying talismanic force in Jayaprakash Narayan. The fragmentation of that Opposition after the failure of the Janata Party experiment and the mandalisation of politics have created enough regional leaders who have tasted power but find it difficult to rally around one individual or a political party. Even a wilted Congress still has the spread that none of the other regional parties have. But it is in direct contest with some of them in the states: this is a dynamic that both sides have had difficulty in navigating. There is another perceptible difference. During the Emergency, a united Opposition could point fingers at one leader to be held to account for the murder of democracy and the excesses that were committed during those dark days. Today,
however, the Opposition operates within a functional democracy but one with weakened institutional mechanisms. Additionally, the media is on a leash. Very little accountability is thus being demanded of the government and the party in power at the Centre.