Don't know why everyone is banging on and on about the irresponsible and unruly behaviour of those who jointly constitute the Opposition. They are being tarred and feathered for not attending Parliament, not observing the decorum of the House, not debating the Budget, and other boring and inane things like that.This is blatantly unfair and partisan. I believe the nation has gained tremendous insights thanks to their adrenaline-pumping rhetoric, their unassailable logic about how everybody but them are tainted, their penchant for going for Manmohan Singh’s jugular, their habit of wrapping themselves up in the Tricolour and blocking the movement of trains.Look at the commitment with which they are carrying out their oppositional duties by deploying every muscle and sinew at their command to oppose everything they can possibly (and sometimes even impossibly) oppose. It’s as if they are consumed by a rare Churchillian passion: ‘‘.whatever the cost may be, we shall oppose them on the beaches, we shall oppose them on the landing grounds, we shall oppose them in the fields and in the streets, we shall oppose them in the hills: we shall never surrender.’’ Quite.It does not really matter that the fight sometimes involves issues that may appear to some as infinitely trivial. The point is that if the Opposition of the day is of the persuasion that the shape of Sonia Gandhi’s eyebrows or the colour of Manmohan Singh’s turban is not quite to their liking, they are at every liberty to say so and shut down a city or two for added emphasis. In any case, as someone put it so well, the duty of an Opposition (is) very simple.to oppose everything and propose nothing (apart, of course, from pressing issues of national interest like ensuring that tentwallahs are spared their income tax liabilities).And there can be no two ways about it. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s behaviour was simply shocking, absolutely indefensible. I have learnt from impeccable sources (within the Opposition) that those making up the delegation which went to see him were treated as if they were enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay.I believe not only did the PM fail to namaskar each one of them separately, not only did he not offer them the customary tea and pakodas, he actually raised an eyebrow at them, wore a scowl, twitched a couple of facial muscles and declined to read their petition. I also believe (although this cannot be confirmed) that he made a paper plane out of their petition and flew it around the room.If this isn’t barbaric physical torture and extended mental cruelty, I don’t know what is. If this doesn’t call for a national bandh and the burning of prime ministerial effigies, I don’t know what does. How can anyone expect the Opposition now to attend Parliament, pass the Budget and blather on and on about inconsequential subjects like the state of farmers, flood relief or raging infernos in schools?I hope I have been clear. This Opposition is the best Opposition we have ever had. In fact, so good at opposing has this Opposition been that it is my earnest hope that its members continue to grace the Opposition benches for many more years to come.
