As the main party of the Opposition, it is the BJP’s business to interrogate the government on an issue and to work up a campaign on it should the government remain unresponsive. The framing of charges against Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav by a trial court in Ranchi is a terribly evocative matter. It resurrects several thorny questions about political corruption and the legal and moral/political norms that are required to deal with it in the age of coalitions. The BJP-led NDA has the right to grab the opportunity that stares it in the face to expose the government’s uncovered flanks on this one, even at the risk of being accused of double standards itself. In any case, the BJP-did-it-too defence smacks of cynicism; it’s born of the politics of resignation. But by boycotting Parliament, in the midst of the crucial Budget session, the NDA has simply gone too far. This is political irresponsibility masquerading as oppositional strategy.For some time now, the smell of bitterness has been strong in political discourse. Whether it was L.K. Advani calling Manmohan Singh the weakest prime minister a few weeks ago and the NDA collectively accusing Singh of opportunism now, or the UPA’s high-level manoeuvres to keep George Fernandes in its line of fire, it is not the shouting brigades of respective parties tangling with each other, but the seniors themselves. Even so, the desolation of the opposition benches in Parliament is a deeply tragic and offensive moment. The BJP owes the nation an explanation for bringing it on. How can the main opposition party withdraw from the highest forum of debate? How can the BJP do this and yet maintain its claim to the Congress’s erstwhile tag of being the natural party of governance? Surely the BJP’s senior leadership is conscious that the big players in the game must also bear the greater responsibility to abide by its rules. They cannot huff out of it at will or in petulance.In the event, too many budgetary deliberations have already been converted into a domestic matter of the treasury benches. And the people of the much-touted largest democracy in the world have been forced to watch the embarrassing spectacle of its opposition refusing to talk to its government. The NDA may well choose to rethink its tactics on Monday and trudge back to Parliament. It will not be a moment too soon.
