Opinion PM’s speech in Parliament betrayed irritation over questions — and the Opposition

With elections in five states beginning in days, grandstanding in Parliament, in these bitterly divided times, is par for the course. Some gloves will be off, some mud will fly. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha became an all-out attack on the Opposition, primarily the Congress, rather than a response to a range of concerns flagged across the aisle. His takedown of the Congress raised valid points, from its imperious past to its shrinking present, its ideological muddle over business and industry, and the hollow ring of its holier-than-thou sermons on federalism and freedom. Yet, in the manner in which he framed his attack, the Prime Minister’s shrill tone betrayed anger, impatience, and irritation with criticism. He was right to say that andhvirodh, blind opposition, is anaadar, disrespect to democracy, but as disrespectful — and corrosive — is for the Government to frame all criticism by the Opposition in terms of an assault on the country and not engage with it.

So a complaint about the Centre not listening to states became a sinister plot to light a fire, Tamil Nadu’s reservations over the national entrance test, got conflated with the tragic accidental death of India’s Chief of Defence Staff, as the Prime Minister accused the Opposition of trying to divide the country (vibhajankari maansikta), called the principal opposition party the leader of the “tukde-tukde gang” and under the influence of “urban Naxals”. Both these monikers, by the way, have been invented and weaponised by the BJP to name and shame its critics as seditious, anti-national actors. In his attempt to paint the Congress as a member of the extremist fringe, the PM, perhaps, forgot that his targets include Members of Parliament elected by people and sworn in on the Constitution. They are as much representatives of this nation as the PM and his MPs. To corner the Opposition, the PM offered a narrative on Covid management in the country which flies in the face of facts. He accused Opposition-run state governments of instigating migrant workers to leave the state and thus help spread Covid! The sudden lockdown which rendered many jobless, the lack of a financial safety net, the fear of the unknown, all worked together to set off a humanitarian crisis with migrants and their families hitting the road to trudge to the familiar assurances of their villages. Thousands of unemployed young men and women in election-bound UP and other states have faced the brunt of Covid distress. For the PM to tell them that the “Opposition’s sin” is to blame for their plight is cynical politics and an attempt to brush the second-wave mismanagement under the rhetorical carpet. This, when the success of the vaccine programme is a formidable achievement by Centre and states working together, and the battle against Covid has been and is being fought by both — the PM himself made it a point to mention the 23 meetings he had with CMs.

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At the end of his speech, the PM tried to reach out to the Opposition with a pitch to “move in harmony, speak in one voice, let minds be in agreement” (samgacchadhwam samvadadhwam/ sam vo manamsi janatam). Eloquent words, but given the tone of what preceded them, they are unlikely to resonate beyond the thumping of desks in the Treasury benches.

This editorial first appeared in the print edition on February 9, 2022 under the title ‘Motion of attack’.