“We need a new narrative to combat the onslaught of a #BJP juggernaut,” said @NitishKumar, the CM of Bihar to his party workers. He, also, urged Congress as the largest party to take the lead.
Mr. Kumar is right. The opposition needs a new narrative. Mr. Kumar is wrong. The Juggernaut is of BJP and its allies. And the present Congress has lost the plot and it will require great effort on its part to take the lead.
The present day BJP leadership
It suited the opposition to project @narendramodi to be an authoritarian person. Mr. Modi’s style and his initial actions helped fuel this theory to some extent. However, with the passage of time, the opposition has lost sight of Mr. Modi exemplary leadership skills and his ability to take his team into confidence and together with him. Mr. Modi acknowledged this aspect of his leadership during one of his rare interviews. The extraordinary success of Mr. Modi’ foreign trips was always preceded by methodical leg work by his cabinet colleagues, the bureaucracy, and the BJP party. The same is true with many of his decisions: be it demonetization, the passage of GST bill, and so on. @AmitShah (BJP President) follows a similar model. Almost in every election fought in recent times, Mr. Shah has carefully stitched allies that will most likely reap electoral dividends. Many within BJP have acknowledged Mr. Shah’s keen ‘listening ear’. Both Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah have demonstrated that they are on a continuous learning path. Mr. Modi’ team has also demonstrated similar behavior. Case in point being fine-tuning done during demonetization period. The most important aspect is the clear division of labor between the government (Mr. Modi) and the party (Mr. Shah) without any doubt on who the ultimate leader is. As a country, we like strong leaders. Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah have demonstrated that leadership strength and teamwork can reap rich dividends. The opposition has lost sight of this basic tenet of this BJP.
The present day Congress
The present Congress is unlikely to be able to lead. No doubts, Ms. Sonia Gandhi has demonstrated strong leadership. The US Nuclear deal and quite a few other policies during the UPA regimes are testimonies. However, the Congress has also demonstrated extreme non-tolerance and ruthless behavior like denying our late PM Mr. Narasimha Rao a decent burial. This kind of ruthlessness is not tolerated by our country in the long run. With the exception of Mr. Sharad Pawar’s NCP and maybe Mr. Kumar’s JD(U), the opposition lacks a strong operating team. The Congress definitely lacks a progressive team. Most of UPA and Congress, in particular, have not been able to get rid of the tag of being corrupt. On the contrary, this belief has further strengthened within the country during the last three years. With every passing day, the Congress is building on their image of a party that opposes for the sake of opposing. The most damaging of this is their most recent decision not to be in the Central Hall of Parliament during the GST launch. The Congress will now add a tag of being an anti-national party. They do not seem to have learned from their blind opposition to demonetization. Congress is unable to demonstrate statesmanship in politics.
Selective opposition seems the best strategy
Mr. Modi has changed the narrative and continues to control the narrative. The opposition may not be able to change the narrative or define a new narrative in the near future. The best strategy for them, in the short-term, is to show statesmanship, nationalist behavior, and selective opposition. Mr. Sharad Pawar and Mr. Kumar are two leaders who have mastered this.