Ever since it came to power with an impressive mandate in 2014, the BJP has behaved as if the battle is still on.
On Monday in Rajya Sabha, the NDA government failed to muster the numbers required to resist the Opposition’s challenge on a clause in a politically crucial legislation. The Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill 2017, which sought to give constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, was eventually passed without Clause 3, which dealt with the composition of the commission, and will now have to be considered afresh by the Lok Sabha. Monday’s embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha — on a bill which, ironically, enjoyed broad bipartisan support — must bring a moment of pause for the government: With the arithmetic tilted against it in the Upper House, in contrast to the Lok Sabha, MPs of the ruling alliance can ill afford to be careless or cavalier about their parliamentary responsibilities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier and BJP president Amit Shah now have both exhorted their lawmakers to be more attentive to the demands of the business of the House. But the problem may lie deeper.
Ever since it came to power with an impressive mandate in 2014, the BJP has behaved as if the battle is still on. It has seemed most at home assuming war-like postures in the campaigns for assembly elections. It has energetically wooed electorates to form governments in the states it has won and shown remarkable agility and guile, and lack of scruples, to manoevre itself into power in those it has lost — Bihar was preceded by Goa and Manipur. As it spreads into new territories, it has called, loudly and insistently, for a “Congress-mukt” Bharat, an India free of the Congress, if not the Opposition. At the same time, the government it leads at the Centre has coined slogans and acronyms and announced and pushed through programmes, not all of which have been implemented on the ground, and some of them disruptive like demonetisation. Through all the hectic activity of party and government, however, something has been conspicuously missing — attention to institutions and the necessity of debate. The missing BJP legislators in the Rajya Sabha point to a party that does not seem to deem it necessary or important to engage with the political opponent in the highest forum of debate.
The BJP may well have its way on the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill 2017, it will only take longer now. But its refusal to acknowledge and to respect the institution of Parliament, and what it stands for, will take a toll in the longer term. A parliamentary democracy, especially one as diverse and layered as India, cannot be only about the ruling majority’s right of way. If it is not to diminish the system it presides over, the BJP must recognise that having the numbers on its side does not preclude the need for persuasion and dialogue, a little bit of humility, some give and take.
