Herald View: How should the opposition respond to a PM who is too clever by half ?

Three long and ‘virtual’ monologues by the Prime Minister, two of them in Parliament, have been both cunning and clever as usual. When the Prime Minister speaks on television, large parts of India are compelled to listen, though many do so with trepidation at what he might say. When he speaks to his favourite interviewer, who has had unprecedented access to the exclusion of others, and which is aired on all TV channels a day before polling in states, Indians, left with little choice, pay attention. That the Prime Minister misuses his office to deliver political messages from the floor of Parliament or hours before polling starts has ceased to surprise. Like all clever politicians, he revels in answering loaded questions, questions loaded and lobbed to him for smashing them out of court. His communication strategy, marked by shock and awe, shoot and scoot, has worked well till now and he clearly sees no reason to change it. Whether it remains as effective in swaying public opinion as before will hopefully be known when results from the five poll-bound states come in next month. The Prime Minister, who has not been able to campaign physically because of, well, bad weather and security breaches, is sanguine of a pro-incumbency wave in favour of the ruling party in all poll-bound states. It was a Freudian slip that he overlooked that one of the states has an incumbent Congress government as well. In any case, if the Bharatiya Janata Party does as well in these elections as the Prime Minister claims it will, there must be something that he is aware of and others are not. But if the results do not conform to his optimism, it would surely indicate that he is getting divorced from reality. On the other hand, if the Bharatiya Janata Party does as well in the elections as he says it will, he would deserve to be congratulated for his understanding of Indian voters and voting. What is nevertheless disappointing is the Prime Minister’s reluctance or inability to speak on policies, on governance and on the economy. Even after almost eight years as Prime Minister, he is still stuck on Nehru, dynasty, Congress, pseudosecularism, political families and fake socialism. If these issues continue to give him dividend when the economy is shrinking, unemployment is high, inflation is crippling and the future uncertain, it would be more a reflection on people and politics. People will get the government they deserve.

With the powerful electronic media and newspapers in the country beholden to the Government for their survival, the opposition’s task is more difficult than ever. How does it respond to someone who is too clever by half, who sidesteps issues raised by the opposition and deploys diversion to dictate discourse? How does one respond to someone who lies in Parliament? How does one remind the Prime Minister that his assurances in the post-pandemic lockdown were not honoured; that the government had promised migrant workers returning home would be paid their train fare but weren’t; that their wages would be paid and their employment would be secure, that their house rent would be waived/ shared by the Government but failed to keep the promise? How does one respond to the Prime Minister who claims all is well when the opposition voices its concern at rising economic inequality, communal hatred and Chinese aggression? How does one respond to the Prime Minister who seems to be suffering from tunnel vision and behaves like an ostrich?

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)