Narendra Modi, on Sunday, took oath as the Prime Minister of the NDA-led government for the third consecutive term. Along with him, a cabinet of 72 ministers took oath. This includes 30 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state with independent charge and 36 ministers of state. The Modi Cabinet 3.0 consists of 27 OBCs, 10 SCs, 5 STs and 5 minority leaders. The BJP had to strike such a balance this time – the reason being the mandate given by the voters. As this NDA government begins its journey, PM Modi will not be able to disappoint the coalition parties as compared to the previous two terms. The second and most important outcome of this election is that the number of opponents in the Parliament has also increased. Given the way the Congress and the allies of INDI Alliance have won seats in the country, the responsibility of the Opposition has increased more than that of the ruling faction. Now the Opposition leaders, especially Rahul Gandhi, will have to shoulder the responsibility of fulfilling the expectations that the voters have placed on the Congress and its allies.
The time to take out yatras is over. Now the biggest task is to raise people’s issues seriously in the Parliament, and include all the allies of INDIA Bloc in it. Congress will have to work as an Opposition party. Of course, the Congress will get all the support from the Samajwadi Party. People vote looking at the promises made in the manifesto. Therefore, even if they are not in power, the Opposition parties will have to work on the promises given in the manifesto. They will have to confront the government. Compared to the 2019 election, the Congress almost doubled its seats tally to 100 from 52. Obviously, their responsibility has increased. This will also be a test for Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition.
In fact, during the election period, the Modi government tried to brow beat the Opposition parties in many ways. Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren, two non-BJP chief ministers, were arrested on the eve of the elections. Congress’ bank accounts were frozen. Shiv Sena and NCP had split in Maharashtra and central agencies selectively targeted many Opposition leaders. In many States, many leaders and activists who jumped from one party to another for power on the eve of elections were rejected by the public. The INDIA Bloc got this success because the Opposition parties worked together. In fact, it has to be said that this battle was started by Rahul Gandhi. This mandate is right for him personally as well as politically. The BJP painted him as a non-serious politician, a product of nepotism, and was also disqualified as an MP for one speech. He tried to get out of it with his two Bharat Jodo Yatras in the first half of this election, to which the public responded positively.
One good thing the INDIA Bloc did was that despite winning 233 seats, they did not make much effort to form their government. Perhaps such a government would not have survived long. Moreover, all the parties of the INDIA Bloc would have lost the much-gained goodwill. Therefore, the role of the Congress should be to accept the mandate this time and increase the strength of the new Opposition parties. In short, Congress must consider the current situation as zero and start moving forward, and the party must follow this role primarily considering the mandate. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is already the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Some Congress leaders say that Rahul-Kharge should form a shadow cabinet to confront the new NDA cabinet. The idea behind this is that the shadow cabinet, instead of sticking to the Congress faction, would go to the people and constantly look into the issues of public interest and keep the government on edge in Parliament. Sources in the know say that Rahul Gandhi will be accompanied by several leaders like Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tiwari and KC Venugopal.
Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatras also played an important role in the success of the Congress. Both the phases of the Bharat Jodo Yatra catapulted Rahul Gandhi to the position of prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 general elections. Rahul was successful in raising public awareness on the key issues of economic inequality, social polarisation and political dictatorship which prevailed over the issues of Ram Mandir and staunch Hindutva. Both the yatras gave Rahul the moral authority to play an important role in the Lok Sabha. Even the 23 Congress leaders who questioned the leadership of the Gandhi family in a letter in August 2020 have agreed that Rahul’s ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ catchphrase helped the Congress and the alliance. His fearlessness, courage, confidence and language were subtle yet powerful. A major turning point was when Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of business houses forced Modi to make off-the-cuff remarks that reportedly proved costly. In fact, throughout the election campaign, Rahul Gandhi did not commit any falsehood or error of tactics. Considering this, the people gave their mandate. The contribution of other parties in the INDIA Bloc has also shown results in their respective States. In short, a strong Opposition has been sent to Parliament by the people of India to keep a check on the government, and it is expected that the Opposition will perform as per the trust of the people.
