No confidence motion: Opposition’s botched strategy allows PM Modi to set the grand narrative for 2024

That the NDA would swat aside the no-confidence motion was never in doubt. In the end, the matter was settled over a voice vote. Consider, though, the optics.

The Opposition parties knew that they never had the numbers, and the motion was always going to be defeated. Yet, the newly minted I.N.D.I.A. alliance, led by the Congress, brought a vote of no-confidence to force the prime minister to speak on Manipur. And when they finally got their wish and Narendra Modi was delivering his reply to the motion, the Opposition leaders staged a walkout 90 minutes into the address before he brought up the topic, leaving the floor and a nation’s rapt attention to a leader who knows how to use the occasion.

The reflexive conspiracy theorist could be, for once, forgiven for thinking that all this is part of a 64D chess game orchestrated by the BJP. If this isn’t political suicide, nothing is.

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In the end, the posturing and sloganeering came to nought as the Opposition didn’t bother to even stick around for voting on a resolution they had themselves tabled, sending a message of self-humiliation, confused priorities, muddled thinking and putting themselves at the risk of losing public trust and credibility.

Perhaps the Opposition leaders, some of them seasoned and astute, were sold lock, stock and barrel to the idea that a returning Rahul Gandhi would steal the podium with a mixture of swagger, righteous vengeance and vindication and set the stage for a stinging rebuke of the prime minister. At least that was the plan. Not the first time that Rahul has let himself and those vested in his mythical political prowess, down.

In the event, the Opposition made two strategic errors. One, it failed to nail the ruling party for the administrative collapse in Manipur. This was a cause on a platter if ever there was one. All that the Opposition needed to do, once the Parliament was in session, was to demand accountability from the government and put the treasury benches on the mat.

Instead of holding the Parliament to ransom over the prime minister’s presence, the stage was set for a scathing rebuke of the Centre and state government’s failure in reining in the violence and restoring normalcy in Manipur that has already witnessed over 150 deaths, destruction of property, livelihoods and grave abuse of women.

When Union home minister Amit Shah told the Parliament that “from day one, I was ready for the discussion on the Manipur issue, but the Opposition never wanted a discussion. The opposition doesn’t want me to speak but they can’t silence me…” and accused the Opposition of “running away” from the debate, there was a kernel of truth in the accusations. Instead of fixating over Modi, if the Opposition had come prepared with pointed questions and demanded answerability from Shah, it would have been incumbent on the Union home minister to satisfy the queries.

As it happened, Shah got the chance to frame the debate in his terms, and he set it up as one where the Opposition was interested in posturing while he weas ready to provide the answers. In a lengthy address Wednesday, Shah gave a detailed account of the chronology of events in Manipur and the government’s steps to deal with the unrest.

He elaborated on how, post the onset of violence on 3 May, he had had several discussions with the prime minister, the state DGP, chief secretary and security advisor were immediately changed, a commission of inquiry has been set up, how the number of fatalities have plummeted since the deployment of 36,000 paramilitary personnel and setting up of a unified command for coordination among Indian Army, BSF, CRPF, Assam Rifles and Manipur Police.

Though much has been said about Modi’s decision not to go to the violence-hit state, Shah said that “Modi has visited the Northeast over 50 times in the last nine years,” while pointing out that “during Congress rule, there were numerous incidents of violence in Manipur, yet no home minister went there.

“I stayed there for three days, and our MoS Nityanand Rai stayed there continuously for 23 days.” It was notable that not a single Opposition leader was ready to challenge him on facts.

This sends the message that on the issue of internal strife and insurgency in a crucial north-eastern state, the Opposition lacked sincerity, and Manipur was just another political prop.

The second strategic error committed by the Opposition was to bring a no-trust motion against the NDA, virtually ensuring that it would allow Modi to set the template for the 2024 campaign from the grandest possible stage. Once the decision was put in motion, the Opposition had no way of forcing Modi to speak only on Manipur.

NCP leader Supriya Sule, on the Opposition’s move to stage a walkout, told reporters that “we expected him (PM Modi) to speak on economy, inflation, unemployment, Manipur, issue of brutalities on women of Manipur but in one and a half hour 90 per of his speech was on I.N.D.I.A…”

This is political naivete. In fact, the Opposition should have expected that Modi, being the skilled orator that he is, would use the opportunity to launch his quasi-presidential campaign for the 2024 general elections, highlighting the substantive achievements of NDA government and exposing the contradiction at the heart of the Opposition alliance.

As it turned out, that is exactly what Modi did. He set the narrative of a rising India that is poised to become the third largest economy in the world, and projected himself as the inevitable helmsman who will help the youth achieve their dreams and aspirations — while raising questions on the Opposition’s lack of vision and leadership. This is exactly the kind of grand narrative that Modi thrives on, and the Opposition gave it to him on a platter.

Modi peppered his speech with barely concealed jibes against Rahul Gandhi, whom he called (without naming) a “failed product” that isn’t working despite repeated relaunches. He didn’t need to. Rahul did good enough job of wasting a golden opportunity to pit himself as the leader of the Opposition alliance.

During his rambling, meandering speech, Rahul’s lack of political acumen was all too evident. Instead of talking about his knee pain and psychedelic experiences during the yatra, he should have focused on Manipur, and launched a cogent, coherent, and logical attack against the Modi government’s handling of the crisis. His speech could be divided into two parts. The first part was a discursive dive into philosophical realizations from his yatra, yet there too, his similes and metaphors failed to land.

The second part was an angry tirade against the government where his penchant for theatrics and incendiary rhetoric came at the cost of conveying the enormity of the Manipur crisis to the people. He appeared passionate, but left without a deep impression.

Contrast his speech with Modi’s and the difference is clear. The prime minister stuck to his plan, ignored the constant sloganeering on Manipur till the time that he was ready to ick up the topic, and he was aided by the Opposition’s botched strategy.

Some of the issues that the PM raised during his lengthy intervention that went just over two hours demand a separate column.

Worth noting that he didn’t restrict himself to only jibes and snide remarks against the Opposition, but seized the moment to give a detailed description of the efforts his government has been making in helping India reach its destiny. He touched upon the substantive bills that have been passed during this session, not forgetting to accuse the Opposition of abdicating its responsibilities, gave a detailed account of the welfare schemes launched and their impact, the turnaround of PSUs and the banking sector and in an audacious move that demonstrated his surefootedness, elaborated on the dangers of freebie culture and fiscal irresponsibility being displayed by the Congress party.

He slammed the Opposition for showing poverty of imagination and of lacking in homework, promised that peace will return soon to Manipur, while stressing that the northeast, “India’s jigad ka tukda”, will soon become the engine of India’s growth and the core of development. Modi tied tectonic shifts in South-East Asia and ASEAN to Manipur’s progress and said the state would become the nerve centre of trade and connectivity with east Asia once the highway connecting Myanmar and Thailand is complete.

The prime minister said “our government has given first priority to the development of the northeast,” adding that “Agartala got connected with rail connectivity for the first time, goods train reached Manipur for the first time, Vande Bharat was introduced to the region, first greenfield airport was constructed in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim got connected with air travel, AIIMS opened in the region, National Sports University is being opened in Manipur and an Indian Institute of Mass Communication is coming up in Mizoram.”

This message of development was delivered side by side the framing of the Opposition as a ‘Ghamandia’ (arrogant dynasts, a word play on I.N.D.I.A.) alliance that is corrupt, indulges in vote-bank politics, is fiscally irresponsible, that puts party ahead of the country in its greed for power, and will drag India down if voted to power. At the start of his speech, Modi had said, tongue firmly in cheek, how ‘grateful’ he was that the Opposition had brought a no-trust motion against him. He wasn’t far from the truth.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.

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