Oppn disunity, disarray on display

The impressive victory of NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar as the new Vice-President has again underlined the dominance of the ruling alliance at the Centre over a struggling Opposition. Dhankhar won 528 votes against the Opposition candidate Margaret Alva’s 182 in an electoral college consisting of the members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. He scored more votes than the incumbent Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu who was elected when the Opposition was stronger. That shows the decline of the Opposition not only in terms of numbers in the last five years but also in its unity and ability to fight the ruling party and its electoral strategies. Alva said after the election that by supporting Dhankhar “directly or indirectly”, some Opposition parties and their leaders had damaged their own credibility. Her words are more than an expression of pique over her loss and make an apt comment on the state of the Opposition.

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As in the case of the presidential election, the NDA candidate got the support of some Opposition parties like the BSP and regional parties like the YSR Congress. More importantly, a key Opposition party, the Trinamool Congress, stayed away from the election as it claimed that the Opposition nominee was decided without consulting it. Whatever the reason behind Trinamool’s boycott, it weakens the Opposition and shows how difficult it is for it to come together and make common cause on issues of importance. Alva was a weak and uninspiring candidate, but if the Opposition had a plan and will, it could have put up a fight. The failure to do so will certainly have an impact on the parties’ plans to present a united fight against the BJP in the 2024 election.

For the NDA and the government, Dhankhar’s candidature complemented the choice of Droupadi Murmu for President. Murmu, as a woman from a tribal community, had wider acceptability, but Dhankhar’s election would also serve the BJP’s political purpose well. As Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, he will have to deal with members of the Opposition in a House where it has a numerical edge. His legal background might help him run the House. But more than that the combativeness that he showed as the Governor of West Bengal in dealing with Mamata Banerjee’s government would have been considered as desirable in managing the Rajya Sabha. This is unfortunate, because the ability for accommodation, and not confrontation, should be considered the prime quality for the presiding officer of a House. The fact that he is a Jat and comes from a farmer’s family may also be a political bonus point when Rajasthan, which has a substantial number of the community, goes to polls very soon.