Congress Has To Join Opposition Wholeheartedly To Oppose Ordinance On Delhi

By Sushil Kutty

Nobody can put a knife to the Congress party’s throat and compel it to stand with the Aam Aadmi Party against the Modi government’s ordinance which returned control of “services” – postings and transfers – to the Lt. Governor after a couple of days of celebrations over the Supreme Court verdict that gave the AAP government control over everything except land, police and public order. Last heard Rahul Gandhi’s party hadn’t yet decided to join hands with AAP and fight the ordinance.

Did the ordinance – the Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 – leave the AAP government of Delhi livid? That is a no-brainer. The ordinance created a National Capital Civil Service Authority to handle “service conditions, transfers and postings” of Delhi’s officers. The Chief Minister will head the authority in an ex-officio capacity. The same like chief secretary and principal home secretary. But the Chief Minister will be one among equals. The LG will have the final vote in cases of differences.

The reality is the Congress shouldn’t waste time. Now is not to wonder if, why and everything in between. Let nobody who is a busybody come in the way; let no meddling thoughts interfere. There is only one decision and that is the right decision, which is to let Arvind Kejriwal have the Congress party’s back and vice versa.

Together we stand; together we fight and like the wandering monk said, what’s the use of standing apart in two clusters when in standing together as one single block is by far the tighter group. And if motive and goal are also the same, that’s double the whammy, right?

Let’s admit, the Aam Aadmi Party hasn’t so far succeeded in uniting opposition parties against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ordinance to nullify the Supreme Court’s verdict which had for a short while given the Kejriwal Government freedom from the Centre’s interference in the guise of the Lt. Governor.

The Delhi Lt. Governor is for all practical purposes, the Centre’s meddlesome and officious sidekick who keeps interfering in “services”. Without the “services” under its control, the office of the Lt. Governor is powerless and sterile. The Supreme Court verdict gave the Delhi government control but the Centre wrested control back with the ordinance.

Now, it’s the time for the Opposition to fight back as a single fighting unit. The momentum from the Karnataka election victory should not be squandered. The Congress should do more than just hail the top court’s judgment. It should state its stand on the ordinance. The Congress should in fact go a step further and persuade all opposition parties to stand in solidarity with the Aam Aadmi Party on this one issue.

Indeed, this is perhaps the golden issue the Opposition has been waiting for; and the grandest opportunity for the disparate opposition to come together to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress statement that it will “consult like-minded allies and state units before making a decision” on the issue should not be a roadblock in the way of opposition unity.

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal must stop saying/tweeting “Congress has not taken any decision on the issue of the ordinance”. Instead, he should send positive vibes. Delhi’s local politics, where Congress and AAP are adversaries, should be set aside as far as this issue is concerned. The combined focus should be on common enemy BJP.

There will be confrontations and allegations, also “political witch-hunt and campaigns based on lies against political opponents by any political party”, but those should not be allowed to colour opinion against the Centre’s ordinance. Open mind should be the prerequisite in both the parties – the Congress, and the AAP.

It is natural for the AAP to sound desperate.  Also reasonable. But the Congress has been handed an ace. It can be the ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Leader of Opposition’ in perhaps the truest manner possible. It should take the lead and organize the opposition parties into a single fighting unit. With the Congress at the head of an Opposition front, there wouldn’t be any doubts on which party was at the head of the Opposition phalanx.

The AAP has already termed the fight against the Centre as “agnipariksha (trial by fire)” while asking the Congress to take a call. At stake is democracy and India’s “federal structure”, which has been rendered fragile in nine years of Modi rule. Without doubt, the ordinance is not only “contempt of the Supreme Court” but also “unconstitutional”, and challenging.

What if ordinances become the habit? The Congress cannot lose time thinking, and mulling. The grand old party should convince its workers that taking sides sometimes becomes part of a larger strategy. What is called ‘ChanakyaNiti’! To reiterate, the party will be doing a great disservice to itself and to opposition unity if it doesn’t join hands with AAP on this one issue. (IPA Service)

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