The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Building a consensus on major issues

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Monday, Apr 18, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Building a consensus on major issues

Inder Malhotra

Consultation between the Government and the Opposition needs to be institutionalised.

IN THE midst of the excitement over the successful visit of the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, one remarkable move of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, hasn't received the attention it deserves. On the eve of the honoured guest's arrival, he invited the former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Leader of the Opposition, L. K. Advani, and the former Minister for External Affairs, Jaswant Singh, to discuss not only the impending talks with the Chinese leader but also those with the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, now in progress. On a similar occasion in the past also, Dr. Manmohan Singh had called in not only the leaders of the BJP, the principal Opposition party, but also two other former Prime Ministers, V.P. Singh and Inder Kumar Gujral, who are no longer in Parliament.

This is how things ought to be. India is essentially a consensus country, and as Dr. Manmohan Singh has said more than once, the country's foreign and security policies, including the nuclear policy, have to be based on "consensus and continuity." However, meaningful consensus can be built and sustained only through consultations that are regular and do not take place by fits and starts, depending on the inclination of the head of the Government, which is what the practice is at present. It is time, therefore, to institutionalise the consensus-building process.

There is no reason why, 58 years after Independence, India should not introduce systems that have existed in mature democracies for a very long time. For instance, in Britain, from where we have borrowed the Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, the Leader of the Opposition is briefed on even the most sensitive matters as routinely as the Prime Minister is. In the United States, the same goes for the relationship between the White House, the Pentagon, the CIA et al, on the one hand and Congressional leaders of both parties, on the other.

To be sure, this couldn't have happened here immediately after Independence. The Congress party's dominance of the national polity was overwhelming. A slew of Opposition groups did make the democratic process lively but each of them was rather small, if not a splinter. Indeed, right till 1977 there never was a recognised Opposition party in Parliament because none had the requisite 50 seats to gain this status! Then a problem of a different kind had intervened.

Jawaharlal Nehru's successor Lal Bahadur Shastri had tried to hold all-party meetings on important issues such as whether or not to accept the UN-proposed ceasefire during the 1965 War with Pakistan or the strategy to be followed at his talks with Field Marshal Ayub Khan at Tashkent. But unfortunately, his tenure was short-lived.

In her initial years as Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had adopted the same style. But as her conflict with the Page Two Congress party bosses who had helped her reach the top grew and the Congress drifted towards 1969 split, with the Left parties supporting her and the rest vigorously backing the "Indira Hatao" faction, the polarisation of the polity became so inflamed as to make any kind of discourse between the rival sides impossible.

The nightmare of the Emergency followed. After she was voted out, the Janata regime wasted too much time and energy in its relentless vendetta against her, which, ironically, contributed to its self-destruction and her return to power in 30 months flat.

But unfortunately even then there was no attempt at a grand national reconciliation and normalisation of politics. On the contrary, by the summer of 1984 things had reached such a pass that Indira Gandhi, when advised to discuss the delicate matter with Opposition leaders before embarking on Operation Blue Star, had replied, "No. They hate me so much that they wouldn't come even if I invite them."

Things have changed radically since then. Both the Government and the Opposition are coalitions. Nor is there any likelihood of an early exit from the coalition era. The need to keep a large number of parties united on some fundamental policies is thus obvious.

In fact, this process needs to be extended to States also, especially the ones in strategic areas. A day before his meeting with the BJP leaders, the Prime Minister was in Srinagar to flag off the first bus to Muzaffarabad.

He spoke at the ceremonial send-off, of course. So did the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti.

One wished that the Prime Minister had asked the leader of the Opposition in the Kashmir Assembly, Omar Abdullah, also to speak. He was present and highly supportive of the revival of the bus link after 60 years.

Tailpiece

On the day Inzamam's boys defeated ours at Ahmedabad and in New Delhi Mr. Wen Jiabao refrained from confirming reports that China was supportive of this country's claim to a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, someone rang media offices to inquire, "Must we lag behind in both cricket and diplomacy?"

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