In his first term as the prime minister, Narendra Modi had tough time in communicating with the Opposition. Trust deficit between the ruling and the Opposition parties became more evident than before.
Except the Goods and Services Tax (GST) legislation, no major policy or executive decision of the Modi government has got any support from the Opposition camp. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has brought the Opposition and the Modi government on a collision path.
States have been passing resolutions (Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan, plus West Bengal) against the CAA. Kerala has moved the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the CAA.
Besides CAA, another bone of contention between the Modi government and the Opposition-ruled states seems to be the National Investigation Agency (NIA). A petition by Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh is already pending in the Supreme Court against the NIA law. Maharashtra, too, is weighing its options against the Centre over NIA’s jurisdiction.
But before we have a look at what is happening in the case of CAA and NPR (National Population Register), let us see how Modi versus Opposition build up has taken place.
ASSERTIVE MODI VS EDGY OPPOSITION
Smarting under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s capacity to pull votes for his Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, the Opposition parties have felt marginalised in national politics. The first sign of turning tides appeared in 2018 when the Congress captured three of the Hindi heartland states – the high sea of Modi wave — from the BJP.
The loss of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh elections jolted the BJP but 2019 Lok Sabha election showed that the Modi wave might actually have become more nuanced and focused. Though the BJP’s public ratings appeared down, the party won 303 Lok Sabha seats riding on the Modi wave.
Leave a Reply