India: Why the Opposition Matters

The Indian General Elections are finally over. The incumbent Congress Party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition is back in power. Most people are heaving a sigh of relief. The only ones disappointed with the end of the election frenzy are the television media who of course, need to have something to report, since they are 24 hour television news channels. Round the clock television channels are media monsters that need to be fed all the time!

More and more people are beginning to recognise India as a potential giant on the world stage. I will give you an anecdotal example. Day before yesterday, my wife and I went up to Grouse Mountain, a scenic peak above Vancouver. The views of Vancouver and the surrounding ocean from Grouse Mountain are stunning. We hired a local guide for a trek around the area. Part of our little trekking group also included an English couple in their late fifties. As we were chatting with our new found friends, I asked them what they thought of India. The elderly couple responded by saying that their son-in-law often travelled to Mumbai from Essex, England (where he was based), because he worked for the Tata Group of Companies in India, which has interests in steel, automobiles and information technology. Our tour guide had been to the Indian Himalayas in the past, and he was now familiar with Indian information technology and call centres, since he interacted with an Indian business process outsourcing centre (BPO) for his credit card problems!

On the same evening, American television host Charlie Rose had two of India’s leading industrialists Azim Premji and Anand Mahindra on his television show which airs on PBS. Rose had obviously done his homework on India and the Indian economy. His questions were regarding the growing world stature of Indian corporates such as Wipro, the Tata Group and Reliance.

Clearly, the international view of India as a place of endemic poverty, slums, overcrowding and cows dozing on the streets is changing; albeit slowly. India is still a very long way from transforming itself into a player on the global stage, but hopefully that process has begun. We fervently hope that this government will continue with the reform process, which began two decades ago. The new government is making all the right noises; it remains to be seen whether they can deliver the high expectations the long-suffering Indian electorate has placed on them.

Among the losers in this general election are the Communists and the right-of-centre National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the so-called “Hindu nationalist” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). I say so-called because the BJP is often unfairly targeted as being “fundamentalist” and “non-secular”. While fringe elements in the BJP certainly are, these tags are unfairly attached to them by their opponents at election time. The BJP as a whole is a secular party.

Both the Communists and the BJP have an important role to play in the Opposition. The Congress has in the past, exhibited a sense of arrogance in its own power. They need to be reminded that they owe a debt to the people who have elected them in the first place. I am a fierce critic of India’s Communists. For the most part, they believe in regressive authoritarian polices which would take India back a hundred years. But I agree completely with them when they talk about education and healthcare reform in India. Of course, they themselves have done precious little in these areas in the states that they do govern (Kerala and West Bengal). Still, their outdated doctrine does place emphasis on both primary education and rural healthcare, two important areas that we must make progress in. They need to quit raising the bogey of so-called “U.S. imperialism” and start pressuring the government to deliver on education and healthcare reform. Hopefully India’s Communists have realized that the electorate is more concerned about basic issues such as education, jobs, roads and water and cares very little about who delivers it. The Indian electorate is fine with being a “strategic ally” of the U.S., as long as their aspirations to a better life are met.

Similarly, the BJP has an important role to play as the primary Opposition party. The BJP is a reform-minded party, and much economic reform was carried out under their rule; the benefits which we are reaping now. The Congress has talked up a storm on economic reform over the past five years and delivered very little. Some of this lack of delivery is due to the compulsions of coalition politics in the last government. However, there can be no excuses this time around – either concerning economic reform or domestic security; another area in which the last Congress led coalition performed poorly. The BJP needs to push the Congress to deliver in both these areas.

A strong Opposition is the lifeblood of any democracy. But their role is not to oppose just for the sake of it. If our opposition parties mature, open up a meaningful debate on national issues and hold the government accountable for delivering on its promises, they will play an equally important role in determining India’s future as the current ruling coalition in Delhi. Let us hope they do.