Agenda Setting for the BJP-led NDA Government | P. S. Jayaramu

June 5, 2024

Results of tbe 18th Lok Sabha elections are out. The BJP has been chastened by the mature sovereign voters of India by denying it a majority. As the single largest party, it will head the NDA Coalition Government. Here is an attempt to set an agenda for the new government.

Before getting down to the proposed agenda, a few words about the historic election that has gone by. This was an election which had many unique features. Let me recount some of them in the form of major takeaways. Firstly, the voters have conveyed in unmistakable terms that they do not endorse the communal polarisation that was unleashed by the BJP and Narendra Modi during their election campaign. There can be no better proof of that than the way the voters decided to inflict a massive defeat to the BJP in UP. The Party got only 33 seats, much below the Samajwadi Party which scored victories in 37 constituencies. Even in Ayodhya which falls under the Faizabad constituency, the BJP lost to the SP candidate, with the electorate rejecting the saffronisation plank, albeit tbe inauguration of the Ram temple there. The defeat of its candidates, the mighty Smirti Irani in Amethi and the candidate in Rae Bareli reflect the strong sentiments of tbe electorate there.

Secondly, in Maharashtra, BJP got only 9 out of a total of 48 seats, with the voters deciding to punish it for dividing the NCP and the Shiv Sena to serve its narrow political ends.

Thirdly, in West Bengal, the BJP was reduced to 12 from its earlier tally of 18, with the voters standing solidly behind Mamta Banerjee. All in all, Modi’s dream ( and slogan) of the Party getting 370 seats and together with the NDA allies crossing 400 ( 400 para) was shattered. With the BJP getting only 240 seats, it was forced to satisfy itself to lead a coalition government. In one sense, the much-talked about Modi equalling Nehru’s record of three terms is technically right, but not politically, as he would be heading a coalition government only, something which the BJP propaganda machine would not accept. Suffice it to remember, Nehru led majority governments all the three times.

Agenda setting :
The coalition government that would be sworn will have to, first of all, agree upon a Common Minimum Programme ( CMP) which should be implemented in all earnestness. Such a CMP will have to include the non-controversial components of the BJP manifesto and significant aspects of the manifesto of allies. Senior leaders like Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar must nsure such compliance by tbe BJP.

The coalition government should do everything possible to establish the highest traditions of Parliamentary democracy, keeping in mind the fact that the mandate is not for a single-party rule. As part of such an exercise, Prime Minister Modi should be made to attend the sessions of Parliament without fail, listen to the members and pave the way for a healthy and harmonious running of the sessions in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

2. The government will have to ensure that the Bills it would introduce, specially ones with national ramifications, are discussed in the Parliamentary Committees, to accommodate the concerns of the Opposition members.

3. Equally importantly, the Prime Minister and senior ministers would do well to hold periodic press conferences to explain to the media the programmes of the government in a transparent manner, even taking supplementary questions from the media, something which is practised regularly by leaders of Western Democracies.Such traditions would help the media too to recapture its space as the fourth pillar of our democracy.

4. As someone who was Chief Minister of a State and succeeded in getting higher allocations from the UPA government headed by Dr.Manmohan Singh for the developmental programmes of Gujarat, Modi , as the Head of the coalition, should evolve traditions to accord healthy respect to the Chief Ministers of states, in particular the opposition-ruled states. The effort should be to sincerely promote cooperative federalism by transferring the States’ share of revenue from tax collections, including GST collections, and higher allocation of Centre’s resources for the overall development of States, more specifically, the backward among them. The dictum “ a strong Centre together with strong States†be accepted as the overriding guiding principle of a genuine federal polity.

5. As for the much needed policy changes, the BJP-led NDA government will have accord priority to the urgent task of promoting employment opportunities for our unemployed youth in urban and rural India. This is an area where the government will have to come out with specific time-bound plans for job creation. Also, Jobs which are lying vacant in various departments of the Central Government and centrally-funded institutions need to be filled up in an expeditious manner.

6. Equally importantly, the woes of the poor and the middle class hit hard by price rise and food inflation needs undivided urgent attention by the new government.

It is necessary to bear in mind that there might be demands for special packages by the coalition partners, which will have to be handled deftly without casting too of a burden on the central exchequer.

In the elections, the INDIA alliance came up with a creditable performance though it was not able to unseat the Modi regime. The INDIA bloc should maintain the unity of purpose and cohesion and play the role of a responsible opposition. The Congress Party which is will get the Leader of the Opposition ( LoP) status, in view of the fact that it has won the largest number of seats, will have a special responsibility to keep the government on its toes.

(Author Dr. P. S. Jayaramu is is former Professor of Political Science, at Bangalore University and former Senior Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi)