Blog@GraceJunction

Democratic systems derived from British democracy have the system of recognising a official opposition to the ruling party. The traditional role of the opposition can be classified under three broad headings:

1) the voice of the voiceless,
the opposition expresses the view of a significant section of the electorate and helps to ensure that concerns of the various groups and other interests not represented in government are not forgotten or trampled upon.

2) alternative to the ruling government,
the oppostion constantly reminds the electorate that there is a viable alternative to the incumbent government. One that has a real or imagined potential to improve the quality of life of the people and let them realise their aspirations. (more…)

Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 8:00pm

The Manmohan Singh led UPA government finally did win the trust vote by a margin of 19 votes amidst the mudslinging and all the hoopla in House of the People (Lok Sabha). The victory they said was sure. They described it as a ‘convincing win’. Meanwhile the battered opposition almost predictably termed it as ‘corrupt victory’.

Over the past few days, the nation woke up to numerous stories about MPs switching loyalty for payoffs ranging from rupees 3 to 25 crores. Charges of horsetrading were doing the rounds since the past three days but the countrymen did not expect MPs to suddenly start disgorging wads of currency on the table of the House, allegedly given to them as a ‘bribe’ for abstaining from voting in the confidence motion moved by UPA government. The MPs also claim to have videographic evidence (Rajdeep Sardesai trying to earn some brownie points over Tehelka and Pranoy Roy’s NDTV, with a stunning sting operation) of the whole bribery deal. India was stunned (perhaps more by the flashing of the wads, in the sanctum sanctorum of world’s largest democracy, than by the allegation per se). This cash-on-table was the first for the Lok Sabha! (more…)

The Manmohan Singh government seeks a trust vote in the Lok Sabha today and the political drama in India has managed to attract widespread attention worldwide, as it will decide the fate of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Under this bilateral pact, the United States will provide India access to civilian nuclear technology and fuel in exchange for IAEA-safeguards on India’s civilian nuclear reactors.

A lot of time and energy was spent behind the passage of the Hyde Act in 2006. The leading opposition party BJP which laid the groundwork for the deal criticized the deal and does not want the government to accept the deal without a vote in the legislature. The Left too had withdrawn its support. The nuke deal has been scripted by Manmohan Singh but the political risk is almost that of Mrs. Gandhi. The possible UPA meltdown will be a hard blow for the party to bear. The loss could be terrible and a win might have a few downsides. (more…)