OPPOSITION, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!

Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave passed away in the early hours of May 18, with two momentous decisions still on his agenda. The first was the question of permitting sale of GM (genetically modified) mustard seeds, which was strongly opposed by the RSS-affiliated Swadesh Jagran Manch. The second was the order putting a country-wide ban on trade in cattle for purposes of slaughter. Both were highly controversial issues, with potential for stoking political conflicts.

Anil Dave had reportedly approved the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter in principle, but the gazette notification under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was issued after his passing. The order makes trade in cattle much more difficult by mandating that sales be accompanied by an “undertaking that the animals are bought for agriculture purposes and not for slaughter”. The move has sparked outrage because each state has different laws with regard to cow slaughter and the order amounts to interference by the Centre in a state subject, i.e., animal husbandry. Dave, incidentally was a vegetarian, had a strong respect for animal rights and was a votary of cow-based agriculture.

The commercialisation of GM mustard has not yet come to pass. It is a much tougher proposition, because many of its detractors are in-house. The RSS is firmly against genetically engineered crops in general and GM food crops in particular. It opposed GM brinjal tooth and nail when the UPA was in power and hailed the then Environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, for putting it in deep-freeze despite tremendous lobbying by US-based multi-national corporations and their political backers. The then minister for Agriculture, Sharad Pawar, openly supported GM mustard but could not promote it.

It is highly unlikely that Anil Dave, an ardent environmentalist who turned the Narmada Bachao campaign into a people's movement, would have appended his signature to a notification approving commercialisation of GM mustard. His successor, one hopes, would honour his memory by standing firm against pro-GM lobbies.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch, noted for its independent stance even during the Vajpayee regime, does not stand alone in its opposition to GM mustard. It is supported by numerous farmers' organisations and home-grown activists. During UPA, 11 chief ministers had declared in writing that they had no use for GM brinjal and would not introduce it in their states. Whether history will repeat itself remains to be seen, but the lesson for the Opposition here is that if its stands together, it can make the government of the day back down. The Land Acquisition Ordinance was a case in point. RSS affiliates and Opposition parties including the Congress protested vociferously and eventually, the government allowed the ordinance to lapse.

The thinly-disguised ban on animal trade likewise offers the Opposition an opportunity to unite by answering the call of the chief ministers of West Bengal and Kerala. The sickening display by Kerala Youth Congress activists who slaughtered a cow in a market to mark their protest against the ban, has certainly proved to be a setback. However, the Opposition can endorse chief minister Mamata Banerjee's stand, that the ban is against the spirit of cooperative federalism.

At a time when the Opposition is already weak, the ego of individual leaders must necessarily be submerged. The Congress was once the natural centre of gravity for the Opposition; that is no longer the case. The question is whether it would be willing to accept the leadership of a regional party if a united front is to contest the 2019 general elections against the NDA.

Opposition parties have already missed one golden opportunity to come together. The prospect of pulling off a coup in the presidential election in July this year – with a little luck and a lot of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring – motivated the Congress to explore the possibility of a common Opposition candidate. After all, the NDA was short of a majority by a hair's breadth. However, the defection of one and possibly two of its members has stymied the Opposition and made an NDA candidate a shoo-in for the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Battered in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur and in the municipal elections in Delhi and Mumbai, the Opposition is still to get its act together. It would do well to recall that the index of opposition unity was once used as a psephological tool to predict election results. As also the fact that a united Opposition toppled an NDA government by just one vote in 1999.

OPPOSITION parties have already missed one golden opportunity to come together. The prospect of pulling off a coup in the presidential election in July this year – with a little luck and a lot of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring – motivated the Congress to explore the possibility of a common Opposition candidate. After all, the NDA was short of a majority by a hair's breadth. However, the defection of one and possibly two of its members has stymied the Opposition and made an NDA candidate a shoo-in for the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The author is a senior journalist with 35 years of experience in working with major newspapers and magazines. She is now an independent writer and author