Heading into an election year, India’s Opposition had an eventful year battling the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2023. Starting strong with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Opposition faced expulsion, mass suspension from Parliament and unsuccessfully tried to oust the Modi government via a no-trust vote.
Here’s a look at the significant events involving the Opposition this year:
Bharat Jodo Yatra
Spearheaded by Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, the Bharat Jodo Yatra travelled across India in a span of 136 days, covering 20 cities. From September 7, 2022 to January 30, 2023 Rahul Gandhi led Congress supporters and leaders, often joined by celebrities and scores of ordinary citizens, walking in protest against the BJP’s ‘politics of hate’, unemployment, inflation, and political over-centralisation.
At a time when Congress was hoping for Rahul Gandhi to take up the party’s mantle once again, the 53-year-old refused to do so, choosing to lead Congress’ mass contact programme. Paying tribute to his late father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at his memorial in Sriperumbudur, Mr. Gandhi vowed to ‘conquer hate with love’, kicking off the yatra in the presence of top Congress leaders like Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Digvijaya Singh and ally DMK’s chief M.K. Stalin.
The yatra was popular, with thousands joining Mr. Gandhi in various cities where he interacted with the local population. In his speeches he targeted the BJP on various topics — polarisation, favouring capitalists, burdening the poor with price rises in oil and food and not solving the unemployment crisis. Mr. Gandhi’s popularity also rose; a Lokniti survey found that 42.8% of the 7,202 interviewed felt it had helped Congress gain support, while 15.8% said they liked Mr. Gandhi after his yatra. Mr. Gandhi also pipped all other Prime Minister hopefuls in the survey, with 26.8% favouring him over others like Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav, and Amit Shah.
Through the Yatra, Mr. Gandhi remained in the limelight — be it his choice of wearing a mere white T-shirt and Khaki pants in cold weather, his ‘breached security’ in Jammu-Kashmir, or his tirade against RSS, and sometimes, other Opposition parties.
In a bid to once again boost Congress, the Wayanad MP will commence the Bharat Nyay Yatra from Manipur on January 14, travel 6,200 km across 14 States from east to west. The yatra, which will mainly be by bus along with short stints of walking, will end in Mumbai on March 20. Notably, the campaign begins a week before the long-awaited Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir’s inauguration.
Formation of INDIA coalition
Shifting the focus from Rahul Gandhi to the broader Opposition, the Congress kicked off building a coalition of anti-BJP parties to take on Mr. Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. After high-stakes negotiations and two meets in Patna and Benguluru, a 26-party coalition called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was announced on July 18. Led by Congress, which is the largest party in the coalition (80 MPs), the group also comprises of its State-level rivals like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Left parties (CPI, CPM, and CPI-ML).
The bloc held its first formal meeting in Mumbai on September 1 where TMC, JD(U), AAP and the RJD insisted that the seat-sharing arrangement be finalised for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Two weeks later, the bloc’s co-ordination committee held a meeting at NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar’s Mumbai residence where they decided to kickstart seat sharing talks, raise the issue of caste census and boycott select television news anchors.
However, as five States — Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram — went to the polls, the Congress went solo in most of them , often contesting against its INDIA allies in some seats. However, apart from Telangana, where K Chandrashekhara Rao’s BRS was in power, the grand old party failed to stop the BJP juggernaut, conceding all Hindi heartland States. While Congress focused on the polls, its allies DMK and SP met up, and Akhilesh Yadav proclaimed that he would cede only 4 out of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh. Another sub-group within the bloc comprising of TMC, the Left parties and AAP also had a meeting.
After a three-month hiatus, the bloc had another meeting on December 6. Prior to the meet, INDIA allies TMC, SP, NC, JD(U), and CPI(M) accused the Congress of prioritising polls over a united Opposition, pointing to the delay in finalising seat-sharing for Lok Sabha polls.
The meet itself saw skirmishes between JD(U) founder Nitish Kumar and DMK’s T.R. Baalu over the latter seeking a translation of the former’s speech delivered in Hindi. While Mamata Banerjee of the TMC proposed making Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge the PM candidate for the coalition, no consensus was reached. The bloc has now decided to finalise an arrangement by December 31.
Expulsion of Rahul Gandhi and Mahua Moitra
On March 23, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi was convicted in a criminal defamation case and slapped with a two-year jail term over his “why do all thieves have Modi surname” comment. The remark, made during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign, was objected to by one Purnesh Modi, who claimed that he had defamed the entire Modi community and filed a case against Mr. Gandhi. A day after the conviction, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification disqualifying Mr. Gandhi as the Lok Sabha representative from Wayanad.
While the Opposition called it a ‘black day’ for Indian democracy, the BJP called it a ‘natural outcome’ emphasising that the law was equal for everyone. Four months later, the Supreme Court stayed his conviction, and the Lok Sabha secretariat restored his membership.
Another prominent Opposition MP who faced expulsion was TMC’s Mahua Moitra. Her former partner, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, had accused Ms. Moitra of having phone conversations with businessman Darshan Hiranandani about the exchange of money and gifts for asking questions in Parliament related to the Adani group. Based on this statement, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey filed a complaint with the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee accusing Ms. Moitra of ‘unethical conduct’ and contempt of House by sharing her Lok Sabha credentials with unauthorised persons.
On November 9, the Committee voted on the issue, with six members favouring Ms. Moitra’s expulsion (including suspended Congress MP Praneet Kaur), while four Opposition MPs voted against it, claiming the charges had ‘no shred of evidence.’ A month later, the report was tabled in Lok Sabha, where Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved to expel Ms. Moitra based on the committee’s recommendation, terming her conduct as ‘unbecoming of an MP’ and saying that her continuance as an MP was ‘untenable’. Through the hour long proceeding, Ms. Moitra was not allowed to speak, and the Opposition questioned why the ethics panel had not even interrogated Mr. Hiranandani or allowed Ms. Moitra to cross-examine him.
As the Opposition walked out, the ruling BJP MPs voted to expel Ms. Moitra from the Lower House. Ms. Moitra has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court, which will hear her case on January 5, 2024.
No-confidence motion
Raising the issue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the ethnic violence in Manipur, the Opposition moved a no-confidence motion against his government on July 26. However, after Speaker Om Birla accepted the motion, the government continued its legislative business in both Houses. For most days during the monsoon session, the Opposition demanded that the House stall its proceedings and debate the no-trust motion. Despite repeated adjournments, the government managed to pass 14 bills and introduce seven before taking up the motion for debate on August 8.
Opening the debate for the Opposition, Deputy Leader of Opposition Gaurav Gogoi posed three questions, “Why hasn’t PM Modi gone to Manipur till date? Why did he speak on the issue only after 80 days? Why hasn’t PM Modi removed the CM of Manipur?” Several Opposition MPs demanded a detailed statement on the scenario in Manipur and condemned Mr. Modi for making a statement on the issue only outside Parliament. Rahul Gandhi demanded Army deployment to bring peace to the violence-torn State.
Mr. Modi replied to the no-trust motion, reminding the Opposition that he had predicted in 2019 that they would bring such a motion against him before the 2024 polls. “There are centuries being scored from this side (treasury) and no-balls being bowled from that side (Opposition),” he said.
With the BJP having a majority with 332 seats and the Opposition having only 142 seats, the motion was defeated in voice vote. The Opposition has maintained that the motion was to force Mr. Modi to speak on the Manipur issue and not to remove him from power.
Mixed results in State polls
Prior to the formation of the INDIA alliance, there were three State Assembly elections — Tripura, Meghalaya and Karnataka — in February and May. After the alliance was formed, five States — Telangana, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — went to the polls in November. Both set of polls saw the Opposition parties facing each other as well as their prime rival BJP, resulting in a mixed verdict.
In the north-eastern States, the Congress which was the main Opposition to the ruling BJP or BJP-allied government, faced challenges from INDIA-ally TMC. The Mamata Banerjee-led party seeking to make inroads in Tripura and Meghalaya orchestrated defections from Congress in Meghalaya and lost many leaders to Congress in Tripura prior to the polls.
Winning 33 of the 60 seats in the Assembly, the BJP along with its ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) decimated the TMC which failed to win a single seat, while the Congress-Left alliance won 14 seats and the Tipra Motha, led by Pradyot Kishore Debbarma bagged 13 seats.
In Meghalaya, TMC managed to lure ex-CM Mukul Sangma from the Congress and 11 MLAs along with him, replacing the Congress as the prime Opposition. In the run-up to the elections, amidst talks of forming the INDIA coalition, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi irked TMC, terming Mr. Sangma as Judas. With a divided Opposition, the ruling National People’s Party cruised to an easy victory, securing 26 of the 60 seats, while its allies BJP and Hill state people’s democratic party (HSPDP) won 2 seats each. Two independents, 12 United Democratic Party (UDP) MLAs and two People’s Democratic Front MLAs gave support to the Conrad Sangma-led government.
In Karnataka, the ruling BJP was overthrown by a resurgent Congress which swept the southern State winning 135 of the 224 seats, forming a government on its own. The Janata Dal (Secular) which had been Congress’ ally since 2018 was reduced to 19 seats and later announced an alliance with the BJP. While Congress went through an inner tiff between D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramiah over the CM position, the Gandhis managed to placate the former who was miffed at being given only the Deputy CM post.
The five State elections in November saw Congress face its own INDIA allies SP, BSP and JD(U) in three States – Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Despite forming the INDIA alliance, Congress opted to go solo. The party failed to stop BJP in Madhya Pradesh and lost power in both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The only silver lining for the Congress was Telangana, where it emerged victorious, winning 64 of the 119 seats.
Mass suspension from Parliament
The Indian Parliament witnessed one of its frostiest winter sessions this year as a record 146 MPs were suspended from both Houses for ‘unruly conduct.’ Prior to the suspensions, two men jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors gallery on the afternoon of December 13 carrying canisters emitting yellow smoke, breaching the security of the Lower House. While no one was hurt, several MPs beat the two men up before handing them over to the security staff. The intruders entered Parliament on visitor passes endorsed by BJP’s Mysuru MP Prathap Simha. Four others connected to the incident were caught outside the premises of Parliament by the Delhi police.
The following day, several Opposition MPs demanded a discussion on the security breach in Parliament, protesting in both Houses by raising slogans, storming the well of the Houses, and displaying placards. 13 Lok Sabha MPs including Kanimozhi (DMK), Manickam Tagore (Congress), and TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien were suspended for the remainder of the session for misconduct and unruly behaviour in the House.
Protests continued over the suspensions and the government’s refusal to talk about the breach. In a swift move, on December 18, the chairs in both Houses suspended 78 MPs (33 from Lok Sabha, 45 from Rajya Sabha). A day later, another 49 Lok Sabha MPs were suspended. Over the next two days, more Lok Sabha MPs were suspended before Lok Sabha adjourned sine die – a day ahead of schedule. Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die the following day.
In the face of mass suspension, the Opposition’s strength in the Lok Sabha was reduced from 199 MPs at the start of the session to 105. In the Upper House, the Opposition’s number was reduced from 129 MPs at the start to 83. With a non-existent Opposition, the government passed several key bills like the three criminal laws (Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill), the Telecom Bill, 2023, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Amendments and the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, through both Houses with minimal debate. Opposition has termed the suspensions as ‘pre-mediated’ and detrimental to India’s democracy.
