Gen Naravane's book gives Opposition unity a breath of fresh air

New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government's insistence on not allowing to him to refer to former Army chief General M M Naravane's unreleased memoir have provided a perfect backdrop for a divided Opposition to come together, with just a couple of months left for latest round of Assembly elections.

With strains in its relations with DMK, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress impacting the Opposition unity in the recent past, the Congress could put pressure on the ruling BJP in Parliament as the regional parties threw their full weight behind in sending a united message that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not speak in the Lok Sabha unless Rahul is allowed to speak.

The Opposition will utilise the opportunity to further dent the BJP narrative by claiming that Modi “ran away” from debate, with Modi missing his date with the Lok Sabha but speaking to a half-empty Rajya Sabha after an Opposition walkout.

The latest episode of Modi not replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address comes barely less than two months after the ruling BJP pushed the VB-G RAM G Bill after being confident on mastering the narrative. The Opposition was on the backfoot after the devastating Bihar polls, followed by speculation about Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) switching sides.

However, Rahul's insistence on sticking to raising Gen Naravane's remarks on Modi's handling of China conflict despite some party colleagues arguing that he would have done better if he moved on found support in leaders like Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress' Abhishek Banerjee.

If the ruling BJP did not want Rahul's attack on Modi to go into Parliamentary records, the Congress MP ensured that he controlled the optics. 

He displayed a copy of the memoirs inside and outside and said, “the main line is what the PM said, ‘jo uchit samjho woh karo’....Gen Naravane called Rajnath Singh and said ‘Chinese tanks have come on Kailash ridge, what should we do?’ Rajnath Singh did not reply to him at first...Modi gave the message…Meaning he shed responsibility. He told the Army chief, you do whatever you want, it is beyond me.”

The Congress and its allies feel that the government is on the backfoot on Budget and the Indo-US trade deal and Rahul stepping up the decibel levels on Modi have helped them in pushing their narrative of a "weakened" Prime Minister. 

Modi's absence on Wednesday evening and Thursday in the Lok Sabha when the motion was taken up and Speaker Om Birla's remarks that he advised the Prime Minister not to come to the House as he has "concrete information" about Congress MPs' "unforeseen" protest, they believe, have impacted the "56-inch narrative". 

The switching of mic of Rahul for referring to Gen Naravane's memoir and allowing BJP MP Nishikant Dubey to launch a diatribe on the Gandhi family by citing books as well as BJP MPs claiming that the Congress women MPs were to attack Modi have been seen in the Opposition circles as a knee-jerk reaction.