Old Pension Scheme: Scorch the earth politics of a desperate Opposition

The past twelve months have seen a steady drift in the political causes being picked up across the array of Opposition parties in India. Starting with the decisions to revert to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) by Congress-led governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the drift has been in a regressive direction undoing reforms of the past, in some instances reforms implemented by the Congress party itself. At a recent book release event in New Delhi, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was closely associated with Dr Manmohan Singh during the UPA era, termed the regressive moves towards the Old Pension Scheme as a flawed idea that would be a recipe for financial bankruptcy. With the malaise spreading to Himachal Pradesh-ruled Congress and also to neighbouring Punjab ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the contagion around pension politics threatens to undo the financial gains of the past two decades. The AAP’s penchant for regressive politico-economic policies extends further beyond the Old Pension Scheme. Its climate-unfriendly move to provide free electricity in Delhi has now extended itself to Punjab, further threatening its precarious finances. The contagion of freebie-politics of the AAP seems to have infected the Congress down south with the party in Karnataka promising to similarly provide free electricity ahead of Assembly elections in that state in a few months. From OPS to freebies, there is a clear pattern to the political causes being picked up by the Opposition parties rooted in short-term populism unmindful of the long-term consequences. It is in this same spirit that the JD(U)-RJD government in Bihar has gone ahead with its socially divisive project of a caste census. It would seem that across the political spectrum of the Opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), desperation of political parties is pushing them to a “scorch the earth” approach even if it means irreparable damage to the fabric of society, financial stability and to the environment. What explains this desperation of the political opposition to the BJP when in reality the pendulum of politics has swung both ways from time to time? While the BJP saw its governments voted out in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, Delhi continued to remain out of its grasp in successive elections. In states like Maharashtra and Bihar, the Opposition also proved to be quite adept at engineering a change in regime by cobbling up numbers to the detriment of the BJP. Down south, the BJP remains a marginal player in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while it has seen Punjab slip away from the NDA’s fold. Yet, the political opposition has betrayed a desperation that has fuelled its “scorch the earth” political approach both on the electoral battlegrounds as well as in Parliament with unruly disruptions and unprecedented conduct disrespectful of presiding officers. This “scorch the earth” approach is not limited merely to the political opposition. It is also evident across a spectrum of elitist lawyer-activists, retired judges and bureaucrats and assorted ideologues who have been working overtime to advance the patently false narrative of a “democracy in peril”. Recent remarks at a legal event barely a kilometre away from the Supreme Court by elitist lawyer-activists claiming the situation was “worse than Emergency” are symptomatic of the “scorch the earth” elitist activism that is being conducted in parallel to the Opposition’s politics. If the Opposition’s desperation is threatening the economy, the activists’ desperation has caused far more damage by colouring India’s reputation globally through biased indices and flawed assessments of the health of democracy in India. To better understand this desperation, one would have to go beyond the miasma of cliched headlines and alarmist pronouncements. One would also have to understand how Narendra Modi and the BJP under his leadership have fundamentally altered politics in India. An eloquent example of how high the bar on political leadership has been raised in India becomes evident from the manner in which Rahul Gandhi has had to abandon his part-time approach to politics peppered by long and frequent vacations outside India to showcase himself in a manner quite alien to his public persona of the past two decades. It is also reflective of the creative politics of the BJP rooted in native symbolism for community mobilisation and engagement that its arch rival in Bengal now wants to hold Ganga Aarti in Kolkata. The BJP’s political discipline in managing its organisation, privileging selfless volunteerism both in and out of office, has demonstrated how Gujarat can buck decades of incumbency. From personal leadership to creative political causes, from organisational discipline to 24x7 commitment, the bar in politics and public office has been raised so high that it has caused deep desperation within the Opposition that has long relied on lazy politics and myopic shortcuts to capture power. It is a testament to how high this bar has been raised that even in Himachal the BJP preserved its vote share while in the Delhi municipal elections it even increased its vote share. However, countering the scorched earth politics of the Opposition will require a creative political response in a manner similar to Gujarat where Narendra Modi flipped the populist logic of free electricity on its head to show how electricity through roof-top solar could be a source of income. With an electorally busy 2023 ahead of the BJP before the nation once again faces general elections to the Lok Sabha, the cancerous culture of entitlement underlying the scorched earth politics of the Opposition will need to be arrested and cured lest the malignancy spreads further. The writer is the former CEO, Prasar Bharti. Views expressed are personal. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.