In the words of the English romantic poet who died a young man full of dreams, namely Shelley, the INDIA alliance rally in historic Patna was a “sight to behold, not to tell”.
Close to a million (you heard that right, close to a million) citizens, not dumb-driven, not mute, but alive, astir, and sentient, packed the iconic Gandhi maidan.
I cannot recall a larger public/political gathering of people in Independent India.
If you can, I am listening.
It was not a mob but a spate of popular will, disciplined and daring.
Reason why the bulk of the captive media was too afraid to feature it on the television screen, barring two noble exceptions noted by this writer, namely, News 24, and the ABP channels.
If there were any others, I did not see them even on persistent surfing for proof.
So, kudos to those two broadcasters (who also happen to put up the two most watchable debating programmes, even if simultaneously at 7 O’clock in the evening).
The dais was not merely impressively manned by components of the alliance, but purposeful and clear-headed in articulation.
Crowds at the Opposition INDIA alliance rally in Patna on March 3, 2024. Photo: X (Twitter)/@laluprasadrjdrally
The “guarantees” not of the Modi government but of Modi (one and the same thing?), as so advertised by the numero uno with feverish pitch and iteration on the idiot box, dethroning the ubiquitous Amitabh Bachchan as chief advertiser of everything under the sun, were predictably taken to the cleaners by speaker after speaker.
But more than that, in the interstices of the speeches, a body of notable political/ideological critique/ agenda found a voice.
The body of concerns spanned the following issues, even if not fleshed out in so many details:
that, in order to secure/restore economic sanity to the realm and justice to disempowered masses at large, cronies and cronyism required to be held to account;
the policy of privatisation that has taken mountains of public wealth away from the citizen needs to be recouped and channeled with equity and sustained social concern;
that the embarrassingly yawning, indeed, record levels of economic inequality demand to be rectified by restoring and creating jobs and enhancing the purchasing power of the hoi polloi so that both objects of alleviating misery and enabling consumer investment are furthered;
that state agencies cry to be returned to the autonomy marked for them by the constitutional scheme in the interest of a transparently just rule of law;
that the freedom of expression, especially that of the media, (now at 161 out of 189 internationally) cries to be reinstated to make the democratic boast of the republic credible;
that policing and investigation scream to be unshackled from the contumely and influence of high office BS made demonstrably unbiased and fearlessly law-abiding, regardless of the subjects of its enquiries, correcting a corroded pattern of functioning;
that academic institutions and other watch-dog establishments need to be freed from enslavement;
that the electoral system and its manifold operations need to be freed form pressures that often bring its activities/decisions into question;
that criticism of t he government be recognised to be the essential ingredient of democratic philosophy and public culture, not to BE conflated with or mischievously projected as anti-state activity’;
that, as per constitutional injunction, the state be brought back to regarding all religions in the realm with equal consideration, and refrain from patronising or maligning any;
that, at all times, the government and its agencies remain prepared to answer to the legitimate queries of the people whose “right to information” has been held to be fundamental by the highest court in the land.
The coming days before the next elections to the Lok Sabha may, consequent upon the watershed public assertion of March 3 by a combined opposition, come to see a determined bid to voice and flesh out these and allied concerns during the electoral campaign, countering the so-concerted bid by the ruling BJP to peg the election simply on the vacuous “guarantee” of a cult figure.
Clearly, this totalitarian attempt to sink real issues in the emotive miasma of godlike fiat must be challenged if the republic is to survive.
Indeed, the 3rd of March is only twelve days away from the ides of the memorable month.
Where it had seemed that all was lost to the opposition and, inter-alia, to a majority of the voters, a great peaceful, democratic change may be in the offing, one that may in the days to come remind Caesar that the republic is still alive and well, and a change that frowns upon its transmogrification into a Presidential fiefdom.
That could enable Shri Modi to make a redeemed democratic bid for a return to power in 2029.
As to the now combined opposition of 2024 (those that remain undecided, a Mamata ji or a Mayawati ji, may do well to seize the moment and help retrieve the republic), the least false step induced by fractious cupidity can still cost them their place in destiny, most likely for a very long time to come, if that.
They must benefit from the old adage: ten heads are better than one.
Badri Raina taught at Delhi University.
