Regional parties divorce Congress in Rajya Sabha Triple Talaq battle

New Delhi: The signs of the opposition wilting were evident last week when the contentious bill to amend the RTI Act was passed in Rajya Sabha where the anti-BJP camp held the upper hand for last five years.

But the passage of triple talaq legislation takes the issue beyond technicality of numerical superiority into the realm of ideological challenge to the “secular” bloc in the times of strengthening saffron-hold.

There are signs that the massive BJP victory in 2019 polls has shifted the ground from under the “secular”, interchangeable with anti-BJP, politics. It was a collection of regional parties — JD(U), TRS, RJD, TDP, NCP, SP and BSP — which joined hands with Congress and the Left to keep the bill at bay for over two years.

As BJP under Narendra Modi marched from strength to strength between 2014-19, there were suggestions in Congress that the party relent on issues that the saffron camp has managed to stigmatise with its “appeasement” slur.

It was during this phase that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi came up with the “temple run” idea. The Supreme Court verdict outlawing instant divorce (triple talaq) was said to have given a safe exit route to reset the party compass.

But Congress stuck to its guns — pointing to the “criminalisation” clause in the bill despite the government making crucial concessions — as much because of the pressure from a strong section within as owing to the persuasion of these regional outfits.

As it transpired on Tuesday, most of these regional parties did not mind siding with the government, ironically by walking out of the voting and dressing up their support as protest.

If none of them bothered with more than a fig leaf, the reason is that they are reconciled to the post-2019 political reality and are willing to make concessions. While SP and BSP may be keen to be on the right side of the Centre in view of enforcement agencies, TRS and JD(U) rule states with minority presence and take pride in their “secular” hue.

This raises serious fear about Congress being left stranded, with Trinamool for company, its dilemma compounded by the fact that it cannot appear to be siding with BJP on “divisive” issues.

The Congress predicament was best captured with a senior leader saying, “Political pragmatism may demand that we drop the ante on issues like lynching, minority interests, human rights and liberal values like RTI. But then what would be difference between Congress and BJP.”

However, it is on these very issues that regional fellow travellers broke from Congress on more than one occasion this week. For Congress, the signs are downright ominous. Fighting as it is an existential battle, the principal opposition is up against a relentless Hindutva machine under which polarisation does not flag. If Congress sticks to its traditionally reflexive ideological politics, it ends up exacerbating the process of polarisation. But if it softens, it loses its salience.