Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s farewell to veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad reminded one of an era where it was okay to exchange smiles across the aisle. We find very few examples of this kind of non-partisan, cross-party interaction in current times, especially when the personal equations between the Gandhis and the Prime Minister are at an all-time low. This was not so during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era when during the Parliament attack one of the first few calls made by then PM Vajpayee was to the Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi. The Congress too supported the BJP during the Kargil war. It was the Vajpayee way that gave the BJP its first stint in Race Course Road (as the PM’s residence was then called) with the support of as many as 23 parties. Today the majority mandate given to PM Modi doesn’t need the famed Vajpayee consensus to govern, but it has also given the current dispensation a label of being ‘authoritarian’ and left it with no allies at all.
So charged is the equation between the Treasury Benches and the rest of Parliament that today, even a hug across the aisles is seen more as a political move than a personal gesture—and that is exactly what it was when Rahul Gandhi went and hugged the PM in the Lok Sabha right on the eve of the last general elections. His wink that followed the hug gave the game away.
And so it made a nice change when the PM made an emotional farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha as Azad stepped down, telling him: “Do not feel like you are no longer in the House. My doors are always open for you. I will need your suggestions. I will not let you retire.”
Of course, this comment should be taken with a pinch of salt. It has already been pointed out by Rasheed Kidwai, author of 24, Akbar Road, that the PM rarely consulted Azad on anything when he was in the Rajya Sabha, not even when he abrogated Article 370 in a state of which Azad is a former CM. Clearly, the PM was playing a bit of politics as well for Azad has recently acquired rebel status as a key member of the G23; and praising a rebel has its own nuances. However, it is also interesting that for his part, Azad too made no reference to Article 370 in his own farewell address.
But the larger picture remains. It was a refreshing sight to see this cross-party goodwill coming at a time when the equations between the government and the Opposition are at an all-time low. The reason for this has a lot to do with the leadership of both parties, the BJP and the Congress. The PM clearly still remembers the “Maut Ka Saudagar” jibe and the Gandhis, too, take his each and every taunt very personally. When it gets so personal, it is the politics that suffers.