As India fights against Coronavirus under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the intellectuals of left-liberal establishment who have traditionally supported Congress are pushing for an all-party government. Their primary argument is that this is the most difficult period for the country since partition, and Modi government lacks competitive ministers to deal with, and therefore, politicians from all parties needs to be included in the government.
Ramachandra Guha, an important member of left-liberal establishment who deified Nehru in his book India after Gandhi- A history of Post-independence India- invoked his God to make his point. He argued that after Independence Nehru reached all parties and included members of opposition like Shyama Prasad Mukerjee and B R Ambedkar in the cabinet. “… Nothing stops the regime now in power from reaching out, for advice and assistance, to men and women of ability, who happen to be in other political parties,” wrote Guha in an article in Hindustan Times.
He also praised Congress party and argued that Modi government must learn from them. “At this time of national crisis, the Modi government must have the grace (and courage) to set pride and partisanship firmly to one side — just as the Congress government did in August 1947,” argued Guha.
Raghuram Rajan, another intellectual who has actively supported Congress party, and was appointed Chief Economic Advisor and Governor of RBI by the UPA government, also suggested that the government should include opposition members who sailed India during global financial crisis.
“There is much to do. The government should call on people with proven expertise and capabilities, of whom there are so many in India, to help it manage its response. It may even want to reach across the political aisle to draw in members of the opposition who have had experience in previous times of great stress like the global financial crisis,” wrote Rajan in Linkedin post, which has been published by Times of India.
Moreover, Congress’ national spokesperson Sanjay Jha, who is hyperactive on Twitter, also argued that the Congress party has best human resources in the public field and Modi government must include Congress leaders in the government in these crisis times.
Dear PM @narendramodi
This is a great time to create an “ interim national government “.
Invite a core team of political leaders from different parties whose experience and competence can help the government cope with the massive #COVID2019 challenge.
It’s over to you.
— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) March 27, 2020
Congress has a range of pet intellectuals who push its agenda. Majority of the mainstream media, filled with the people of left-liberal establishment, vociferously supports the idea and conducts debate, discussion on it. They try to push for public consensus around these ideas.
The Congress pet intellectuals obviously forgot to point out that at the time Global Financial Crisis Congress led UPA government did not include any one from opposition in the then cabinet, despite a minority coalition government. Modi government has a majority with 303 seats of BJP alone and tally of NDA goes above 350.
And so far, it has taken all necessary steps to prevent the spread of pandemic. In fact, some people even argued that the 21 days lockdown was paranoiac, and the government should not have resorted to such drastic steps, as it will lead to massive damage to economy. However, WHO praised Modi government for far-sighted and necessary lockdown, and urged other governments to learn from it.
Modi government has dealt with the pandemic very efficiently, and given the lack of implementation skills in the leaders of Congress, they are the last one required in the government at this point of time. Nevertheless, the Congress pet intellectuals will keep pushing for it to get their masters included in the government.
