“Man Of Match” Rahul Gandhi Must Be Leader Of Opposition In Lok Sabha: Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor hailed Rahul Gandhi as “the man of the match” of the Lok Sabha polls and said it would be fitting that he takes on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the Lower House.

In an interview with news agency PTI after his fourth-straight Lok Sabha poll win, Shashi Tharoor said the message of the mandate was that the electorate has given a “comeuppance” to the BJP’s “overweening arrogance” and its “my way or the high way attitude”.

“It will be a challenge for Mr (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah who have not been used to consulting very much in running their government and I think this is going to test their ability to change their way of functioning and be more accommodative and more conciliatory within the government and also I hope with the Opposition,” he said on the incoming coalition government of the NDA.

The former Union minister said this time the NDA government could prove to be a ‘majboor sarkaar (helpless government)’ on some issues because the parties that are part of the NDA will have to agree on everything.

“Already we have questions being raised by one party on the Agniveer scheme, saying that it needs to be reviewed and they have been supported by a second party namely the JD(U) and Chirag Paswan. Both in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, there are leaders who have demanded special category status for their states which the BJP government had hitherto refused to grant, that will have to be re-examined,” he said.

Mr Tharoor said that suddenly there will have to be a more consensual model of governance coming up.

He accused the Modi government of treating Parliament like a notice board in the last 10 years and expecting it to be a rubber stamp for all their decisions which, he said, was not viable now with a robust opposition of more than 230 MPs.

Batting for Rahul Gandhi to take on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mr Tharoor said the former Congress chief was unquestionably the star of this Lok Sabha performance.

“He and Congress president (Mallikarjun) Kharge campaigned extensively throughout the country. But Mr Kharge is in the Rajya Sabha where he leads the Opposition and it would only be fitting that Rahul Gandhi does the same in the Lok Sabha. I have certainly conveyed my view both publicly and privately in that regard,” he said.

“I think we have a strong number now to stand up to the government and it (Leader of Opposition) should be a leader who is undoubtedly the most popular in the party,” the Congress Working Committee member said, referring to Rahul Gandhi.

Using cricketing analogies, Mr Tharoor said Mr Gandhi was “unquestionably, indeed the man of the match” of the polls and, in a number of places, the Congress “hit the ball out of the park”.

“In some places, we had a tight finish. In my case, there was a super over at the end of the T20 in my constituency. Lots of cricketing analogies all over the place but as we are seeing in the World T20, there are some concerns about the pitch we had to bat on and I would say that we had no choice but to play on the pitch we were given. But it could certainly have been a far more level playing field than it was,” he said.

In Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor beat Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar by 16,077 votes.

About the message of the 2024 mandate, Mr Tharoor said it is very clear – the Indian voter will not allow democracy to be taken for granted.

“We’ve seen everything from the demonetisation that was declared without the cabinet even being consulted or informed, to the stringent lockdown that came with a few hours’ notice, with not even the state Chief Ministers consulted. All of which suggested to me that we are looking at an end to a kind of autocratic rule that brought discredit to our democracy, not just at home but internationally,” he said, adding that is the biggest takeaway.

The government is now a coalition and the Prime Minister will have to consult alliance partners before major decisions, failing which the government may not survive, the Congress leader said.

Hailing the gains made by the Congress that improved its tally to 99 in the Lok Sabha, Mr Tharoor said it was a very good performance and the leaders were very pleased that the numbers showed up according to “what we saw on the ground”.

“As for what we can improve, there is always room for improvement. Certainly, we did not expect to lose every seat in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. Those are areas where introspection is needed within those state units about what went wrong and headquarters will have to weigh in as well,” he said.

Mr Tharoor also dismissed comparisons between Jawaharlal Nehru and PM Modi for returning to power for three consecutive terms.

“I don’t think there is any comparison with Nehru particularly since he won all three elections with a clear majority of his own party and this time around the BJP did not get a majority, it had to rely on its allies which Nehru ji never had to… not quite the same story,” he said.

Mr Tharoor also credited Rahul Gandhi’s two Bharat Jodo Yatras and its alliance strategies for the party’s performance.