The just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament was virtually washed out. The so-called Hug Diplomacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly became an unsavoury national debate. Senior Congress leaders boycotted the Independence Day celebration at Red Fort. This is not to list the political developments of the last week but an attempt to find out which direction the world’s largest democracy is moving.

Looked at closely, a common thread behind these unpleasant developments can be linked to one individual, the uncrowned king of the Indian National Congress, the incumbent Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. He appears to be working with a single-point, though misguided, agenda that the Opposition must oppose everything the government does.

Surely, the ruling party cannot expect the Opposition to become its ally. However, one concept seems to have been buried. After failing to win an election, political parties invariably accepted the people’s verdict. They announce that they will work as a Constructive Opposition, a concept fast disappearing from the dictionary of Indian democracy. From day one, they, especially the Congress, start devising means to pull down a duly elected government instead of gaining the trust of voters who rejected their bid for power. They are no longer willing to bide their time, expose the government’s........

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