Congress must take the initiative and make electoral adjustments: Kapil Sibal

KAPIL SIBAL, Rajya Sabha, a member of Parliament from the Samajwadi Party (SP), has been an indefatigable critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a minister of the Union del Congreso and then went to SP. He has little hope that Parliament will function normally in the run up to 2024 and says Aditi Phadnis that as a leader, it is the Congress that must make the greatest sacrifices for the sake of the unity of the Opposition.

Edited excerpts:

Parliament is a forum for the opposition to present their point of view. Now only the monsoon session remains and the winter session and the 2024 election will be upon us. What should we expect to see in Parliament in the run up?

Parliament is also a forum where the treasury banks allow the opposition to present their point of view. Given the perceptible animosity evident in the toxic speech outside Parliament and the way both Houses are conducting themselves, the monsoon and winter sessions will suffer the same fate. It suits the government because it doesn’t have to deal with problems where it will be defensive.

The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed the petition that seemed to unite the Opposition: the action of central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Now what? How can the opposition unite?

The Opposition is still united on the issue of the misuse of central agencies such as the ED, CBI and the National Investigation Agency, to destabilize elected governments where the Opposition is in power.

The petition presented sought that the SC issue guidelines in the context of its excesses. The SC observed that the guidelines cannot be issued in favor of the political class.

However, he also said that he can look into the question of excesses in a given case. I am a bit puzzled as to why such a petition was filed, given that when the statutes are in place, issuing guidelines would be legally unjustified.

Rightly so, the SC did not consider the request. But his dismissal will have no impact on Opposition unity.

The Opposition can unite on a wide range of issues: destabilizing and overthrowing elected governments, unemployment, inflation, crony capitalism, electronic voting machines, seeking to dismantle the federal structure, issues related to education and health, etc.

I have no doubt that it will work out, maybe not in the way you expect.

He has always been opposed to the BJP: whether in Congress or outside of it. Where does the problem of the Opposition lie? Why is it so hard for them to get together?

There is no party other than Congress that can pull this off. You must take the initiative and make electoral adjustments when necessary. The same must be done by the Opposition wherever it is the dominant party in the state. That is not problematic or impossible to achieve.

Do you see any prospect of an opposition candidate against a BJP candidate in the 2024 election?

Can anyone guess!