If one does a critique of the Modi Sarkar today, his supporters immediately attack you as a left-liberal.Today our sense of Opposition must go beyond the old logic of dichotomy to include a greater diversity. That is why the idea of the Opposition must go beyond the party level and encompass many layers of civil society. The classifications and categories don’t permit it. This also demands we re-examine concepts like democracy, nation state and citizenship for their hegemonic bias. Such a holistic idea of Opposition, of difference, creates a plural world where hegemony is a more remote possibility. It’s a party that is erasing differences to secure an absolute majority. The old idea was based on a dichotomous view of the world, like a Manichean definition between left and right, Marxist and capitalist.

The RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal in fact pretend to represent civil society while trying to prop up the regime through vigilantism and kangaroo courts.To create a new idea of the Opposition, one must think of differences and diversity in a new way.The BJP’s dominance goes far beyond electoral politics. We need a new imagination, where the idea of defeat should move from a winner-take-all logic to the idea of a majority that allows for side bets, alternative histories, where politics is a quilt patch of ontologies, lifestyles and livelihoods, where difference is inbuilt into every layer of society. One must see diversity not just in politics but in consumption, lifestyle, religio

This crisscrossing set of alliances creates a broader set of worldviews, out of which political coalitions are born. The majority Indian who thinks he/she is aspirational is a supporter of law and order. The logic of life and knowledge is difference. There is almost a psychological sense of defeat which is embarrassing. It lost its sense of a plural self after Indira Gandhi and the Emergency. A BJP presence in Kerala or Bengal would have been unbelievable 10 years ago. In such a view, the Opposition is not a necessary evil but the lifeblood of a political system.. It’s clear that the old model of liberal politics is inadequate. What the BJP does through the State, the RSS and VHP do with civil society. Difference demands polysemy, diversity a worldview where either/or are a sign of impoverishment. The Modi Sarkar, through its policies is seeping into the intimacy of homes, destroying the autonomy of the body, legislating on food, and deciding who is a preferred citizen. Such an approach to the idea of an Opposition seals off a universe. Dichotomies or even the mechanical idea of a two-party system impoverish the idea of the Opposition in India.A populist majoritarianism is close to brutal authoritarianism. Holling. He/she wants stability in the markets and in law and order to pursue private interests.Today one must revive and reinvent this plural imagination. The rise of moral policing, food vigilantism and jingoistic rhetoric has virtually destroyed the possibility of a creative opposition from society.

In the latter, decision-making mechanically flows down various levels. Worse, the very idea of an Opposition is embalmed in old oppositional categories. Plural societies need a theory of opposition beyond dichotomies.Ironically, political scientist Rajni Kothari had showed that the Congress in its original form was a coalition of such juxtaposed differences. The BJP must be seen in two hyphenated parts — a majoritarian dream come true electorally and a civil society nightmare.The sorry state of the Congress and CPI(M) today is an invitation to posit, invent and create a new world of differences, to make democracy more promising.S.As the Narendra Modi juggernaut rolls on, and the national elite joins the game of musical chairs around him, desperate to be accepted, the question almost lost in the popular imagination is what happens to the Opposition? The so-called experts are already behaving as if the Modi Sarkar will last at least for 10 years.Today our sense of an Opposition is closed. Their failure hardly commands attention, not even a footnote as Amit Shah unfolds his plan to “capture” West Bengal. Opposition means chaos and anarchy, and almost seditious! In the clash between minority/majority or left/right, only one category can survive.The BJP’s strategic initiatives are undoubtedly impressive, but the danger is that its majoritarianism isn’t inclusive.

He proposed the idea of “panarchy” — a life form that is opposed to the idea of hierarchy, where order and opinions are centralised.The idea of diversity and alternatives provides a whole repertoire of possibilities for a society. Mr Modi, Amit Shah and the RSS are shrewd enough to understand that it’s the innovative power of civil society that can defeat the BJP. It’s as if the Congress and CPI(M) are unemployed. One of the most exciting ideas in Beige rabbit fur faux fur fabric this contest was suggested by ecologist C. Panarchy challenges this centralised worldview by claiming different levels of life need different forms of knowledge and decision-making. Every time Rahul Gandhi launches a campaign, all it invites is a snigger at his Boy Scout attempts to challenge Mr Modi. A dream of a third way of thinking is virtually destroyed. Today, it appears inevitable as the Opposition has virtually disappeared. This doesn’t allow a third option for alternatives, and sees politics as a zero-sum game. A creeping totalitarianism pretending to be an electoral machine can undermine the fabric of our democratic way of life. The BJP’s electoral ultimatum is clear: “be like us to be us”. The marginals, minorities, ethnic groups and the displaced have no place in such politics. Civil society becomes empty, majoritarian groups more authoritarian, as the minorities and “marginals” feel threatened. It’s trying to alter and control worldviews while pretending it has been a victim of history for decades. We need such a theory of knowledge in the processes of our politics