Divided They Pinprick

The BJP ought to be pinned down to the ground. Yet the Opposition watches, and waits

- Bula Devi

Rahul Gandhi does his popups at every hot spot, from Hyderabad Central university to JNU and all the places in between. Yet they have the littlest of impacts other than the obligat ory newspaper reports, since there is no follow-up and no one else from his party takes up the worthy cause. It’s all reduced to a photo-op. It took Mayawati over a month to react strongly to Rohith Vemula’s suicide, and the champion of Dalits waited for Parliament to open before she took on Smriti Irani and came off second best. The left, which should be in the forefront of the JNU fracas, is so concerned with elections in West Bengal and Kerala that apart from voices like Sitaram Yechury and D. Raja, it has all but deserted the battlefield. Mamata Banerjee, also pollbound, has been unusually quiet on the students’ issue—not surprising given her own record. Nitish Kumar is struggling in Bihar and has no time for national politics. It all adds up to a monumental tragedy: at a time they should be counter-attacking fiercely, the Opposition seems to be an under-confident, mewling lot.