THE Opposition camp in India will now have problem with United States President Mr. Donald Trump, as well. For, as he advocated a new Save America Act, Mr. Trump has cited as successful and foolproof the Indian system of voting on the basis of voter-identity cards. The US President has called the Indian election system worthy of emulation. There is no doubt that these remarks by Mr. Donald Trump will disturb the Indian Opposition to no end. For, the Opposition have cited Mr. Trump innumerable times -- almost describing his observations as accurate, so much so that its leaders agreed with Mr. Donald Trump that Indian economy was a ‘dead’ system. And now, all of a sudden, Mr. Trump is out in the open praising the Indian election system as foolproof !

 

What will the poor Opposition leaders do now ? -- in sharp contrast of what the Opposition rhetoric is in connection with the elections in India. Mr. Trump’s worry is about the correct identity of voters. His worry is also about the manner in which elections are conducted in the US that has no central agency to hold elections. He is also bothered about the high percentage of American voters often indulge in postal ballot -- which militates against the principle of fair and frank and transparent elections. For, when the people resort to postal ballot, there is no way the authorities could check the authenticity of the ballot in the absence of appropriate identification. India’s Chief Election Commissioner Mr. Gyanesh Kumar had wondered how America could conduct a transparent election with most voters having no identification cards.

 

Mr. Trump has agreed that such a system has to be in place in the US so that elections in the US become transparent and have no scope for frauds such as impersonation. With such praise coming from their political ‘mentor’ Mr. Donald Trump, what would the Indian Opposition do ? How will it justify its resistance to the India’s very wonderfully conducted elections at all levels ? Mr. Trump has, no doubt, left the Indian Opposition in a lurch. All the while, the Opposition has been talking about India’s election system as having been corrupted by the Narendra Modi Government with the help of electoral bureaucracy -- headed currently by Mr. Gyanesh Kumar. It has also condemned the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. In other words, the Opposition thinks that India’s election system is rotten and has damaged democracy to a point beyond repair.

 

Some Opposition leaders like Mr. Rahul Gandhi -- who happens to be the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha -- have gone to the extent of urging foreign countries to intervene in India to protect democracy and restore it. US President Mr. Donald Trump, however, has acted as spoilsport for the Opposition. Not only has he praised the Indian system, but has expressed a desire to emulate some of its strong points in the US so that the elections there are held in a free, fair, frank and transparent manner beyond question. He has punctured the Indian Opposition’s propaganda balloon. He has left no scope for the Opposition to make any amends and twist his statements favourably. In fact, the Opposition, too, gets elected through the same system.

 

In some States, they have formed Governments, as well. Yet, they have not stopped criticising the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or the SIR or whatever comes to their mind -- no matter if it has any systematic thought or it is just a blabbering by fools. Of course, it must be noted that Mr. Trump’s appreciation of the Indian election system stems from his need in domestic American politics. Yet, the fact of the matter is that the American President has found the Indian system robust and transparent enough to conduct elections without any mishaps. For decades, India has been holding elections and electing its Governments at all levels through the system that the world has come to applaud without any reservation. Now, what will the Opposition do ?