We need a constructive opposition.

The complete wipe out of the Congress in the recent elections is not good news for India. It is a good thing that the BJP has absolute majority in parliament so that we do not have to endure another 5 years of ' coalition dharma ', like the last 10 years, when we had 79 ministers in 51 ministries fighting with each other for more power because the more the power the more the chance to loot. But a large opposition party is extremely necessary, not to disrupt the parliament with noisy demonstrations, but to scrutinise the actions of the government, ask for explanations and inform people of any transgressions by the ruling party. Today the opposition is fragmented, the 3 largest parties being the Congress with 44 seats, the AIADMK with 36 and the Trinamul Congress with 34 seats. No party has 55 seats which would entitle it for the post of the Leader of the Opposition, which is not just a fancy title with perks, but has seats on important committees. When Sushma Swaraj of the BJP was Leader of the Opposition in 2010 she opposed the appointment of PJ Thomas to the post of Chief Vigilance Commissioner because of allegations of improper conduct in the past. Eventually Mr Thomas had to resign the post. The AIADMK is limited to Tamil Nadu and the Trinamul Congress to Bengal so only the Congress is recognised all over India. One man who carries the biggest responsibility for the Congress debacle is the previous Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. People blame him for not protecting The Family by taking the blame on himself. He was picked from the Rajya Sabha in 2004 by Ms Sonia Gandhi because he had no political base and would not challenge the ascendance of her son, Rahul to the post in due time. He was supposed to keep the seat warm until Rahul had learnt the tricks of the trade. And Singh played the part to perfection. He did nothing. He appointed vast numbers of ministers without any supervision allowing everyone to loot to heart's content while keeping his own hands scrupulously clean. He said almost nothing except proclaiming his own honesty and blaming ' coalition dharma ' for all the ills in the economy. He followed every diktat issued by Ms Gandhi.  He must have known that all the handouts would lead to disaster so he constituted 21 Groups of Ministers and 9 Empowered Groups of Ministers as a layer between The Family and himself. The Congress is in total disarray. For now The Family will hang on but if it loses elections in major states over the next 3 years then the knives will really come out. Once The Family is banished then the Congress can rebuild again. We certainly hope so.