The numbers are clearly stacked in favour of Jagdeep Dhankhar, the National Democratic Alliance candidate for the office of the Vice-President. The Opposition — 17 parties attended a joint meeting on Sunday — has announced Congress leader Margaret Alva as its candidate. Mr. Dhankhar, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2003 after initial stints in the Janata Dal and Congress, has remained a loyal soldier of the party and its current leadership. Even the office that he currently holds, the Governor of West Bengal, has not come in the way of his party loyalty. He has had continuous public confrontations with the elected government led by the Trinamool Congress’s Mamata Banerjee. On many occasions, it appeared that Mr. Dhankhar was playing a partisan role in State politics, in tandem with the BJP. While announcing his candidacy, the BJP has described him as the son of a farmer — a much cliched, still potent labelling that politicians claim. The claim has specific meaning in this context, as Mr. Dhankhar hails from the Jat community, a landowning dominant caste in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. The community’s stiff resistance was among the reasons that forced the Centre to withdraw the three farm laws in 2021. A considerable segment of Jats had stayed with the BJP in this year’s Assembly election in U.P., and Mr. Dhankhar’s elevation will strengthen the BJP’s hold over the community, particularly in his home State of Rajasthan that goes to polls in 2023.
For the Opposition, elections to the posts of President and Vice-President would have been an opportunity to advance its politics. On that count, it seemed to have done a poor job. Ms. Alva’s entry onto the scene is unlikely to move the needle for Opposition politics in any impactful manner. She, like the Opposition candidate for President, Yashwant Sinha, is a forceful speaker but does not mobilise any political constituency. She comes from Karnataka, a State that goes to the polls next year, but there is little that her candidacy will contribute to the Congress in the State or Opposition politics in general at a national level. As it stands, Mr. Dhankhar is all set to become the Vice-President of the country who is also the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha — two offices that require occupants to be unfailingly non-partisan. They are expected to adhere to rules and the Constitution on the one hand, and on the other, innovate to ensure smooth relations between the government and the Opposition. Mr. Dhankhar should strive to build better relations between the Government and the Opposition, and to uphold the honour of the Upper House. There is a transition that he might struggle to effect, given the temperament he has displayed so far, as he steps into a new national role.
