What is a shadow cabinet and does India need one?

Union Ministers began taking charge of their ministries on May 31, a day after taking the oath of office.

But as the government prepares for the first parliamentary session of the 17th Lok Sabha, the opposition remains in disarray.

For a long time, observers have been proposing to set up a ‘shadow cabinet’ in the Lok Sabha, similar to those in other countries.

What is a shadow cabinet?

The concept of a shadow cabinet is popular in some of the western democracies such as the United Kingdom. Opposition parties form an alternative cabinet that scrutinises decisions taken by the government.

The positions in such a shadow cabinet mirror those in the real government. For example, the opposition’s shadow cabinet would comprise positions of home affairs, finance, external affairs, agriculture, railways, etc. just as the real Union Cabinet.

Opposition members who are given charge of these “portfolios” are responsible for monitoring all developments in those respective fields. These “ministers” could also counter the Union Ministers if need arises.

These cabinets are often informal and its decisions are not binding.

Currently, Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn is leading the ‘shadow front bench’. The Labour Party is the main Opposition party in the UK House of Commons.

Similar concepts exist in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and South Africa, among others, in some form.

Experiments in India

There have been multiple experiments with running shadow cabinets in India. However, these have happened only at the state level.

In 2005, a shadow cabinet was formed by the opposition BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra to counter then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh-led Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government.

The Congress had also formed a shadow cabinet in Madhya Pradesh in 2014 to counter the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government.

In 2015, a shadow cabinet was formed in the coastal state of Goa. However, it was not formed by the opposition, but by a non-governmental organisation Gen Next.

The most recent example came from Kerala where a shadow cabinet was formed in April 2018 by civil society members to analyse policies of the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. The members included social activists, not members of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

How it could benefit the Opposition

A shadow cabinet formation allows the opposition to mark ministers and track issues better. In the UK, the shadow front bench decides if amendments are required to a legislation brought in by the treasury benches.

Having such a role assigned to opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) would allow them to generate expertise in a certain field and draft their counter policies. These counter policies could eventually be presented as an alternative to the government’s proposals.

More importantly, shadow cabinets would enable having serious discussions over tabled bills.