I.N.D.I.A: How the rhetoric of Opposition unity is old wine in a new bottle

The first thing that strikes us is the changed clothing of the former UPA. It has been rebranded unimaginatively as “INDIA” or Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance. That’s a mouthful. With due credit to the person(s) that coined it, it smacks of the same desperation that has marked this motley political crew since the Congress-led UPA was bombed out of power in 2014. Even to a political novice, it is clear that the INDIA acronym was deliberately coined to mislead the Indian voter — its phonetic similarity with NDA is obvious. The problem arises when it is translated into Indian languages — how would the expansion of INDIA be rendered in say, Hindi or Odia or Bengali or Kannada? In Hindi, it would approximate to Bharatiya Rashtriya Loktantra Samaveshi Ghatbandhan. In Kannada, it would translate to Bharatiya Rastriya Prajasattatmaka Antargata Okkuta. See where this leads to?      

The meeting of the so-called Opposition Parties in Bangalore on Tuesday was a minor revelation of sorts. I learnt that there was something called an Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), a Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, a Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi (KMDK), a Kerala Congress (M) and a Kerala Congress (Joseph). Clearly, these are not political parties in any real sense but casteist and regional and special interest pressure groups. To repeat a cliche, a personal hatred for Narendra Modi has temporarily stitched them together. All it takes is one thread for the whole cloth to come apart — even before the 2024 general elections are declared. Topping this farce was the token presence of Sharad Pawar whose NCP has imploded in his own home state.  

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The so-called Opposition Parties meet also reveals three features. 

The first — it is a repeat and rehash of a similar farce that occurred in the run-up to the 2019 polls. This was the Mahaghatbandhan, which in turn was a rehash of a rehash known in the 1990s as the Third Front. The only difference this time is the fact that the Congress is also part of the INDIA (sic) coalition. It is a telltale sign that H D Kumaraswamy who had shared stage with Mamata Banerjee in 2018-19 is conspicuous by his absence.  

The second is the woefully diminished stature of the Congress party, now reduced to a ‘lilliput’ on the national political stage. In a barefaced admission, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that “Congress is not interested in power of PM post.” The statement is hilarious to say the least.  

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The third is an absolute bankruptcy of ideas. Not one in the 26-party cluster has any fresh or innovative ideas or policies to offer to the Indian people. It’s the same record, stuck in the past, for seven decades. To quote Kharge again, “Our intention in this meeting is not to gain power for ourselves. It is to protect our Constitution, Democracy, Secularism, and Social Justice.” The record of how the Congress singly and in coalition “protected” these things for about sixty years is unflattering to put it mildly.    

Hard reality and recent history shows that given a free hand, all these parties would be at each others’ throats. We only need to ask simple questions — for example, where was Mamata Banerjee before she formed the TMC, and what made her quit her earlier party?  

Then there are practical, grassroots issues. When the campaign for 2024 begins, which leader in the Congress will front it? The logical answer is its president Mallikarjun Kharge. A veteran who lost his own seat by a whopping margin of nearly a lakh in the 2019 polls. But then the Congress has its own version of logic which tells us that Rahul Gandhi will lead the 2024 campaign. Enough said.  

Speaking purely in the context of the INDIA constituents, what would be its final tally after the results are declared? The numbers of the current Lok Sabha give us some hints. The total tally of the 26 parties in the INDIA coalition is just over 150 seats. That’s less than half of the NDA’s numbers. Of these 150-plus seats, the Congress — the only party with national presence — is at a pathetic 52 seats. Thus, unless the Congress pulls off a miracle under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership there is every likelihood that these numbers won’t change for the better.    

Let’s consider a hypothetical question. In the event that the INDIA (sic) coalition actually comes at striking range to capture power, who will be the next Prime Minister? I can think of at least eight contenders. Then there is the fundamental question of trust. The plain truth is that not one “ally” trusts the Congress party. The two-term UPA regime has probably wizened them to the dark art of the Congress method of running coalitions: through practiced deception and blackmail using “files”. Indians who have lived through that prolonged era of Congress regimes shudder at the very memory.  

In this backdrop, full credit goes to Narendra Modi who has rendered this sort of politics impossible by thoroughly wrecking this blackmail edifice of the Congress which is what kept it going for about three decades since Rajiv Gandhi demolished the party in 1989.  

The steep climbdown of the Congress from being the arrogant numero uno to eating humble pie before the very parties it had intimidated and harassed.  

Opposition unity?

The writer is the founder and chief editor The Dharma Dispatch_. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect_ Firstpost_’s views._

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