Omkar Dattatray
The INDIA alliance had been stitched in July 2023 with the sole objective of taking on the formidable and mighty BJP and prevent Narendra Modi from coming to power third time in succession at centre .As many as 26 political parties mainly the regional political outfits had come closer and have formed an opposition alliance by the name of INDIA .But it seems that the opposition alliance INDI will not be able to dent the poll prospects of BJP as there are fissures ,clichés ,groupism and factionalism in the opposition alliance and therefore it cannot be an alternative to NDA in the national elections .From the beginning of the opposition alliance there has been the spectacle of disunity and there are fissures in the alliance and thus it cannot fight the general elections and cannot defeat Modi juggernaut in 2024.There is infighting between different political parties on the question of seat sharing and the different political parties are at loggerheads with each other and most of the parties are not ready to sacrifice seats to the each other and so there is bickering between the political parties of the opposition bloc .There are cracks in Indian opposition alliance against PM Modi ahead of elections .Two key opposition leaders have walked out of the congress -led alliance ,dealing it a big blow .Nitish Kumar the founder member of the INDI block has severed its relations with the opposition alliance and has switched toward Modi’s NDA and he came out of the Mahaghatbhandhan and in a dramatic way resigned from the post of chief minister of JDU-RJD-Congress coalition and then again was sworn as the new CM of Bihar .A popular joke on Indian social media featured Nitish Kumar ,the 72 year old nine-time chief minister of the east Indian state of Bihar .Kumar’s Janata Dal (United ) party,or just JD(U) had been a part of the INDIA opposition bloc-a group of more than two dozen political outfits that hopes to take on the PM Modi-led BJP in national elections .But recently ,Nitish broke away and instead joined hands with the NDA -a coalition of parties led by the BJP.As already said Kumar resigned as chief minister ,then was sworn in again ,this time with his new partners-all within hours. Nitish Kumar is the only chief minister ,who while being the CM ,resigns as the chief minister so that he can remain chief minister .The BJP and its allies might well be laughing .Two months before nearly a billion Indian’s vote to elect their next government ,Kumar’s exist from the INDIA alliance serves as a blow to the opposition’s chances of challenging Modi ,who is aiming for a third term as the prime minister .It also reveals deeper fissures in the opposition alliance .Also recently ,Mamata Banerjee ,the chief minister of the neighboring state of West Bengal and the chief of the Trinmool Congress (TMC) party ,pulled out of the alliance ,which is led by India’s principal opposition party ,the congress .Apart from congress ,the opposition alliance consists of regional ,state parties .Both Banerjee and Nitish cited rifts with the congress for their exit from the alliance .The main bone of contention who gets to contest how many of the 543 parliamentary seats in the country .The INDIA bloc is hoping to leverage India’s first -past -the post electoral system by fielding one joint candidate against BJP and NDA in all parliamentary constituencies .Such a move ,opposition parties argue ,would ensure that anti-BJP votes are consolidated and not divided among various opposition parties. Bur agreeing on consensus candidates is easier said than done. ”The charges all regional parties are making is that congress is trying to put a lot of pressure on them and demanding a larger number of seats than they should get,” Sanjay kumar ,political analyst and psephologist. told Al Jazeera. That assertion was corroborated by KC Tyagi ,general secretary of JDU ,he said congress was keen on occupying political space but did not want to cede space to regional parties .”In the states where congress is strong ,they are not parting with even one seat. And then in the states where regional parties are strong ,they want a disproportionate number of seats,” said Tyagi .Similarly ,TMC’S Banerjee ,while announcing her decision to break away from the alliance, cited a failure in seat -sharing talks with the congress as one of the reasons for going into the polls solo .What has irked the TMC and JD(U) is that Rahul Gandhi ,a congress parliamentarian and scion of the Gandhi family that has headed the party for decades ,has embarked on a journey from east to the west of the country ,without adequate consulting them .The journey is called the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra ,which loosely translates into uniting India justice March ,a sequel to Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra where he walked more than 4000 km from south to the north India .Fissures within the opposition bloc are threatening to spilt the alliance .The TMC in West Bengal has severed its relations with INDIA alliance and has not agreed on seat sharing with the elder partner of the alliance congress and similarly the AAP is also uncomfortable with congress but it has with great hesitation made seat sharing with congress in Delhi .However it is the big failure for the opposition alliance that SP has now- agreed on the seat sharing in UP and however it has not participated in the Bharat Jodo Nvya Yatra and it has set the seat sharing and congresses acceptance of only 17 seats as the precondition for participation in the Yatra .Thus in effect the INDI alliance has suffered a great setback earlier in UP due to the adamant attitude of the Smajwadi party of Aklesh Yadav and all indications suggest that SP and congress will now fight the polls jointly .Many congress leaders are leaving INDI Alliance and are jumping into NDA /BJP to secure their political career .A big leader of congress in Maharashtra Ashok Chawan has since resigned from congress and has joined NDA fold and he also stands rehabilitated and rewarded by giving him the Rajya Sabha seat .Thus nothing is right within the alliance partners and the INDI alliance is in fact at the brink of disintegration and it is crashing and crumbling and it has squandered the opportunity to fight the BJP in general elections .It is increasingly obvious that coordination between long-term rivals ,principally the congress ,is turning out to be an avoidable nuisance.
(The author is a columnist, social and KP activist).
