Recently, the Opposition parties across the country
geared and teamed up against the single largest party in the country – the
Bharatiya Janata Party. They came under one roof to methodically chalk out
an action plan. All those who participated in this meet were confident of their
grand success. I have almost lost count into the number of times these
people have come together to form a strong alternative alliance against the
Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014 and how their attempts have got foiled.
It is surprising to see how all these parties, who otherwise believe in
contradicting ideologies and have been at loggerheads with each other,
have collaborated only to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party.
‘Asha naam manushyanaam
Kaachidascharya shrinkhala Yaya baddha pradhavanti muktastisthanti panguvat|’
This Sanskrit wisdom means ‘hope is a surprising chain which belongs to humans.
Those who are bound, run fast but those who are free, stand still like a
paralytic’. The reason I quoted this wisdom here is because I see a lot of
similarities in the current scenario. Owing to their dire desire for
power, these people are forced to come together. In fact, they are the
ones who were not ready to see each other, let alone form an alliance. But
today, they are sharing dais and shouting out slogans of unity.
It is obvious that there is no
particular constructive agenda behind this optimism. Their sole goal is
to only team up against Modi and his government.
Since the first general election
of 1952, the Congress, the Socialists, Communists and the Jana Sangh have
been working with their respective ideologies. Since many veterans from the
Socialists and the Communists school of thoughts had joined the Congress,
Congress’s ideology was more or less moderate. In those days, there wasn’t
any alternative to the Congress. Owing to their individual conceptual
mindsets, the parties that believed in socialist ideologies failed to remain
organised as a single ideological entity and thus got scattered in
national politics. Similarly, the communist ideological outfits slowly and
steadily strengthened and expanded its base in states like Kerala and West
Bengal. But since the Left also could not make its ideology ubiquitous, it
existed in bonsai form at the national level. Compared to these three
ideological set-ups, the Jana Sangh managed to create its influence much
later in national politics.
It will not be an exaggeration
to state that the Jana Sangh and later the Bharatiya Janata Party had
to endure ‘political untouchability’ for many years. Jana Sangh, right
from its inception, had been consistently raising its demand to repeal
Article 370 and to create a Uniform Civil Code.
Later, after 1985 it added
construction of Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya to its manifesto. The Congress and
outfits propagating socialist and communist ideologies always staged
strong opposition to Jana Sangh’s ideology which later became the ideology
of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The country witnessed gradual shrinking of
the socialist and communist parties that were dominant during the 60s and
the 70s and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s steady march from 1990 onwards.
In fact, after 2014, the
landscape of country’s politics changed drastically at an unprecedented speed.
Owing to the years of propaganda against the Jana Sangh and later the Bharatiya
Janata Party, the BJP had to work really hard to expand its base. Also, with
Modi government introducing a host of welfare schemes for the people immediately
after coming to power, the voters who were loyal to the other outfits
shifted to BJP. Also, strategies adopted by the Opposition parties to
criticize BJP became ineffective in the last 9 years leaving the
Opposition no grounds to oppose Modiji. Even before the 2019 elections,
some of them had tried to strike similar alliances, but in vain. And
once again they are resorting to new ideas to retain their existence.
Let me cite a few instances to
prove my point. In Uttar Pradesh, there are 80 Lok Sabha seats. People will
recall how the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok
Dal teamed up against the Bharatiya Janata Party during the 2019 Lok Sabha
elections. At that time, many political observers had opined that since three
major parties in Uttar Pradesh have joined hands, the Bharatiya Janata
Party’s numbers will get affected. Since the Opposition parties had come
together, there will be no split in anti-BJP votes but BJP tally might
reduce to 20 – 25 seats in Uttar Pradesh and as a result its overall
performance at the Centre will get affected, in short BJP will not make it
to the Centre on its own. But actually, when the results were declared,
BJP won 62 seats instead of 71 in Uttar Pradesh. Also, earlier in 2017,
the then ruling Samajwadi Party had formed an alliance with the Congress
for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. In that election too, voters
refused this alliance and voted out the already known faces.
Similarly, the Marxist Communist
Party and the Left, which had once held a prominent place against the
Congress with its increased base in West Bengal and Kerala, are now left to toe
the line of the Congress in its march against the BJP. Kerala has a
Leftist government whereas Congress is its main Opposition party. While
there is opposition to the Communist ideology in the state, there is a
forced alliance at the national level. Now time will only show how far
this alliance will take them. Similarly, the Congress and the Left have
allied against chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal
but they have, including Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, come together
against the BJP at the Centre.
It is interesting to note that
when there is absolutely no consensus in ideologies or initiatives, all these
people with conflicting interests have teamed up and are discussing about
challenging the Bharatiya Janata Party. They believe that if they are able to
avoid division of anti-BJP votes, they will be able to easily defeat the
BJP. Now those who are of this opinion need to study the results
of Karnataka Lok Sabha elections of 2019. In Karnataka, the Congress and
Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal had formed an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha
election and had boasted that the BJP will not be able to win even a single
seat. In fact, the Bharatiya Janata Party had managed to increase its number
of seats by 8. In 2014, the BJP had won 17 followed by Congress with 9,
the Janata Dal hadbagged 2 seats whereas in 2019, the BJP won 25 while
the Congress and the Janata Dal got only one seat each.
I wonder how the Opposition,
despite experiencing dire consequences on various occasions in the past,
still strongly believes that their alliance will help prevent division of
anti-BJP votes. Hence, I am sure that the Opposition’s attempts will get
foiled and they will have to again experience failure. But till then there
is no harm in voters getting a chance to witness the Opposition’s drudgery.
(Article Pre-Published in Times of
India Online – 24 July 2023)
Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson
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