Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 26: Despite mutual accusations, most of the opposition parties who attended the Patna conclave, and several other smaller parties who are yet to join the move, are hopeful of reaching to an understanding, even if lose alliance at some state-levels, to provide an united fight against the BJP in the 2024 Parliamentary elections.
The tussles between the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and Punjab and Trinamool Congress (TMC) versus Congress and CPM in West Bengal apart, the dominant sentiment in the Opposition camp is of hope, and the belief that parties are willing to make some “compromises here and there” to oust the BJP from power. “It is a larger fight. We know the challenges. There will be some compromises and we shall succeed in keeping the unity intact,” some opposition leaders who attended the Patna meeting, expressed the confidence.
They know the task would not be easy but not unsurmountable. Right now they are not thinking about one national level coalition with a name and single manifesto, but the endeavour would be to ensure the anti-BJP votes were not divided among the multiple opposition candidates in each constituency. “The Patna meeting was largely an ice-breaker. The body language of all the leaders was positive. There was laughter and bonhomie. We will in due course work out a programme and give the alliance a structure,” the opposition leaders said.
There are likely to be some hiccups in a state like West Bengal where the Congress, the CPM and the BJP are fighting against a common rival, the TMC. It could be difficult for any of the parties to concede any advantage to the other. The CPM unseated the Congress and ruled over the state for over three decades, which in turn was overthrown by the TMC 11 years ago and the BJP is now trying to usurp the state from the TMC.
The West Bengal chief minister and the TMC chief on Monday accused the Congress and the CPM to be “in league” with the BJP in her state. She said despite her efforts to form a grand opposition alliance against the BJP at the Centre, their actions as playing second fiddle to the saffron camp in the State are throwing a spanner in the efforts.
Drawing the battle lines, opposition parties in Patna last week had resolved to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections even as fissures emerged with the AAP asserting that it would not attend any future meetings unless the Congress publicly support it on the Delhi ordinance issues. Over 32 leaders, including Ms Banerjee, of more than a dozen political parties, had attended the meeting hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna.
Ms Banerjee who along with the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had taken the leading role to bring the opposition parties together, said, “We are trying to form a grand alliance (Mahajot) against the BJP at the Centre. But the CPI (M) and Congress are trying to work with the BJP in Bengal. I will break this unholy nexus in Bengal,” the TMC supremo said while addressing a panchayat election rally on Monday. This is the second time in the last ten days that Ms. Banerjee has criticised the Congress and CPI (M) for having a tacit understanding with the BJP.
Reacting to Banerjee’s claim, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the “credibility of the TMC in the fight against the BJP was always under a question mark. “We all know the role that TMC had played in all these years in the fight against the BJP.” Echoing Chowdhury, the CPI (M) said Ms. Banerjee should be the last person to lecture the Communists and the Congress on ways to fight against the BJP.
The BJP rubbished the allegations of having any form of understanding with the CPI (M) and the Congress in the State. “The CPI (M), Congress, and the TMC are on the same boat. It is the BJP which is fighting against the anti-people policies of the state government,” BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.
Like in West Bengal, the AAP too has accused the Congress to be gloves-in hand with the BJP for which, the party claimed, the Congress was not taking any stand on the Delhi ordinance and would help the ruling party to get it through in the Rajya Sabha. Congress units in Delhi and Punjab are dead against the AAP because the party has thrived in the two states at the cost of the Congress.
In the largest and the most crucial state of Uttar Pradesh too, the Congress would not be easily acceptable to the main opposition Samajwadi Party while Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) believed to be moving closer to the BJP, was not even invited to attend the Patna conclave. The SP had a bitter experience with the Congress having being badly routed by the BJP in the 2017 state Assembly elections which it fought in alliance with the Congress. The SP still believe that it suffered more because of the Congress and joining hands with it could cost the party dearly in the Lok Sabha elections too.
But the opposition leaders still believe that certain reservations like the TMC or the SP the Congress were understandable, all of them, the TMC in Bengal or the SP in UP were willing to overlook them for the larger picture, as the situation has changed. In UP, the SP is no longer insistent on going it alone, provided the Congress acknowledges that the SP is the main Opposition force in the state.
Much would depend on the attitude of the Congress, the main opposition at the national level. There was a clear message from the Patna meeting for the Congress whose measures going forward, and willingness to accommodate, will decide the fate of any grouping. The message was delivered by Lalu Prasad, the astute head of the RJD, and by Mamata.
Lalu told the Congress that it should show “large-heartedness”, and that the biggest party in every state should lead the fight in that state, with the others extending support and cooperation. Mamata echoed this, arguing the Congress could count on the support of other parties in states where it is formidable.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) faction, which is in alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra, echoed the sentiment on Monday. It claimed that the “Wagner group” in India, a reference to opposition parties, would dislodge the Narendra Modi government through the ballot box by using the path of non-violence.
In a dramatic development last week, Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called for an armed rebellion and claimed his forces had military facilities in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don under their control. It also started its march to Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the rebellion a betrayal and an act of treason. Later, Prigozhin said he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their field camps in Ukraine to avoid shedding Russian blood, following negotiations carried out by the Belarusian president.
An editorial in the Sena (UBT) mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ drew a parallel between Wagner mercenary group’s “revolt against Russian President Putin” and the meeting of opposition parties in Patna last week. It said the “Wagner group” has shown dictatorship can be challenged. “Be it PM Modi or Putin, they have to face rebellion. The government in India will be dislodged by a non-violent Wagner and that route will be through the ballot box,” it claimed.
Like Putin, PM Modi has to go, but in a democratic manner, it said. “The Wagner group came together in Patna as a protector of democracy.” It also said the BJP has kept many people, like Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s group, as its “protector” and tomorrow the same people will “stab” them.
Shinde led a revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership in June last year, leading to a split in the party and collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Later, Shinde became the Chief Minister with the BJP’s support.
