Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 25: Though most of the alliance partners are silent, the former West Bengal chief minister and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee is learnt to have initiated a move to bring all the parties in the opposition INDIA bloc alliance together.
Ms Banerjee is learnt to have suggested the INDIA bloc partners for a meeting in the first week of June to re-build the opposition alliance against the BJP-led coalition that has struggled for relevance and traction since it was formed in July 2023.
Her initiative has come after her TMC suffered a heavy defeat in the state Assembly elections in when the party could win only 80 seats in the 294-member House conceding a whopping 207 seats to the rival BJP and was thrown out of power after being in the saddle for 15 consecutive years.
The defeat was a seismic political shock; the fiery Trinamool leader had held the BJP and its saffron wave at bay for nearly 15 years, overcoming shrill and increasingly bitter election campaigns to win back-to-back Assembly and federal elections in the state. Her electoral support from other anti-BJP parties, specifically the Congress to revive her political fortunes which at the state level looks bleak. The outreach has raised some eyebrows given the peevish relationship between the two parties despite being, theoretically, on the same side.
Both the Congress and another senior partner in the INDIA alliance the Samajwadi Party, however, said they had no idea if Ms Banerjee had initiated any move and whether a meeting was likely in June. It was possible that other than the top leaders, no other in the parties had much knowledge about the move or were unwilling to reveal it. It was learnt that Ms Banerjee had contacted some top leaders of the INDIA bloc parties on Sunday and it might take some time for other members to weigh in their options.
The current relations between the various partner parties in the INDIA was none too cordial. Should the Congress and Trinamool meet, as ‘allies’, it will be against an uncomfortable backdrop in which Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the Trinamool in a Bengal election rally. But Gandhi had also comforted Banerjee after the election loss; he declared the Trinamool had won 100 seats fewer because of ‘vote theft’ by the BJP and Election Commission and had also reprimanded some of his party leaders in West Bengal for glossing over TMC’s defeat pointing out it was a setback for the entire opposition and not the TMC alone.
Over the past few months the Congress and other opposition parties have repeatedly accused their rival and the poll body of colluding to win elections, with furore over the special intensive revision of voter lists – an exercise mandated by the Election Commission to remove illegal voters from rolls but which the opposition says is designed to cut its support base – adding to that controversy.
Rahul Gandhi’s message of support for Mamata Banerjee was welcomed but the relationship between their parties – or rather, the Trinamool and INDIA – remains volatile and characterised by an on-again-off-again dynamic, which is the case between the Congress-led bloc and almost every other member-party. The Trinamool did, however, participate in the most recent INDIA meeting; this had been convened to discuss the issue of the women’s reservation bill in Parliament.
The Congress-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu – over the former breaking from the latter’s side to support Vijay’s TVK in forming the government – underlines that discord. The Congress has consistently maintained the INDIA bloc should be distinct from state-level politics; for instance, while the party contests against Left parties in Kerala, it remains an integral part of the group. And this principle applies to the Trinamool and Samajwadi Party.
In fact, Akhilesh Yadav even travelled to Kolkata to demonstrate his solidarity with Mamata Banerjee. It is widely expected the Congress and Samajwadi will contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election jointly. Within the bloc, the Samajwadi Party is the second largest after the Congress, followed by the Trinamool, and the DMK.
After the post-poll rift in Tamil Nadu, the DMK has requested separate seating arrangements in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, thereby distancing itself from the Congress. It now remains to be seen if the DMK will remain part of the INDIA bloc. The DMK later had welcomed its other alliance partners to extend support and later even to join the TVK-led government realising that the move helped stalling the BJP’s design to impose the President’s Rule in the state and take over the control through the governor.
Nevertheless, given the appeal by Banerjee – and should others succeed in persuading the DMK to remain – a resolution may well be found. Furthermore, the TVK could also join INDIA, given they are allied with the Congress. While the constituent parties know they need the Congress’ support, they also have apprehensions over its reluctance to cede ground in states. The one factor capable of holding INDIA together is fear of the BJP. To counter the BJP, they will inevitably need the Congress.
This is the point Banerjee articulated. INDIA meetings are frequently convened to maintain opposition unity in Parliament – gatherings in which the Aam Aadmi Party also participated. In the last session the Biju Janata Dal also joined. Ms Banerjee said on Sunday that the opposition camp was prepared for a prolonged political battle. “We are ready to fight, and we will not give up till the end,” Banerjee said in a Facebook Live address.
Using the platform to launch a fresh attack on the BJP, the TMC supremo alleged large-scale electoral manipulation and claimed the Trinamool Congress’s popular mandate had been overturned in around 150 assembly constituencies.
“Winning seats were turned into losing seats and losing ones into winning seats,” she alleged while claiming that otherwise the TMC would have secured between 220 and 230 seats. Rejecting the allegations, senior BJP leader Keya Ghosh accused Banerjee of refusing to accept the electoral verdict and attempting to explain away the defeat through conspiracy theories.
Ghosh questioned why the TMC chief was raising concerns over the electoral process now when her party accepted as legitimate the elections it won in 2011, 2016 and 2021. “She is unable to face defeat and is not ready to accept it. If the elections of 2011, 2016 and 2021 were fair, why are you suddenly raising questions now? By floating these conspiracy theories, she is disregarding the Constitution. For her victory means, booth jamming, violence and assault on political opponents,” Ghosh said.
The TMC chairperson reiterated allegations of irregularities in voter rolls and election procedures, claiming that the electoral process had been compromised. “Nearly 60 lakh names were deleted initially (through the SIR process). Though many were restored later, we have information suggesting manipulation and irregularities at different stages,” she alleged.
Banerjee said the TMC would pursue legal remedies in constituencies where questions remained over the conduct of elections. She also accused the BJP of using political pressure and intimidation against opponents. “The more the BJP tortures TMC in Bengal, the more problems it will face in New Delhi,” she added.
Meanwhile, the BJP refused to acknowledge that floating of the Cockroach Janta Party had in any way affected the ruling party’s popularity standard. Dismissing the suggestion that the growth of the CJP reflected the anger among the youths against the BJP government, the Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini said the youths still back the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he would remain the BJP face in the Punjab Assembly elections next year.
Speaking during an interaction organised by the Women Journalist Welfare Trust in New Delhi, Mr Saini said the CJP did not reflect the views of the majority of youth in the country. “Cockroach ki aayu kya hai? (What is the longevity of a cockroach?” he said. “In my frequent interactions with young people, I have not seen any support for this CJP. What is the longevity of a cockroach? The Opposition, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have a history of concocting fake narratives, just like the Congress did during the 2024 [Lok Sabha] election, stating that the Constitution was in danger. It was the Congress that put the Constitution in danger by imposing Emergency, [and] by undertaking self-serving amendments to the Constitution,” Mr Saini said.