Big Opposition meet pulls off a coup, turns 2024 battle into INDIA vs Modi

At least semantically, the Opposition parties huddled together in Bangalore to chart a joint electoral strategy against the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls seem to have pulled off a coup at the end of their second unity conclave on Tuesday (July 18).

The 26 Opposition outfits, who agreed in principle to coalesce electorally against the BJP-led NDA coalition, have decided “unanimously” to call their grouping the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Sources said the name was suggested by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi after some Opposition outfits either expressed reservations against continuing under the banner of the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance or asserted that a new name reflective of the current challenges before the country must be coined.

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INDIA vs NDA

The over three hour long formal deliberations among the Opposition parties at Bengaluru’s Taj West End concluded with the attendees pitching the 2024 Lok Sabha battle as a fight between INDIA and the NDA (National Democratic Alliance).

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who shepherded the Opposition’s Bangalore summit, told reporters that all 26 parties which participated in Tuesday’s discussions “agreed unanimously to call our alliance the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance,” and asserted that “there is a lot of meaning in this (name)”.

Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, long seen as a reticent participant of the Opposition Unity dialogue due to her differences with the Congress and the Left Front constituents, vociferously endorsed the new name of the still evolving federal front. As did Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose acrimonious terms with the Congress and some other Opposition outfits is well known.

Banerjee’s boisterous endorsement of the INDIA coalition saw her dishing out a “challenge to the NDA”. She justified the acronym of the new alliance by asserting that leaders of all 26 Opposition parties who had gathered in Bangalore were “patriotic people” who stand “for students, for farmers, for Dalits, for a good economy…” as she declared “INDIA will win and BJP will lose”. The Bengal CM also made an evidently conciliatory gesture to dispel the perception of her frosty rapport with Rahul when, while addressing various Opposition leaders present during the joint press conference, she spoke of the former Congress president as “our favourite Rahul Gandhi”.

Electoral plank

The name of the Opposition’s coalition is meant to succinctly put across to the voters the electoral plank that these parties have been trying to build against the BJP and, simultaneously convey an ideological contrast between their alliance and the rival front led by Narendra Modi. Ensuring equitable economic growth and safeguarding the idea of an inclusive, democratic and pluralistic India against alleged assaults by the Modi regime on India’s Constitution and the country’s federal structure and against the BJP’s politics of communal and social polarisation has been a constant refrain of the Opposition parties.

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INDIA, as an acronym for their electoral front, believe Opposition leaders, best conveys this contrast between their alliance and the BJP. Additionally, the acronym makes it virtually impossible for Modi or his colleagues across the NDA coalition to coin spin-offs that mock INDIA. The Prime Minister, as is widely known, has a fondness for acronyms and has often used these to ridicule the BJP’s political rivals; a practice that his colleagues such as Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda have also caught on to in recent years.

Rahul Gandhi, who made the concluding remarks at the Opposition’s interaction with the media, said that the name, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, had come up from the “productive” discussions that took place among the Opposition parties during their meeting earlier in the day. Asserting that the “fight today is between the idea of India and the ideology of the BJP”, Rahul said the latter was “attacking the country; unemployment is on the rise, the country’s wealth is being transferred to the hands of a few… ours is a fight for the voice of this country that is being muzzled and that is why we have chosen this name and it just so happens that its short-form happens to be INDIA”.

“We have decided to finalise an action plan… we will collectively speak to the nation about what we want to do for the country,” Rahul said, adding, “you know what happens to anybody who fights against the idea of India; this is now a fight between INDIA and Narendra Modi and I don’t need to spell out who will win”.

No chairperson yet

Though Kharge said that the Opposition leaders had substantive discussions on specific issues such as unemployment, inflation and the situation in Manipur, among others, and also deliberated on matters integral to the strengthening of their INDIA coalition, he did not spell out the details.

Also read: Bengaluru: ‘United We Stand’ is slogan of 26 Opposition parties

As reported by The Federal earlier, the Bangalore meet did not finalise a chairperson or convenor for the INDIA coalition but decided to form an 11-member coordination committee, with representatives from various Opposition outfits. Kharge said the members of this committee will be announced soon and the Opposition parties will hold their next dialogue in Bombay, a date for which is expected to be finalised shortly.

The Opposition leaders, Kharge said, also agreed on forming some working groups to discuss specific issues, including a formula for seat-sharing among the Opposition parties for the 2024 general elections, while a secretariat for the INDIA coalition will also be set up in Delhi to discuss important matters concerning the alliance, including campaign management.

Resolution adopted

A resolution unanimously adopted by the 26 INDIA coalition constituents said, “The character of our republic is being severely assaulted in a systematic manner by the BJP. We are at a most crucial juncture in our nation’s history. The foundational pillars of the Indian Constitution – secular democracy, economic sovereignty, social justice and federalism – are being methodically and menacingly undermined.”

The resolution also threw light on the specific issues that were taken up at the Bangalore dialogue. “We express our grave concern over the humanitarian tragedy that has destroyed Manipur. The silence of the Prime Minister is shocking and unprecedented… We are determined to combat and confront the continuing assault on the Constitution and on constitutional rights of democratically elected state governments. There is a deliberate attempt to weaken the federal structure of our polity. The role of Governors and LGs in non-BJP ruled states has exceeded all constitutional norms. The brazen misuse of agencies by the BJP government against political rivals is undermining our democracy. Legitimate needs, requirements and entitlements of non BJP ruled states are being actively denied by the Centre,” the resolution added.

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It further said, “We have come together to defeat the hatred and violence being manufactured against minorities; stop the rising crimes against women, Dalits, Adivasis and Kashmiri Pandits; demand a fair hearing for all socially, educationally and economically backward communities; and, as a first step, implement the Caste Census. We resolve to fight the systemic conspiracy by BJP to target, persecute and suppress our fellow Indians. Their poisonous campaign of hate has led to vicious violence against all those opposed to the ruling party and its divisive ideology.”