India’s opposition parties resolved to fight unitedly to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi in general elections less than a year away.
(Bloomberg) — India’s opposition parties resolved to fight unitedly to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi in general elections less than a year away.
“We may have some differences, but have decided to work together with flexibility,” Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, said at a press conference Friday. “This is a fight for ideologies.”
Congress along with regional political groups and the communists met in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar, to decide on how to take on Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of national elections next summer. The BJP has won back-to-back elections and a slew of state elections.
This was one of the biggest meetings since Modi first came to power in 2014 with 17 parties attending the talks. Leaders of opposition parties will meet in the next few days to decide future action, said Nitish Kumar, chief minister of Bihar and leader of the Janata Dal (United).
Political alliances are becoming increasingly crucial for these opposition parties who cannot afford to take on Modi and the BJP alone. However, ideological differences and a strong regional focus by some of these parties have stood in the way of opposition unity, leading to election losses.
The Congress party is looking to build momentum ahead of national elections next year after a rare victory in the southern state of Karnataka in May. The election result signals high inflation and unemployment could still pose a risk to Modi in the coming state polls at the end of the year and national vote next year.
“The Congress party will do very well in the next election. I think it will surprise people,” Gandhi said earlier this month at the the National Press Club in Washington. “If you just do the math, a united opposition will defeat the BJP on its own.”
The political arithmetic could work in their favor. Non-BJP parties rule about half of India’s 30 states, particularly in the east and south where the BJP doesn’t have much of a foothold, and they secured more than 55% of the national vote in the 2019 elections.
Modi’s popularity remains strong, though his rival Gandhi is gaining ground, according to a recent survey. About 43% of the respondents said a BJP-led coalition would return Modi to power for a third term, while 29% said Gandhi’s Congress party would win.
The BJP has taken a dig at the opposition’s attempts at unity. “Simply opposing Prime Minister Modi or the BJP cannot be the basis of an alternative political front,” said Nalin Kohli, a spokesperson for the BJP. “At the very least, they will need to inform the electorate as to what is their vision and who is to be the leader of the front?”
The Congress party, which used to demand the upper hand in alliances in the past, faces competition from other regional groups as it got soundly beaten at the ballot box in two national elections by BJP’s Hindu nationalist push and Modi’s personal charisma.
Some regional leaders have their own aspirations to lead the opposition nationwide though none have been made public and there have been times when political groups do little to support the Congress in states where it is the BJP’s sole adversary.
If the BJP doesn’t get a simple majority in 2024, it can play the same game and forge alliances with regional parties to eventually beat Congress. “Electoral alliances in India are always fluid,” said Gilles Verniers, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a think tank in New Delhi. “Nothing prevents the BJP to negotiate with a few opposition parties should they fall short of a majority.”
–With assistance from Abhijit Roy Chowdhury.
(Updates with outcome of the meeting starting first paragraph.)
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