Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has made a disruptive intervention in oppositional politics by offering to lead INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) ostensibly to make up for Congress’s deficient leadership against the Narendra Modi juggernaut.
This has created an impression that the opposition is grappling with an internal power struggle and that its collective struggle against RSS-BJP dominance is not on top of its priority list.
Banerjee had said in an interview some days ago, “I had formed the INDIA bloc, now it is up to those leading the front to manage it. If they can’t run the show, what can I do? I would just say that everyone needs to be taken along.” Asked if she would take charge of the bloc, she said: “If given the opportunity, I would ensure its smooth functioning.”
This ignited a debate, with several allies expressing their opinion on the subject, bringing the question of the Congress’s conduct to the centre stage. While the Samajwadi Party was the first to hail the idea, Sharad Pawar’s daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule said, “Mamata Banerjee is absolutely an integral part of the INDIA alliance. In a vibrant democracy, the opposition has a big role and responsibility, so if she wants to take more responsibility, we will be very happy.”
Uddhav Thackeray’s party spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi followed, saying, “She has put forward her statement. Because she has shown a successful model in West Bengal where she has kept the BJP away from power and implemented good welfare schemes… Her election experience and fighting spirit, accordingly she has shared her interest. Whenever the INDIA bloc meeting takes place, our senior leaders will together take a decision.”
Mamata Banerjee. Photo: X/@MamataBanerjee
Trinamul MPs Kirti Azad and Kalyan Banerjee, along with other leaders have been advocating this in the recent past.
Kalyan Banerjee went so far as to explicitly blame the Congress, saying, “The Congress has failed to achieve the desired result either in Haryana or in Maharashtra. We had tremendous hope from the Congress that they would do better. The INDIA alliance is there, but the expected result could not be achieved. And there is a great failure on the part of the Congress to achieve the result… Today it is necessary; if you want to fight against the BJP, the INDIA alliance should be stronger. And to make it stronger, one leader is required. Now who can be the leader? That’s the core question. Congress has done it. All experiments have been done, but they have failed…”
This debate progresses as BJP hatches a plan to declare the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, “anti-national”. This betrays an absence of the unity of purpose among the opposition parties. If Rahul Gandhi, a scion of a family that gave India three prime ministers – one who was a stalwart of the freedom movement and two of whom sacrificed their lives – is pronounced anti-national, nobody else should nurture illusions of immunity from such sinister plots. The leaders of INDIA bloc should recall what historian Timothy Snyder said, “Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you.” How many “hooks” the leaders of regional parties aspiring to replace Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the opposition bloc have is not hidden from public gaze.
There are countless issues crying for collective action by opposition parties. While the sanctity of the electoral process has triggered national concerns after the results in Haryana and Maharashtra, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has alleged that the voters’ list is being manipulated. Prices continue to torment the poor, the job scene is grim and economic growth has slumped. The Sambhal incident in Uttar Pradesh has shown how the violation of Places of Worship Act could throw the country into a vortex of new social conflicts. The chargesheet filed in the US court against Adani reignited the debate on the shady history of wrongdoings by the corporate group and the Narendra Modi government’s stubborn refusal to investigate.
But there are signs of implosion instead of a concerted attack to pin down the government on these issues.
The opposition parties chose to exacerbate its own fault-lines, allowing the ruling combine to mount a lethal attack on the backbone of resistance to its political hegemony. How Rahul Gandhi has indeed been the backbone of political resistance to Modi’s ruthless dominance is well documented; an examination of oppositional response on issues like attack on democratic institutions, Chinese intrusion, corporate loot, farm laws, COVID-19 mismanagement, demonetisation, social disharmony, unemployment and injustice vindicates that perception.
The leadership tussle in the opposition camp has a long history. Nitish Kumar, who started out as the architect of opposition unity against an “authoritarian and communal” Modi committed a stunning somersault to fall into the BJP’s lap. Nitish placed his personal ambitions above ideological convictions at a time when most of the opposition parties exhibited the gullibility to trust him. Another regional leader whose posturing for a national role presented a similar example was former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao. He not only tried to forge a national alternative to the BJP, he even changed the name of his party TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) to BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi). Many important opposition parties, including the Left, showed interest in his endeavour, conveniently forgetting that Rao invariably helped Modi government in parliament in both the tenures.
But the dormant anti-Congress strains in regional parties compelled them to provide respectability to Rao’s sudden anti-BJP spurt.
Ironically Mamata Banerjee has also been a BJP ally in the past. She also demonstrated her ambition to lead the opposition bloc before the 2024 election but other parties acted to resist her pressure. Banerjee swiftly adjusted her position, breaking away from the opposition bloc for all intents and purposes despite her party’s claims that she was part of the national coalition. She took a violently antagonistic position against the Congress and the Left in Bengal. Rahul Gandhi chose to almost abstain from campaigning in her state. Post-election, the Congress expressed no hesitation in embracing the TMC and making it part of parliamentary strategy.
Rahul Gandhi meeting schoolchildren. Photo: X/@RahulGandhi
While Banerjee’s displeasure at Gandhi’s leadership in the opposition camp is known, the fissures erupted on the question of Congress campaign against the Adani group. Trinamul and Samajwadi Party distanced themselves from Adani-centric protest and then came this leadership balloon, giving further evidence on her reservations to Rahul’s tactics. No top leader from other parties, however, has so far formally reacted to the idea even as some leaders praised Mamata as a tall leader of the opposition camp.
Mamata Banerjee is doubtless an important opposition leader and her party indeed played a role in restricting the BJP below the majority figure of 272 in the Lok Sabha. But her leadership credentials will be judged on multiple yardsticks, apart from the critical factor of her party’s national reach and perspective. Her mercurial temperament, commitment to a cause and the ability to forge solidarities at the national level will come into play.
More importantly, can the Congress infrastructure, with its intellectual and organisational capabilities, to counter the RSS-BJP across the country be undermined?
Gandhi has acquired pre-eminence by his political actions, not merely because he is the leader of the biggest opposition party. If only the size of the Congress was the decisive factor, Mallikarjun Kharge would have been the main opposition leader, not Gandhi, who has earned a legitimacy by now. There are doubtless several organisational and political deficiencies weakening the Congress but Gandhi has not shown any inclination of compromise or surrender despite unprecedented coercive measures against him.
The question today is not leadership; this is the time to consolidate and tackle the ills India’s polity is afflicted with. A politician aspiring to lead the opposition must clearly articulate what his or her view on economic inequality, corporate loot, foreign affairs and vital constitutional issues are. It is true that the INDIA bloc failed to establish a secretariat and a core team to manage the routine affairs but the remedy is not leadership change. The top leaders can sit together and sincerely work out a mechanism for effective political resistance. The way forward is to set aside personal ambitions and keep the survival of democracy on top of the priority list. If that’s not done, be prepared for one leader to be knocked out of the national frame on bogus charges. Then another, followed by many more.
Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.
