Grand Oppn unity: Will it happen in B’luru?

Ahead of the much awaited Opposition parties’ meet in Bengaluru on Monday, two significant statements should come as a source of relief for all those awaiting the formation of a grand alliance to ground the Modi-Shah juggernaut.

For one, veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram set at rest troubling doubts about who would lead the Opposition alliance, saying the leader of the anti-BJP bloc will emerge in “due course”.

The other of course, was the statement by an AAP spokesperson that the party will attend the meeting of Opposition parties while also welcoming the Congress’ decision to oppose in Parliament the Centre’s ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi.

The AAP had earlier said it would join the meeting in Bengaluru only if the Congress extended its support to AAP in opposing the Delhi ordinance.

This will be the second meeting of Opposition parties – the dice has already been cast for a grand opposition alliance at the first meeting in Patna, held under the stewardship of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

Leave aside the leadership question, there is no dearth of issues for the Opposition to take on the ruling BJP at the Centre when the Parliament polls are here in barely nine months from now.

Prices have been galloping like never before, which would put any race horse to shame; hate crimes have been spiralling out of control, fanned and aided by those in power; Manipur continues to burn with no visible effort by the Centre or the BJP-led government in the troubled state to find an amicable solution; lakhs of people have been rendered homeless by the devastating floods in the north, with the swirling waters not sparing the capital city Delhi either, pointing to gross mismanagement of natural disasters like rain-induced floods.

And there is rising unemployment, the curtailment of civil liberties and the misuse of investigating agencies.

Tensions are rising on the border with China, which Opposition leaders have been harping on with no adequate response from the Centre.

So how does the Opposition go ahead with its plan to counter the BJP in states where it has a visible presence?

Looking at the spread of regional parties, it is amply clear that in Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, parties like the TMC, RJD, SP, AAP and DMK hold the key to victory over the BJP; and there are many states where it is the Congress that can take the battle to the saffronists – from Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, to Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh. Karnataka has already proved that with an early campaign focussing on the weaknesses of the ruling party, it can be easily beaten.

Parliament polls are a different ball game, but most leaders in the Opposition are aware that it is PM Modi who stands between them and victory. Leave aside a handful of leaders like Yogi Adityanath, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah, the BJP faces a dearth of stalwarts who can appeal to the electorate across states.

The Bengaluru meet will see leaders of as many as 24 nonBJP parties participating in comparison to the Patna meet that saw 15 parties in attendance.

The aura of invincibility that the BJP hitherto enjoyed has started crumbling after the Assembly poll victories of the Congress in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. And if the party suffers a setback in coming elections in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – there are enough indications of this happening – it could be anyone’s guess as to who will win the 2024 battle for Parliament.

A common agenda, a state-wise strategy, the setting aside of differences with a flexible approach and the magnanimity to sacrifice personal goals for the sake of the larger cause – will the array of Opposition icons meeting at Taj West End in the IT City live up to the dream?

It’s now or never for as West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee prophetically warned, ‘If the BJP wins the next election, India will exist no more and there will be no more elections.’’