INDIA needs tall figure & coherent narrative

INDIA bloc must thank its stars for the humbling lesson the Indian National Congress (INC) got during the recently concluded elections in three states. In one way, the Congress must now be convinced of its standing in the Hindi heartland.

It may now be assessing how crucial it must be for it to forge an alliance with dominant regional parties and give up hubris as it is nowhere a rival to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) when it comes to a contest in the key Hindi heartland.

Had the results favoured the Congress in any substantial measure, the allies would have found the party less agreeable to adjustments and even less amenable to alliances in the states from where it was uprooted following demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

It was dawn of this realisation by the Congress that made it understand the collective peril that stares into the eyes of the opposition parties if the grand old party sticks to its obstinate stance in working out an alliance. It was reflected in Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge’s statement that the projection of the candidate for the top executive post could wait till the outcome of the 2024 elections was know. However, it is more in the nature of self-negation. The bloc would unarguably need to come up with a unified choice for top post in its run up to the election as BJP has a much popular figure in Mr. Narendra Modi who is hoping his return to his chair for a third term. Similarly, the block is left with little time for developing a coherent narrative to counter the BJP’s Mandir inauguration at Ayodhya and other such polarising issues.