Frustration grows but where’s the Oppn?

In June, 2024, when the Lok Sabha poll results were declared, political experts noted a significant change; the biggest party after the previous 2019 polls, the BJP, had seen a slide in its fortunes and no longer enjoyed a majority on its own. It was dependent on the support of allies like JD(S) and TDP to cross the half-way mark in the Lok Sabha. The Opposition on the other hand, had won a higher number of seats with its combined strength of 234, just 60 seats less than that of the ruling NDA. Was the BJP’s controversy-ridden tenure at the Centre finally coming to an end?

The people had suffered enough in the course of ten years of NDA rule with demonetisation, terror attacks and communal upsurges taking the sheen of its performance. And with its numbers dropping drastically, supporters of the Opposition had enough reason to assume that the days of the ‘saffron raj’ were set to an end and 2029 would prove to be a watershed moment. Not anymore. On Monday, INDIA, the opposition front, held a conclave in Delhi minus the DMK and AAP, which together have around 25 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The TMC is no longer its formidable self, having split with 20 MPs joining the NDA. And today, the NDA can rely on 312 MPs while the Opposition front’s strength has dipped to around 190. So what went wrong with Opposition strategy in a country which is in the grip of an economic slowdown with the West Asia war leading to a jump in prices of everything from fuel to rice? Have Opposition stalwarts failed to see the larger picture and encash on emerging opportunities in the race for miniscule gains?

Have regional and state feuds cast a dark shadow on Opposition unity, wrecking efforts to pose a challenge to the Modi-Shah juggernaut when parliament polls are due in 2029? It is more than obvious that the BJP-led NDA is not in the pink of health with scandals like the NEET row hitting the image of the government hard. The performance has at best been lacklustre with its response to tough challenges far below popular expectations.

The rousing reception the newly formed ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ received, eliciting support from millions, is enough proof of the frustration and belied hopes among the masses. But has the laidback Opposition been able to grab the many opportunities coming its way by drawing up with an aggressive strategy to ensure that three terms in government is all that the NDA is entitled to? It’s a question which will keep troubling opposition politicians and analysts alike in the days and months to come.