INDIA bloc parties are gradually coming to the agreement that the Congress is not good enough to lead the opposition’s fight against the BJP. It’s a clear indication of low confidence in Rahul Gandhi, so far the national face of the alliance. Whatever stature he had gained after the parliamentary elections has been flattened after the defeat in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls. The partners are keen on a different leader for the upcoming elections.
Maharashtra, in particular, was a disaster for the whole alliance. All three partners sank without even a face-saver. Had the Congress, with 16 seats of the 101 it contested, done better than its Maha Vikas Aghadi partners Shiv Sena (Uddhav) and NCP (Sharad Pawar), it would have salvaged some prestige. Now, it’s no bigger than either to claim a superior status. Worse, it’s being considered more a liability than an asset by alliance partners elsewhere in the country.
Who else if not Rahul? The name of Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress chief, is in circulation. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav had suggested her name a couple of days ago. It was endorsed by Sharad Pawar. On her part, the West Bengal Chief Minister has thanked the leaders but kept her next move undisclosed. Speaking to a media channel last week, she had expressed her dissatisfaction over the functioning of the INDIA block. But will she be any better?
The challenges for the INDIA bloc remain the same. It has to build a narrative strong enough to match the BJP’s Hindutva pitch which would be pan-Indian in reach and appeal. Rahul Gandhi tried to make the Constitution the core of his narrative with a garnishing of bread and butter issues such as lack of jobs, price rise and decline of the manufacturing sector. The range was wide and attack against the top corporate houses allegedly in cahoots with the ruling dispensation, he thought, provided the opposition an edge.
It was a narrative constructed for the national audience. It helped in the general elections and the BJP failed to reach the majority mark. In the elections to the state assemblies where issues are primarily local and inter-party dynamics are at play, however, it has not worked. Is there something more Mamata Banerjee can bring to the table? Not likely. The line of attack against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi may change a bit, excluding the Adanis and Ambanis, but the overall narrative will be similar. The options are pretty limited.
For a state leader to make a leap to the national centerstage, it takes a lot of groundwork. The case of Prime Minister Modi is an example. It not only requires personality makeover, a message-amplification machinery but also a well spread out organisational base. Trinamool Congress’s national footprint is smaller than that of the Congress. Mamata will require some effort to be acceptable to voters in states as the star campaigner for the opposition bloc. But it’s good if she makes a beginning now with an eye on the general elections of 2029.
(By arrangements with Perspective Bytes)
