DNA Edit: Can Opposition unite after Sonia’s call?

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Especially in Indian politics. Look closely and one can find motifs in the contemporary political dynamic that are no different than those seen in the 70s.

A strong leader, a party which has its imprint embossed on the length and breadth of India, and an Opposition that looks like it is on its knees. These descriptors will work just as well for the landslide victory Indira Gandhi-led government INC (R) secured in the 1971 elections as they will for the Narendra Modi-led government today.

For Indira Gandhi, the groundswell was far from overwhelming in the previous election of 1967. After the death of India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri became the PM only to meet an untimely demise in 1966. By 1967, the idea that India’s truck with the Congress can be ended took strong roots, and to a certain extent, it prevailed as numerous avatars – like the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal and United Front – poised against Congress won in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab etc.

Ram Manohar Lohia, principal architect of the rearguard powering the narrative against Congress, exhorted different factions to action citing that if the Congress could be quashed in eight states then it can be defeated at the Centre as well.

Before the 1971 general elections, Lohia’s followers stitched together a ragtag coalition lacking in ideological congruity but motivated by the sole aim of unseating Indira Gandhi. To Indira Gandhi’s “Garibi Hatao”, they chimed in with “Indira Hatao” but, in the end,  it was political vision that trumped opportunistic politics and Indira’s party came to power with a triumphant 352 seats. Look at the lay of the land now. In 2014, a Modi wave swept the BJP to its highest-ever seat tally. Currently, the BJP or its partners in the National Democratic Alliance are in power in 19 of the 29 states in India. 

The march of PM Modi and BJP seems near-unstoppable. It is only natural for the Opposition to quake in their boots. Unipolar politics is symptomatic of a collective failure of the Opposition to capture the political imagination. This failure could degenerate into eroding the foundations of our multilateral democracy.

However, for India to avert the dreaded sequence of political homogeneity, it is necessary that the Opposition will have to truly tap into the discontent of the masses. Recently, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi called on Opposition parties to build an alliance that can defeat the BJP in 2019.

Sure, Congress can become the umbrella under which parties with ideologies opposed to the BJP can coalesce. However, for these efforts to be up to scratch, the Opposition will have to pull all out the tactics – good, bad and the ugly – from its playbook.

The Congress’s performance in Gujarat shows that is starting to do just that. The party succeeded in making inroads in PM Modi’s home-turf by capturing a major share of votes in rural areas, riding high on farmers’ discontent.