India began voting in the world’s largest election on Friday (19th April), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a historic third term. While the opposition parties led by Congress formed an alliance to face together the giant national ruling party, BJP, the fact is that the alliance participants are fighting amongst themselves amid the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 in various constituencies.
The I.N.D.I.Alliance which is plagued by internal chaos, confusion, rivalry, and a propensity to undermine its own partners within the coalition has failed to field a joint candidate in several crucial battleground states, including Uttar Pradesh, which holds the highest number of Lok Sabha seats, and West Bengal, which ranks third in terms of seat count.
As per a report by India Today, it has come to the fore that the alliance members are fighting for over 100 Lok Sabha constituencies against each other. As per the data, the alliance members in the state of West Bengal are contesting against each other for around 40 seats and 20 in Kerala.
They are also contesting against each other for 6 seats each in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, 5 in Maharashtra, and 4 each in the states of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. This shows the disturbed coordination among the alliance party members.
Following several unproductive opposition bloc meetings, the I.N.D.I. Alliance coalition established a 14-member coordination committee in September of last year at a conference in Mumbai. However, if the committee is functioning at all, it has proven unsuccessful as a structural entity, failing to address the chaotic and fragmented handling of organizational issues like seat-sharing, inter-party coordination, and the resolution of rising internal tensions.
The central committee delegated all strategic decisions to regional subcommittees, which have no structural existence and function as a fluid coterie of ‘chosen’ elites. The huge divergence in electoral strategies between the coalition partners was evident during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Jodo Yatra. The coalition partners clearly questioned the logic for holding the Yatra during the election season, when parties needed to focus on making critical election-related organizational choices, particularly candidate selection.
However, after missing the desired seat-sharing deadline of December 31st, the surviving members of the I.N.D.I. Alliance reached an agreement on a seat-sharing formula for Maharashtra, Bihar, and Jammu and Kashmir this week. This development came just a week before the first wave of polling, giving candidates little to no time to prepare for the campaign road.
Surprisingly, the I.N.D.I. Alliance suffered serious blows in the early stages of election politics while attempting to portray a united front with strong joint candidates in at least 400 constituencies against the BJP. Several significant alliance members left the group, including the TMC in West Bengal, the CPI(M)-led LDF/Congress-led UDF in Kerala, AAP in Punjab, PDP in Kashmir, and JD(U), to join the NDA.
Furthermore, efforts to court ‘third front’ parties, particularly the sought-after inclusion of the BSP in the grand alliance, were eventually unsuccessful. Overall, the coalition has failed to accomplish its early goals, producing few tangible results and losing numerous losses.
JDU joined hands with Bihar and TMC parted ways with Congress
In an unexpected turn of events, Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar quit as the Bihar Chief Minister on 28th January and decided to form the state government in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in Bihar. This left the I.N.D.I.Alliance partially crippled until the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal decided to part ways with the Congress.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in January declared that the TMC would not form an alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls. “I had no discussions with the Congress party. I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I am not concerned about what will be done in the country but we are a secular party and in Bengal, we alone will defeat the BJP,” Banerjee was quoted as saying.
CPIM and Congress in Kerala accuse each other of developing an ‘understanding’ with BJP
Interestingly, a similar situation has emerged in the state of Kerala where the CPIM and the Congress who are allies nationally are playing blame game and accusing each other of having an ‘understanding’ with the BJP. Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (18th April) questioned why the ruling party, the Centre, is not attacking Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, despite two chief ministers from the bloc being in jail. He questioned why the Chief Minister of Kerala is not being attacked, stating that people should consider this issue.
“Two chief ministers are in jail. How come this is not happening to the Chief Minister of Kerala? I am attacking the BJP 24×7, and the Chief Minister of Kerala is attacking me 24×7. This is a bit puzzling. He (Vijayan) says that he is ideologically fighting the BJP, but I know that when you fight the BJP ideologically, they attack you with everything they have. However, there is no attack on the Chief Minister of Kerala. This is something people of Kerala should think about,” the Congress leader said.
In 2020, the Enforcement Directorate launched an investigation into a gold smuggling scam that resulted in the arrest of the Chief Minister’s former principal secretary. The ED is also looking into an illicit payment issue involving Vijayan’s daughter, Veena.
The Congress, which is in a national coalition with the CPI(M) but not in Kerala, has claimed that the Central agency was lenient on these instances, implying a link between the BJP and the Left party. Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan meanwhile has repeatedly attacked Rahul, accusing him of being silent on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act after its regulations were announced last month.
On Wednesday at Palakkad, Vijayan said, “Why is the Congress, especially Rahul, mute on CAA? Congress must declare that they share the Sangh Parivar’s attitude against the CAA.”
AAP in Punjab also decided to fight individually
The series of shocks the Congress received from its own ‘ally’ members was worth noting when even the Aam Aadmi Party after the JDU and TMC, decided that it would fight alone from the state and that it wouldn’t ally with the Indian National Congress.
Punjab chief minister’s statement came at a time when AAP and the Congress were discussing seat sharing in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa, and Gujarat for general elections in the country underway. “Punjab will become a hero in the country and the AAP will win 13-0 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Mann was quoted as saying.
Conclusion
The broken pan-India alliance has failed to produce a multiplier effect, demonstrating that the nationwide alliance was counter-intuitive. Except for Congress, which is rapidly losing its political relevance, the alliance partners wielded little power outside of their home districts.
They have failed to add to each other’s strength, instead directly or indirectly leveling significant accusations against their alliance partners on their turf, tarnishing their partners, including CPI(M)-Congress, AAP-Congress, and TMC-Congress, among others. In addition, the opposition bloc leaders have not conducted any united rallies despite knowing that it would have created a huge impact on the minds of the voters ahead of the elections.
The I.N.D.I. alliance comprises a dozen leaders seeking desire to contend for the position of Prime Minister. However, the leaders and alliances lack legitimate leadership, especially when elections are assuming a presidential-style format.
No I.N.D.I.Alliance leaders have proven and evidently, no one will prove to be a vote-catcher or credible leader outside of their tiny pocket areas, given its head being Congress which is already on the death bed, trying hard to survive.