Strange but true. The Emperor is without clothes. The Congress, which has been projecting itself as the leader of the opposition bloc, has virtually been thrown in the dumps by regional parties, which are almost writing obituaries for the INDIA grouping these days.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav's statement, that the INDIA grouping was for the Lok Sabha elections, signals almost the end of the opposition alliance, whether Rahul Gandhi likes it or not. One swallow does not make a summer is the message to the Congress, which had been on cloud nine after reaching 99 seats in the Lok Sabha polls for the first time since May 2014.
For diverse reasons, several members of the INDIA grouping have in recent months shown the mirror to the grand old party in the wake of its poll debacle in Haryana and Maharashtra. The Congress, which was once the greatest strength of the grouping, is now being projected not only as a ‘good-for-nothing' party but also as an obstacle to the grouping's unity.
AAP's Offensive
A few regional parties are rubbing salt into the Grand Old Party's wounds ahead of the Delhi polls by publicly declaring their support for Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), at a time when the Congress is making a determined effort to become relevant in the affairs of the national capital. Kejriwal, fighting with his back to the wall in his tussle against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the national capital, has gone to the extreme, declaring that the Congress be removed from the INDIA Bloc.
The message is loud and clear. The Congress will have to constantly earn the goodwill and the confidence of its allies. It will have to keep them not only in good humour but also in constant dialogue and discussion on the way ahead, both inside and outside Parliament.
In politics, as also elsewhere, there are no free lunches. The Congress has to earn the respect of its allies if it wants to lead the INDIA alliance. Any political force that is not a winning horse will be pushed to the sidelines. It can't claim the front seat only on the basis of its past glory. Herein lies the root of the crisis within the anti-BJP bloc, which has failed to stabilise after putting up a good show in the Lok Sabha polls just six months ago.
Jostling For Space
The situation in the INDIA alliance is more serious than it appears. Anyone and everyone wants to have a place in the sun. They believe, rightly or wrongly, that the Congress is getting more than what it deserves and is not contributing adequately to the cause of the opposition unity.
For Rahul Gandhi, the problem is that the sheen of the Bharat Jodo Yatra as well as the Nyay Yatra is waning due to the failure of the party to build a credible organisation through large-scale public outreach. The situation has gone back to square one, where everyone is trying to merely survive in the face of a resurgent BJP. Maharashtra witnessed how the BJP vanquished the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), almost silently and coolly. Politics is never static, and the BJP knows how to work through patience and perseverance. After struggling for a decade, the BJP has not only stabilised in Maharashtra but has become the undisputed numero uno. This will have far-reaching effects.
Another aspect of the rumblings within the INDIA bloc is that many of its constituents have aligned with the BJP at some point. This means that there is no urgent need for them to promote an opposition grouping if it only helps the Congress get primacy. As for parties like the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the RJD, which never had any alliance with the BJP, the problem is different. They feel that the growing demands of the Congress for a larger share of the pie in their respective home turfs of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar would ultimately affect their own primacy.
Abandoned By Friends
There is a section in Bihar that feels that a leader like Lalu Yadav would, justly, have his reservations about the Congress; Rahul Gandhi was squarely responsible for the end of his electoral journey over a decade ago when he tore a bill brought forward by the Manmohan Singh government that would have helped the controversial RJD leader. On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav is eyeing the chief ministerial seat mainly and has no ambitions at the Centre, at least for now. Despite being snuffed out in the recent assembly polls in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar also has no plans to merge his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with the Congress. Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, which had become one of the closest allies of the Congress after he was made the Chief Minister, is singing a different tune too now.
The problem for the Congress is that it hardly puts on its thinking cap. It is bereft of any strategy that would give its detractors a run for their money. Despite facing the harshest dry spell in its history, India's oldest party has for the past decade not undertaken any serious soul-searching exercise. There have been many missed opportunities, all of which have contributed to making the BJP the world's largest party.
It's Rahul Gandhi who has to bear this cross now. It is said not without reason that a team is only as good as its leader. The leader must be a role model who “lives” and communicates the values that make the organisation. How the Congress puts its house in order will decide which way the opposition alliance will proceed. There are no shortcuts. No one likes to befriend a weak man, while a strong man hardly needs allies. What he gets is umpteen followers.
(Sunil Gatade is a former associate editor with PTI. Venkatesh Kesari was an assistant editor with The Asian Age.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
