The frustration West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee aired on the rudderless voyage of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, her offer to lead the Opposition alliance shows and the traction her suggestion has got among the alliance partners are at best a warning shot aimed at the Congress leadership, asking it not to take the alliance for granted and that it must be mindful of the task on hand.
I.N.D.I.A. bloc was formed in 2023 with the goal of what they said stopping the BJP from its series of assaults on the Constitution and its institutions and preventing the saffron alliance from coming to power again after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, among other things.
The goal was to be attained by bringing together all those who are opposed to the Hindutva brigade.
There was no formal leader for the cause but the Congress, given its historical role and its presence across the country, was perceived to be the natural choice. But the grand old party of Indian politics chose to neglect its responsibility when it virtually ignored its allies in the elections to the Assemblies in five states held in October-November 2023. The bitter experience brought some sense to the Congress leadership which acted with a spirit of accommodation and stitched together a viable platform against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
The effort was a partial success in that it was able to stop the BJP from gaining an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha; it needed its new-found allies, including the Telugu Desam and, interestingly, the Janata Dal (U), a founding member of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, to survive a parliamentary vote.
However, the Congress leadership again missed the challenges and opportunities that the state Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra provided. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was only acknowledging the fact when he pointed to the factionalism within the party as a reason for the electoral drubbing. No party can afford to remain a divided house when fighting a well-oiled and well-funded cadre-based BJP machinery. That the Congress president made it known publicly is a good sign if he follows up on it.
The Congress must disabuse itself of such thoughts that it commands the leadership of the centrist forces in the country by default, that the Opposition system revolves around it and that the party centered around the Gandhi family.
Each one of the major allies, be it the Trinamul Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the DMK, the RJD or the AAP, is leading its fight against the BJP in its own right and has the wherewithal to give the saffron combine a run for its money. It is the Congress which has consistently failed their expectations, be it in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana or in Chhattisgarh.
It is for the Congress leadership to show the mettle to accept the challenge Ms Banerjee has thrown and respond to it, reflecting its responsibilities. No party is indispensable in a democracy which remains a vibrant system. Those who can’t decipher the message of the times and act accordingly will be cast aside, and those who can, will seize the day. This is going to be a turning point in the life of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.
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