INDIA to save India
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When the National Democratic Alliance government led by Narendra Modi completes the second term of government and is seeking a third term, the decision taken in Bengaluru on July 19 by 26 opposition parties to fight unitedly to protect India's constitutional existence and fundamental character should be described as historic. Apart from the Congress, major regional parties such as Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (U), Aam Aadmi Party, DMK, Shiv Sena, NCP and other left parties were part of the meeting. State chief ministers Mamata Banerjee (Bengal), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), NitishKumar (Bihar) and MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu) were present too. Such a coming together of opposition leaders' at a meeting attended by Chief Ministers has apparently rattled the Hindutva parties. That is what the tone and tenor of the speeches by the Prime Minister and others at the NDA Convention of 38 parties convened by the ruling front in New Delhi on the same day indicate. Barring the BJP, few parties who attended the NDA meeting have proved any decisive influence even at the regional level. Most of them are only groups of those who split from the parent organization and sought refuge in the Modi-Amit Shah camp for their own position or in fear of ED hunting. At the same time, it is certain that the BJP will try its best to use these parties to make inroads in the states and divide the votes. That possibility will also have to be taken into account by the opposition alliance while chalking out its election strategy.
The nomenclature of 'Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance' or 'INDIA' conveys the message that the alliance aims to promote the country's development at the national level and adopt an inclusive policy approach. It heralds the negation of the NDA's plan to eliminate diversity and impose caste supremacy. The call of the conference was of unifying people, supporting the caste census, safeguarding the idea of India in the spirit of the Constitution and a fight against the BJP's toxic hate campaign against minorities and the increasing crimes against women, Dalits, Adivasis and Kashmiri Pandits. The Bengaluru conference concluded with a decision to meet in Mumbai within a month to agree on a Common Minimum Programme, to find a convener and to decide on future programmes. It is that consolidating the parties working in different contexts, on the basis of common programs for a common cause and sharing the Lok Sabha seats fairly is not an easy or smooth task. But it is not difficult to understand that 26 parties have been mobilized on the same platform in recognition that the coming election is the last chance to beat the fascism that has shown its colors by hunting down the opposition leaders under the cover of corruption.
As the saying goes, those who fail to learn by seeing will learn when beaten. The Opposition combine should realise that this is the last chance to stop the march of the Hindutva forces to burn the roots of the country's federalism, giving away the entire country to the big corporates and ensuring complete security for the corruption gangs in their own camp. If this opportunity is squandered in the name of narrow interests, that will spell the end of Indian democracy and letting extreme Hinduism run rampage. The situation in which the internal contradictions in the Sangh Parivar are getting sharper and the people are changing their minds in the backdrop of governmental action that make the life of the people difficult - as seen in Karnataka - is one that gives hope to the secular democratic camp of the country. The flexible position taken by the Congress that the prime minister need not be decided far in advance and that compromises should be made in the division of seats strengthens the chances of opposition unity. Ultimately the achievement of the goal depends on each party recognizing its limitations and making maximum compromises for the sake of the objective. The challenge of rallying in the same path the 67 per cent voters who refused to vote for the BJP last time to defeat the ruling party, with its financial clout to pump money with the unstinted backing of corporates, calls for strong determination and flexibility.
