India’s opposition parties seek to form a united front against Modi

For the first time in years, India’s splintered opposition is sinking its differences to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This could amount to a substantial challenge in national elections due in 2024 if the disparate groups can stay united, which is far from certain.

Since Modi came to power in 2014, he has dominated Indian politics, and trounced the opposition in two successive general elections. But his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not get a majority of the vote and could be in trouble if it comes up against a united opposition.

The opposition has come together after the recent conviction of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party on a charge of defamation and his disqualification from parliament.

Opposition politicians say Gandhi’s shock disqualification, and possible jail time, is the latest evidence of the Modi government’s strong-arm tactics and follows investigations and legal troubles faced in recent months by other opposition parties.

A day after Gandhi’s conviction, 14 political parties jointly petitioned the supreme court, saying opposition groups were being selectively targeted by federal investigative agencies. The court has agreed to hear the plea on April 5.

“We are realising that this atmosphere is very, very dangerous and we have to come out of this evil atmosphere,” KC Venugopal, Congress MP and a close aide of Gandhi, said. “It is too early to announce any coalition ... but we are trying to get together and now we are very comfortable with each other.”

On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of the eastern state of West Bengal and the head of Trinamool Congress party — the fourth largest in parliament — called for a unified opposition to challenge Modi’s right-wing BJP in the 2024 elections.

Banerjee said before that her party would contest alone.

“The Modi government’s fascist steps have given a new chance for opposition parties to be united,” Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said.

There was no immediate response from the prime minister’s office but Modi has himself responded to some of the charges. “When the agencies take action against those who are involved in corruption, the agencies are attacked. When the court gives a decision, the court is questioned. Some parties have together launched a campaign to save the corrupt,” he said this week.

The opposition parties say they will also protest jointly in and outside parliament and draft plans to counter the BJP across the country in coming weeks.

The 14 main opposition parties had 39% of the vote at the last election in 2019 and won 160 seats in the 542-member parliament. BJP alone got 38% of votes but won 303 seats in the first-past-the-post system. But is appears that forging a lasting unity will be difficult.

A senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which rules the national capital territory of Delhi and the northern state of Punjab, said Congress was not in a position to be the main opposition “helmsman”.

Congress will have to cede space and support other groups in an alliance, said the leader, who requested anonymity as he is not authorised to discuss a politically sensitive issue with the media.

The Samajwadi Party, the main opposition in India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, expressed similar opinions. The party’s alliance with Congress in 2019 did not do well. Other opposition leaders said their unity would depend heavily on Congress being willing to accommodate regional political parties and take a back seat in states where it no longer enjoys popular support.

The solitary success for a united opposition was in the 1977 general election, when the then ruling Congress was ousted by a coalition of parties across the political spectrum.

Still, the coming together of key parties such as Trinamool, Samajwadi, AAP, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in the southern state of Telangana, would be a political turnaround as these parties have long opposed Congress on a range of issues.

Modi remains highly popular with high approval ratings after nine years in power and has been expected to easily win a third term in the face of a so-far divided opposition.

“Anti Modi-ism or anti BJPism cannot be the glue that brings together disparate opposition parties with different aspirations and ambitions and positions,” said Nalin Kohli, the BJP’s national spokesperson.

“There have been different times when they have sought to portray a united front in parliament but ... that has never lasted beyond a short period or a maximum of a few weeks.”