Opposition leaders need more than a patchy arithmetic and Mandal 2.0 to face the Modi juggernaut
In the run-up to every general election, the spectre of a third front haunts the political arena; this time it’s no different. Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) boss K Chandrashekar Rao is arguably the most enthusiastic supporter of a third front. Along with a quest for a third front, search is also on for the holy grail called ‘Opposition unity.’ Given the electoral strength of the Bharatiya Janata Party, a number of leaders are striving to cobble together an alliance strong enough to take on the ruling party, at the helm of whose election machine are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is among those who are trying to bring anti-BJP leaders and parties together. On Wednesday, he met his Odisha counterpart, Naveen Patnaik, leading to the speculation of the satraps coming together. The next day, he met former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray who was elated that the Supreme Court found fault with former Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s action last year. Kumar and Thackeray talked about restoring democracy in the country, but the former also had a setback the same day: Patnaik announced that his Biju Janata Dal would not join a third front to challenge the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “There is no possibility of a third front as far as I am concerned,” he reportedly said after meeting Modi in Delhi. Then, Patnaik added, “Not now.” This looks like ‘maybe.’ But, they say, when a politician says ‘yes,’ he means ‘maybe’; when he says ‘maybe,’ he means ‘no’; and when he says ‘no,’ he is no politician. Political pundits may indulge in pedantry over Patnaik’s statement, but he doesn’t seem very keen on uniting the Opposition and challenging the BJP at the Centre. He seems content in his own State.
Kumar also met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar; he even proposed that the senior Maratha leader be made the face of the Opposition alliance. The pleasantries apart, there is little that binds various Opposition parties. Pawar, for instance, is not very keen on the Congress’ strategy of focusing on the Adani-Hindenburg issue; he has also made it very clear to everyone about that. In essence, the endeavour towards Opposition unity remains an exercise in arithmetic. The Modi phenomenon, however, is not just about arithmetic, though numbers are also on the side of the ruling dispensation; it is principally about a narrative that the saffron party and its sister organisations have been able to build. None of the Opposition leaders striving to forge unity have a viable, alternative narrative to offer to the electorate. In terms of magnitude, they are still struggling to bring big egos and petty interests of parties together; in terms of narrative, the likes of Kumar have nothing but Mandal 2.0 to offer. They need more than that to face the Modi juggernaut.
