The current uproar over the question of leadership in the Congress-led ‘India Alliance’ and the questions being raised once again on the leadership of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, neither the Trinamool Congress leader nor the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s political well-being is not going to be good and neither are her supporters Sharad Pawar-Supriya Sule of NCP, Uddhav Thackeray-Aditya Thackeray of Shiv Sena, UBT, Akhilesh of Samajwadi Party. Of leaders like Yadav-Ram Gopal Yadav or AAP Party’s Arvind Kejriwal etc. Yes, this will definitely dent the political credibility of Congress, which it has barely been able to achieve after the Lok Sabha elections 2024 under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.
Experts on political matters clearly say that the defeat of Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly definitely matters for a national party like Congress, because it is like losing a won game. But snatching away the leadership of the India Alliance from the Congress just because of this does not seem to be an act of political wisdom. Perhaps even Congress will not accept this and no national party should kneel before regional parties, if it is not a game of numbers to gain power! BJP also does the same and keeps its alliance partners in their rightful place. The reason behind the failure of the Third-Fourth Front was also a game of indiscipline or excessive ambition, which is often considered a political disease.
Let us tell you that Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee had immediately said after the results of Maharashtra Assembly elections that Congress and India Bloc should keep aside their egos and recognize Mamata Banerjee as the leader of the opposition alliance. After this, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also expressed dissatisfaction over the poor performance of India Bloc in the recent Haryana and Maharashtra elections and indicated that if given a chance, she is ready to take charge of India Bloc.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo even said that she can handle the dual responsibility of running the opposition front while continuing her role as the Chief Minister of Bengal. Speaking to a TV channel, Mamata Banerjee said, “I had formed the India Bloc, now it is the responsibility of those leading the Morcha to manage it. If they cannot run it, what can I do? I I would just say that everyone will have to be taken along.” At the same time, when asked why despite her reputation as a strong anti-BJP force, she is not taking charge of the India Bloc? So Banerjee said, “If I get a chance, I will ensure its smooth operation.” “I don’t want to go out of Bengal, but I can run it from here,” she said.
Let us tell you that more than two dozen opposition parties are included in the India block formed to counter BJP. However, it has often been criticized due to internal differences and lack of coordination. For this reason, JDU leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was its main architect, changed his side and joined the BJP camp. He also wanted to get the post of coordinator of India Alliance, which was not possible due to the indirect opposition of Lalu Prasad. In such a situation, it is possible that Mamata may once again take the initiative to strengthen the third front and like Nitish, she may end the India alliance bye-bye.
It is noteworthy that this statement of Mamata Banerjee has come after the statement given by her party MP Kalyan Banerjee regarding Congress and other India Bloc allies. Kalyan Banerjee had then said that Congress and India Bloc should keep aside their egos and recognize Mamata Banerjee as the leader of the opposition alliance. Let us tell you that while BJP performed brilliantly in Maharashtra and won a record number of seats, Congress’s performance was very poor. The BJP-led ruling Mahayuti alliance won a landslide victory, while the India Bloc made a strong comeback only in Jharkhand thanks to JMM’s stellar performance. What this means is that Congress continued its losing streak and after Haryana, it also had its worst performance in Maharashtra and in Jharkhand it emerged as the junior partner of the ruling JMM and its role in the opposition block got further reduced. Because other colleagues performed better than this.
On the other hand, TMC’s victory by defeating BJP in the recent by-elections has strengthened the party’s dominance in West Bengal, while the opposition campaign was focused on controversies like RG Kar Medical College protest. The CPI(M)-led Left Front, its ally CPI(ML) Liberation and the Congress, which is TMC’s ally at the national level in the India Bloc, all faced major setbacks and saw their candidates forfeit their deposits. While Congress is the largest party in the India Bloc, it is often considered the de facto leader of the alliance. This is the reason why TMC has continuously advocated Mamata Banerjee to take the reins of the alliance.
It is true that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is continuously hurting the BJP politically in West Bengal and always appears to be superior to it, but it does not mean that she has become a national leader and her face will be that of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Has Rahul Gandhi’s face become more universally accepted, that too at the all India level? Be it Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar or his political heir MP Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena UBT chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray or his political heir Aditya Thackeray, Samajwadi Party chief And whether it is former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav or Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav or AAP National Convener and former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal or any other leader of India Alliance like him, no one’s face is as visible at the national level. May not be as universally acceptable as Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha MP Priyanka Gandhi or Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. Therefore, they will have to understand that contemporary rhetoric will only harm the India alliance and all the parties involved in it.
Anyway, the credibility of the regional parties included in the third or fourth front apart from Congress led UPA alliance, RJD-SP-JMM led Grand Alliance, Shiv Sena UBT-NCP Sharad Pawar led Mahavikas Aghadi, is not good among Indian voters. While Congress has been accused of untimely toppling many coalition governments of Janata Party, Janata Dal and United Front, the political concept about the Third Front and Fourth Front is that they do not know how to run the government at the Center and are involved in it. Parties may have been successful in their respective states, but they have often failed to establish good governance and curb corruption, leading to voters rejecting them after the break. BJP got political benefit from this weakness of his, whereas these people have even declared him a political untouchable.
Let us tell you that in the 1990s, any party was afraid of forging an alliance with BJP only because its Muslim votes might be lost. But with its nationalist and forward-looking ideas of Hindutva, BJP has won the hearts of Indian voters not once but many times by proving good governance, development and ability to run a coalition government and most of the old political records of Congress have been broken by the Modi 3.0 government. Has been demolished, after which its popularity is once again on the rise.
At the same time, the setback it faced due to the Indian alliance, especially the Congress-SP alliance, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it has compensated for in the Haryana-Maharashtra assembly elections. Even in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, BJP had paid the price of neglecting RSS, otherwise today it would not have depended on its alliance partners. But now due to the way infighting is taking place in the Indian alliance at his behest, there are chances that his impeccable rule will continue in the general elections 2029 also. If this happens, Congress will lag far behind BJP, which it will hardly be able to compensate for.
Anyway, BJP’s record of following coalition religion in Indian politics is better than Congress and Third-Fourth Front. That’s why it became stronger day by day and the Congress or the third-fourth front parties became weaker and weaker. However, the wisdom of the Congress leadership is that it should remain included in the third-fourth front and keep the regional parties, UPA or Grand Alliance and Mahavikas Aghadi allies with it at any cost until its figure in the Lok Sabha crosses 300. .
Experts in political affairs say that whether it is Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, or NCP’s Sharad Pawar or Shiv Sena’s UBT’s Uddhav Thackeray, these people have at one time or the other been members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or its indirect well-wishers. Are. Therefore, the purpose of their anti-Congress rhetoric is to keep the BJP happy and on this pretext to maintain pressure on the Congress. At the same time, in Uttar Pradesh, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav is taunting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, it is because of the shameful defeat suffered by the Congress after its neglect in the UP Assembly by-elections 2024. If Akhilesh Yadav does not control Ram Gopal Yadav, then like in 2022, SP’s dreams will not be fulfilled in 2027 also.
As far as the leadership of the India Alliance is concerned, no matter how much pressure is put on the Congress by keeping Mamata Banerjee in the lead, Rahul’s Congress plays its political tricks without any political gain or loss. The parties involved in the India alliance will have to understand this, otherwise they will have no future anywhere other than West Bengal. Be it Jammu and Kashmir or Jharkhand, if the Indian alliance led by National Conference and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha respectively has come to power, it is only because of Congress and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, otherwise in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, 37 out of 80 seats in UP will be won with the help of Congress. As soon as SP withdrew from the alleged shadow of Congress, it was able to win only 2 out of 9 seats in the UP Assembly elections. If he had respected Congress, there would not have been so much embarrassment.
A similar situation will happen to AAP in Delhi Assembly elections 2025, which is currently taking Congress lightly. By giving less attention to Congress in Bihar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is getting himself beaten badly. Therefore, I do not want to repeat what any leader said against Congress or Rahul Gandhi here, but only want to advise that if regional parties want to remain relevant in Indian politics, then they should follow Congress or BJP. , otherwise political misfortune will not leave you. Everyone cannot be Mamata Banerjee or Arvind Kejriwal!
– Kamlesh Pandey
Senior journalist and political analyst