Bengaluru: Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a new political alliance has been formed in India as an outcome of the opposition parties’ meet in Bengaluru. The alliance has been christened, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), making it hard for people to criticise it due to the abbreviation.
The almost clever naming ceremony was held on July 18 in the opposition meeting of 26 political parties, led by the Indian National Congress (INC). The other members of the alliance include the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the notorious Trinamool Congress (TMC).
While the Opposition sees the new alliance as a major challenge to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), such an alliance is not new for the NDA.
It is important to note that a similar alliance had been formed last time called, the “Maha Ghatbandhan” which saw a tragic fall from its expected grace.
The ‘I.N.D.I.A.’ has a broad base of support, drawing on the INC’s traditional vote bank as well as the support of regional parties. However, the INDIA alliance also faces challenges. The alliance is relatively new, and it has not yet had a chance to prove itself in a national election. The alliance is also facing a strong challenge from the BJP, which is well-organised and has a strong base of support from their voters.
The outcome of the elections will depend on the ability of the INDIA to mobilise its supporters and convince voters that it is not a broken alternative to the unified BJP. Moreover, the INDIA also has to convince voters that the member parties will not fight over the Prime Minister’s post. Since the Indian National Congress will naturally have the largest vote share among INDIA members, Congress gets to call the shots on the prime ministerial candidate.
At the moment, it is too early to decide what the future of the INDIA will look like. But taking an account of history, future of the INDIA looks bleak as it lacks a clear vision for the future of India (our Nation).
It is obvious that the alliance will try to bribe the voters with freebies, especially with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Congress involved in it. Moreover, the disgraced NCP and disgruntled Shiv Sena have sought solace in the INDIA after being booted out of power from the land of the Marathas.
The hard left parties including the various iterations of commies have also hopped on to the bandwagon along with several small-time Kerala and Tamil Nadu based parties which fought against each other in their respective states.
Overall, the INDIA is an alliance of loosely knit parties (relevant and irrelevant) who are in a race to assume power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Whether it survives or not is all dependent on how the parties behave. Considering the fact that most have not been in power or out of power for a long time, several rifts, squabbles and instances of feud are expected in the future.
While the future of the INDIA is uncertain, one thing is certain. If critics of the INDIA do not choose their words well, they could be called ‘anti-national’ considering the alliance’s abbreviation. Perhaps the alliance was named so particularly to avoid critic while also avoiding the chance of being called a Maha Phatbandhan.