It’s like the nations on Earth negotiating what part of Mars would each occupy, without actually working out how to get there. That is the state of the INDI Alliance as it takes one step forward and two steps back. It is continually ‘accommodating’ a potential ally, even as two others get alienated.
The virtual meeting of the Alliance on Saturday was proof of this and more. Even though it was very convenient to attend, the TMC, SP, Shiv Sena (Thackery) were missing. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was angling for the Convenor’s post from the very beginning, turned it down, further fueling speculation he could be looking the NDA way. The elderly Mallikarjun Kharge will preside over the combine, even as his party, the Congress, is hemorrhaging younger leaders, the latest being Milind Deora.
While the issues to be negotiated are fundamental to the prospects of future success, it is becoming more than evident that only those parties are seriously interested whose leaders are certain to face jail time if the BJP is elected to power a third time. It is a long distance from that motivation to influencing the people’s voting decisions.
Since most parties are regional ones with limited seats to negotiate, they have little room for maneuver. They do not wish to give away the number of seats to the Congress that would provide that party a majority of its own. That would render them powerless in a future coalition government. This means it is for the Congress to contest on a significantly lower number of seats. This it is temperamentally unwilling to do. And there is where the matter stands, as time flies by.
The Nyay Yatra in the north notwithstanding, the truth is most seats for the Alliance will come from the south where the BJP is struggling to establish itself. This is where the primary consolidation has to take place and, again, the Congress will have to concede ground to the regional parties. It will also have to acknowledge that the Nehru-Gandhi family no longer is the vote-getter it once was (that also on the back of two assassinations). Freed from these constraints, it will have to start from scratch. Is Kharge nimble-footed enough to do that, or should the job be given to AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal who is much better at manufacturing illusions? That would be a hard pill to swallow!
