The Opposition needs to rediscover the spirit of political movement and an alternative narrative for a democratic India that is inclusive

The lifeblood of democracy is a stable government and a strong Opposition to ensure democratic governance, rule of law, and constitutional propriety. In the 2024 general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party lost its majority by 32 seats but has managed to stay strong at the Centre with the help of two key allies, the JD(U) and TDP. Moreover, by doing spectacularly well in the state elections since then, the BJP/NDA has succeeded in neutralising the loss it suffered in the Lok Sabha poll, while the Opposition squandered the gains and continues to remain fractured.

Despite the contentious nature of the verdicts in Haryana and Maharashtra, which the Opposition alleged were “rigged”, the BJP-led NDA’s success in these states has shrunk the Opposition’s footprint across north India and up to Maharashtra. Whereas, by and large, the Opposition is divided and dysfunctional; its unexpected debacle in Bihar recently, against the backdrop of a contentious SIR, voter deletion, and allegations of several “irregularities” in the electoral process, has not only cost the Opposition an important heartland state but also debilitated the INDIA bloc further, potentially weakening our democracy even more, in the absence of a viable opposition to BJP’s political dominance. 

Given its massive election machinery that marches without fatigue, no election is a routine exercise for the BJP. Whether Haryana, Maharashtra, or Bihar, they were not inconsequential defeats for the Opposition but key contests that the INDIA bloc needed to win to assert its relevance and reclaim political space. As much as Maharashtra a year ago, the Bihar loss signifies the Opposition as a coalition of parties that has trouble uniting over issues, seats, narratives, and personality battles for leadership. Why, the Opposition is in such dire straits that it is incapable of countering the BJP, thus suggesting that these elections were a one-sided affair. 

It is not that the Opposition lacks issues; what it possibly lacks is the willingness to fight unitedly under a consensus leadership that could ignite hope and trust with a coherent story that could resonate with the public. In Bihar, for instance, the Opposition did raise issues of survival, unemployment, education, healthcare, and migration for jobs, and it would be wrong to assume that everything it did failed or every move of the BJP/NDA was top-notch. The NDA was expected to win, but winning sizeably was a surprise. But it is also true that the Opposition’s meltdown in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Bihar, in the absence of a level playing ground in the electoral contest, is a big setback for the INDIA bloc. 

Till the late 1980s, when the Congress was a dominant political party, it was a default choice for voters. This was followed by the era of coalition politics for over two decades. Since 2014, the BJP has replaced the Congress as the dominant player in western, central, and northern India. Long positioned at India’s political centre, in the post-Mandal-Kamandal political landscape, the Congress, a pale shadow of what it once was, has struggled to find a direction and offer an ideological alternative to the BJP’s Hindu nationalist politics. This has held back the broader Opposition’s fight against Modi and his party.

The Opposition is fractured and dysfunctional not just because it is losing elections to the BJP/NDA but also because it lacks an ideological and economic counter to BJP’s politics of Hindutva, polarisation, and welfare. Also, the Opposition parties, excluding the Congress, appear to be unwilling to unite for a larger cause of democracy and constitutional propriety instead of largely safeguarding their individual fiefdoms. Opposition to the ruling regime is not built through personal ambitions, press meets, tweets, and social media outrage but from protests and street mobilisation, as was done in the past.

There was a time when prime minister Indira Gandhi appeared invincible, and her power defied political and moral challenge. But opposition to her rule emerged from the streets and campuses under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, who united socialists, communists, right-wing politicians, labour union leaders, and regional chiefs under a movement that took shape into a political party which toppled Mrs Gandhi and her party from power in 1977. Another example of regime change happened in 1989, which was led by former prime minister VP Singh. His rebellion against the Rajiv Gandhi government, which enjoyed a massive parliamentary majority over the issue of corruption, found such popular support that the Opposition’s coalition, joined by popular regional leaders like Devi Lal, M Karunanidhi, NT Rama Rao, and Jyoti Basu, succeeded in defeating the Congress. 

Those were the days of fierce anti-Congressism, a political strategy where various political parties, regardless of their ideologies, including the BJP and the Left parties, while defending their home turfs fiercely, aligned nationally when the idea of fighting against corruption, economic distress, and political dominance had a pan-India appeal. Incidentally, anti-Congressism as a concept arose in the 1960s when disparate parties realised their differences and vote division were preventing them from gaining power, while the Congress continued its dominance. On both occasions, the primary goal behind setting aside their differences to form a united front against the Congress was to break its hold on power, which they could not do individually due to vote splitting. 

Today, in place of the Congress, the dominant party is the BJP, but the Opposition’s predicament is the same. Since the Opposition is divided while seeking unity without foregoing individual interests, the BJP has got a free monopoly over politics and power. Its leader towers over every opponent, whether national or regional, and its narrative remains consistent and constantly amplified by the media: nationalism, stability, development, and national security. The implications of such dominance, without a viable Opposition, are serious and perilous for democracy. India has seen such political dominance before, but it has also been successfully challenged in the past. 

However, it is easier said than done, given that a lot of things are ranged against the Opposition: the media, the bureaucracy, investigation agencies, constitutional institutions, and a section of the judiciary too. To challenge such dominance, the Opposition needs to rediscover the spirit of political movement and an alternative narrative for a democratic India that is inclusive, viksit and safe for everyone.