Fertile ground for larger opposition unity

NEW DELHI: India’s political history has seen many colourful episodes of over-aggressive central governments and ruling parties unintentionally providing fuel and a platform for uniting seemingly dormant and divided opposition parties.

B S Yeddyurappa had to resign as the Karnataka chief minister within three days of taking oath, after the BJP failed to mop up the numbers to pass a floor test. The nail-biting political tussle before the resignation could well lay the foundation for many opposition parties to come together for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. After all, many parties have had to face the heat of the BJP’s expansionist drive.

Rahul Gandhi had underlined the theme of anti-BJP unity in a public statement. “Leaders of (like-minded) opposition parties will work together and coordinate to stop the RSS-BJP’s attempts to capture every democratic institution and to silence every section — including the Opposition, the Supreme Court, media and the voice of people. We will unite to resist these attempts.” He also used the murky happenings in Karnataka to attack the government’s anti-corruption posturing. “The money used, the taped conversation we have heard about how BJP leaders were trying to purchase Congress-JD(S) MLAs showed while the PM speaks against corruption, he, in fact, encourages corruption.”


How the Karnataka episode is being used by various opposition parties to create a united stand against BJP-RSS is reminiscent of an episode in Andhra Pradesh 34 years ago — when the Indira Gandhi government had, through Governor Ram Lal, sacked the NT Rama Rao regime, which had a majority. The opposition parties, including the BJP, had organised a nation-wide anti-Congress movement that resulted in the Centre reinstating the NTR government and recalling the governor. It also led to a political brew called the National Front-Left, which ultimately defeated the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Incidentally, when the Gujarat riots gave opposition unity a fillip against the BJP’s “polarisation plank”, then prime minister A B Vajpayee was reported to have whispered to his colleagues, “We (BJP) may win Gujarat but could lose India”.

It is too early to say whether history will repeat itself. But the Karnataka episode has shown how various parties with conflicting ambitions have put their differences aside and come together. Even the TDP and TRS governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, respectively, did not stop Congress and JD(S) MLAs during their Bengaluru-Hyderabad-Bengaluru trip, despite the parties’ anti-Congress DNA. This shows the kind of anti-BJP feeling across opposition parties. Leaders of all these parties were united in hailing the resignation of Yeddyurappa as a “victory against the Centre and BJP”.

However, what will be key is whether these regional parties and the Congress will display political realism and accommodate each other in their fight against the BJP, especially as the BJP is bound to work hard to bounce back after the Karnataka debacle.