In rare praise, Chidambaram says BJP is "formidable", expresses doubts over future of INDIA bloc

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said that he was not sure if the opposition INDIA bloc was still intact. Speaking at the launch of Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav's book "Contesting Democratic Deficit", the Rajya Sabha MP said he felt the alliance was frayed.

"The future (of INDIA bloc) is not so bright, as Mritunjay Singh Yadav said. He seems to feel that the alliance is still intact, but I am not sure. It is only Salman (Khurshid) who can answer because he was part of the negotiating team for the INDIA bloc. If the alliance is totally intact, I will be very happy. But it shows at the seams that it is frayed," Chidambaram, a Rajya Sabha MP, said, adding that it could still be put together.

The former Union Finance Minister said that the INDIA bloc was fighting against a "formidable machinery", which must be fought on all fronts.


"In my experience and my reading of history, there has been no political party so formidably organised as the BJP. It's not just another political party. It's a machine behind a machine and the two machines control all the machineries in India. From the Election Commission to the lowest police station in the country, they (BJP) are able to control and sometimes capture these institutions. It is a formidable machinery, as much as can be allowed in a democracy," Chidambaram said.

The book focuses on Congress' revival efforts ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, covering events from the emotionally-charged "Bharat Jodo Yatra" to the "historic" formation of the INDIA bloc comprising diverse political forces.

The book talks about how opposition parties rallied "to defend the idea of an inclusive, pluralistic India".

Chidambaram said that no one can undermine election in India, which "still remains an electoral democracy".

"You can interfere with elections in India. You can tinker with them. But you can't get away with elections. You can't have elections where the ruling party gets away with 98 per cent of the votes... That is not possible in India," Chidambaram said.

"The 2029 elections are critical and must return us to a full-fledged democracy," he added.

Agreeing with the veteran Congress leader, Khurshid said there were issues concerning the INDIA bloc that needed to be addressed.

"We need to address the concerns. The takeaway from Chidambaram's views is that we have to be prepared for a very major battle in 2029. We have to deal with the whole idea of how to get the alliance partners together," the former foreign minister said.

He added that the opposition parties needed to think on a larger scale if they were to "make a massive reversal" in the electoral trends.

"What we have learnt is that we must think on a larger scale. If we only think how many seats we will contest and what will happen once the results are out, we will miss out on the major thing we set out to do, which is to affect a massive reversal of electoral trends in the country," the Congress leader said.