By Nitya Chakraborty
The decision of the five members of the Congress Legislature Party in Meghalaya to participate in the government along with the BJP is a big blow to the efforts of the opposition parties at the national level to build unity against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Only last week, the Congress Lok Sabha member and de facto party chief Rahul Gandhi gave an impassioned speech in the house exposing the Narendra Modi government and offering a vision of a secular and inclusive India which will be possible only by uniting the non-BJP parties against the Sangh Parivar. His speech opened the way for working on a platform for the non-BJP parties, including the Congress, to challenge the BJP in the national battle two years hence.
At this crucial period when the state assembly elections are taking place, this decision of the five Congress MLAs will only strengthen the BJP in the Northeastern states where it is losing its earlier dominance and is desperately trying to retain its base. The disquieting feature is that the Congress high command has not at all reacted to the decision of the Meghalaya MLAs to join hands with the BJP, though two days have passed since their announcement. This means that the central leadership, meaning Rahul Gandhi, is in tandem with the move of his party legislators.
On the other hand, the BJP president of the Meghalaya state unit has objected to the Congress-BJP alliance in the state government stating that the tiger and deer cannot drink together.
This decision was taken by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and at no stage, the BJP state leadership was consulted. The state BJP president has sought central intervention on this issue. Whatever decision the central BJP takes does not matter. The Congress has made a mess in Meghalaya and the endorsement of this by Rahul means that whatever smooth talking he does about the formation of the anti-BJP front, at ground level, his party fellows are doing the opposite.
The Meghalaya Congress consisted of only five legislators after the TMC took away 12 MLAs from the Congress Legislature Party. The state Congress is angry at this and they are desperate not to allow Trinamool to come near to power in any manner. Every party has its right to expand its areas of influence, including Congress and TMC, and if Trinamool takes away 12 MLAs so easily, the responsibility lies with the Congress leadership both at the state and the central level. Congress lost Manipur and Meghalaya after the last assembly elections because it could not combat the challenge of the BJP, which mobilised more financial resources and muscle power.
The state assembly elections to five states have begun from February 10. In North East, Manipur is going to polls in two phases on February 27 and March 7. Congress has formed a front with the Left parties, including the CPI and the CPI(M). The front has also come out with a common minimum programme focusing on the immediate demands of the people of Manipur. This has been the right decision for Congress. The alliance with the Left will give Congress more credibility.
The Congress cannot be choosy regarding allies in fighting the BJP, even though the parties may clash at the state level. The Congress can have reservations about the Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee and the party may be having its own reasons. But TMC, just like the Left parties CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M) Liberation led by Dipankar Bhattacharya, are the trusted allies in the fight against the BJP at the national level. The state assembly elections will be over next month and the results will be out on March 10.
All the opposition parties who are in the poll fray and fighting each other in many states can have a proper assessment about their respective strength so that more pragmatic steps can be taken before the Lok Sabha election for arriving at a common understanding on seats against the BJP and its allies.
In UP, Mamata Banerjee is campaigning for the Samajvadi Party. She thinks that SP is the best bet against the BJP, which is shared by most political analysts. She is working for the defeat of the BJP in the biggest state of the country, the poll outcome of which will determine to a significant extent the next course of action by the opposition parties. The Congress is fighting alone and Priyanka Gandhi is leading the party in Uttar Pradesh.
Priyanka is looking at the future and she wants the organisation to expand through campaigning during the current election. Fine. She is young and she can certainly look for a vision five or ten years hence.
But for the people of India who are suffering in the last eight years of Narendra Modi’s regime, long-term planning by Congress should be limited to UP. The Congress has to take into account the ground reality to adjust its strategy so that the broadest possible unity of the non-BJP forces is possible. It should include apart from the Congress, TMC, Shiv Sena, DMK, NCP, the regional non-BJP parties of the North East on the one hand and the other big ruling regional parties like YSRC in Andhra Pradesh, TRS in Telangana and Biju Janata Dal in Odisha. In Goa, Congress is fighting both TMC and AAP as also BJP. Both TMC and AAP have said that in the event of a hung assembly, they are ready for a non-BJP coalition. Congress has to be ready for this eventuality if the party really wants to keep BJP out of power.
All the non-Congress opposition parties are watching every move of Congress. Rahul has certainly emerged as a better acceptable politician to the people in recent months through his consistency, long-term vision and aggression against the BJP government, particularly the PM. That has to be intensified further.
The developments like Meghalaya will only show him in poor light as an emerging leader of the opposition. Rahul must avoid such developments in future so that nobody, including Mamata, can question his credibility as one of the key leaders of the non-BJP front.
(IPA Service)