NEW DELHI: A new opposition front has been licked into shape in Bengaluru ahead of India’s general elections next year, and 26 major parties agreed on Tuesday to a joint name: ‘INDIA’, which stands for ‘Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance’.

Meanwhile, a parallel meeting of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was staged in New Delhi under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s watch.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the NDA meeting indicated Mr Modi’s nervousness.

In a tweet, Mr Kharge said that the opposition’s resolve to unitedly take on the BJP in 2024 had forced the BJP to “patch up” with its older allies that it had deserted earlier.

“An 11-member coordination committee will be set up in Mumbai. A central secretariat will also be set up for campaign management and joint rallies and action there. The secretariat will work out of Delhi,” Kharge said. “Our leaders have shown that they can come together to protect the interests of Indian people.”

The leaders also passed a resolution unanimously, which accommodates varied political interests of both national and regional parties.

“We, the undersigned leaders of India’s 26 progressive parties, express our steadfast resolve to safeguard the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution. The character of our republic is being severely assaulted in a systematic manner by the BJP. We are at a most crucial juncture in our nation’s history. The foundational pillars of the Indian Constitution — secular democracy, economic sovereignty, social justice and federalism — are being methodically and menacingly undermined,” the joint resolution said.

“We have come together to defeat the hatred and violence being manufactured against minorities; stop the rising crimes against women, Dalits, Adivasis and Kashmiri Pandits; demand a fair hearing for all socially, educationally and economically backward communities; and, as a first step, implement the Caste Census.”

The resolution highlighted its opposition to crony capitalism. “We oppose the reckless sale of the nation’s wealth to favored friends. We must build a fair economy with a strong and strategic public sector as well as a competitive and flourishing private sector, in which the spirit of enterprise is fostered and given every opportunity to expand. The welfare of Kisan and Khet Mazdur should always get the highest priority.”

The pledge is reflective of the unprecedented unity that the opposition leaders, many of whom have been traditional rivals, have achieved in a few months. The resolution also shows the flexibility and resolve that each opposition party has shown in trying to forge a united front. Apart from Mr Kharge, the other four leaders — Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi — who spoke highlighted that the opposition’s fight against BJP will be along ideological lines.

“We have taken up this challenge. BJP, can you challenge INDIA?” Ms Banerjee asked.

Mr Kejriwal and Mr Thackeray spoke about how INDIA will be a joint challenge of democratic people to the authoritarian ways of the Modi government. Mr Kejriwal said that the front would highlight how the Modi government has snatched away people’s resources to distribute it among a few rich people, even as the prime minister had failed to deliver on every front over the last nine years.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023