26 Indian opposition parties unite in ‘INDIA’ coalition to take on Modi

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

At least 26 opposition parties in India that have formed an alliance against the country’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have coined a unique new name for their coalition ahead of national elections next year.

The country’s opposition parties, that have been led by the Indian National Congress (INC), have often been marred by infighting and have not fared well in two consecutive national elections that have propelled the BJP and its leader Narendra Modi to power for a decade.

In an effort to project unity and revitalise fledgling efforts to combat the BJP on a national level, the opposition alliance has now rebranded itself as INDIA, which stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

A two-day meeting of the 26 political parties in southern Bengaluru city concluded on Tuesday with the announcement of the rebranding ahead of the national-level fight in 2024.

INDIA’s parties plan to meet again in Mumbai to take discussions further, but no exact dates have been announced yet.

Mr Modi’s BJP also held a meeting with 38 like-minded parties to coincide with the opposition meet in a bid to project strength.

Jitendra Awhad, a member of the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said INC leader Rahul Gandhi came up with the name for the opposition coalition and praised his “creativity” in a tweet.

“The BJP wants to destroy democracy, constitution, using autonomous bodies like CBI, ED, vigilance all such institutions against opposition party leaders and workers,” INC chief Mallikarjun Kharge told the media.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is India’s prime investigative agency, while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigates financial crimes. The opposition has frequently accused Mr Modi’s government of using raids conducted by the federal agencies to stifle dissent.

“This is a grave situation. We have come together to save this situation. How to save the country and the people of the country – this is the issue before us,” he said.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that Congress chief Mr Kharge had admitted to differences among opposition parties, but noted these were not ideological.

“These differences are not so big that we cannot put them behind for the sake of the common man and middle class suffering due to inflation, for the sake of our youth suffering due to unemployment, for the sake of the poor, Dalits, Adivasis [tribal communities] and the minorities whose rights are being crushed silently behind the scenes,” he said.

The two-day meet comes ahead of a significant challenge for the opposition, as they would have to strengthen their alliance and present a formidable front against the BJP.

Mr Kharge alluded to opposition strength and its recent wins in state elections.

“We are 26 parties, in government in 11 states. BJP didn’t get 303 seats by itself, it used votes of allies then discarded them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Modi took aim at the show of unity and took a dig at the Gandhi family that had ruled the country for several decades.

“Their mantra is – of, by and for family,” he said.

“So, people who are responsible for the plight of India have opened their shops. They are singing some other song but the reality is something else. A label of something else has been put up, but the product is someone else’s. There is a guarantee of the poison of casteism and immense corruption at their shops. Now, they are in Bengaluru,” he said.

Mr Modi also referred to Mr Gandhi’s recent disqualification as a lawmaker in the country’s lower house of parliament.

“If someone insults a community and is punished by the court, he is honoured,” he said.

Mr Gandhi, who also earlier served as Congress chief and is a primary opposition leader, had been convicted by court for criminal defamation for a comment at an election rally in 2019.

“Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names?” he had said while referring to a business tycoon, a former Indian Premier League cricket chief, and the Indian prime minister respectively.

Mr Gandhi has approached India’s Supreme Court to suspend the conviction against him.