OPPOSITION’S PROSPECTS

This is in reference to the editorial, “An impregnable fortress?” With Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav assuming office in Bihar again, the Opposition earned its first political breakthrough in 2022. However, those in the Opposition camp who see this blatant opportunism as hope of an antiBJP politics ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls are clutching at straws though Mr Kumar’s U-turn may catapult him into becoming the face of opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Undoubtedly, he has a larger acceptability among Opposition leaders than, say, Mamata Banerjee or K Chandrashekar Rao, who have taken the lead to unite the opposition parties. Ms Banerjee’s ventures outside Bengal have massively flopped. Her recent attempt to create a non-Congress front did not go down well with opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which are allied to the Congress. As for Mr Chandrashekar Rao, his acceptability beyond Telangana is yet to be tested. Nitish Kumar, on the other hand, already has the Congress and Left as allies in his new government. His appeal stretches across the Hindi belt comprising Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand. Some of these states, such as UP, MP, Chhattisgarh and Bihar, have a sizable population of Kurmis, a caste to which Nitish Kumar belongs. The BJP had swept these states in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, victories in state polls are good for morale and funds but aren’t necessarily a presager of national outcomes. Despite three crucial Hindi heartland wins in 2018, Congress crashed in 2019 general elections. For 2024, if the Opposition is serious, the starting point has to be unity and a common national manifesto.

The Opposition also needs a suitable political face to prop up nationally. But mammoth egos of leaders will likely scupper that idea. Nonetheless, with 12 assembly elections due in 2022 and 2023, opposition parties have the task of harnessing their prospects.

— KHOKAN DAS, KOLKATA via email