Modi rivals stand united
KUMARASWAMY SWORN IN AS KARNATAKA CHIEF MINISTER WITH GALAXY OF REGIONAL LEADERS IN ATTENDANCE
Kumaraswamy sworn in as Karnataka chief minister with a galaxy of regional leaders in attendance |
It was a pleasure to share the stage with leaders of opposition parties... I’m very proud that the opposition has stood together and defeated the BJP, and we will continue to do so.” Rahul Gandhi | Congress president
We will keep in touch with all regional parties... If all such parties get together, they’ll have maximum strength. It is said that whoever will fight us will be destroyed.” Mamata Banerjee | Bengal chief minister
The alliance in Karnataka is a platform for a larger anti-BJP coalitions on a national scale. But how much the oppostion parties build on that platform is an open question.” Sandeep Shastri | Political scientist
India’s fractured opposition yesterday seized on a new way to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s powerful Bharatiya Janata Party: bringing bitter national and regional rivals together to take on the might and sweep of the ruling party.
The venue for the occasion was the inauguration of H.D. Kumaraswamy as the chief minister of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, heading the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government.
Kumaraswamy was administered the oath of office by state governor Vajubhai Vala at a grand ceremony in the Vidhana Soudha complex in state capital Bengaluru, in the presence of a galaxy of regional stalwarts and chief ministers from across India as well as Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia.
State rivals such as Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, both from Uttar Pradesh, brushed aside their bitter enmity to attend the ceremony together.
Vala also administered the oath to state party Congress chief and prominent Dalit community leader G. Parameshwara as the deputy chief minister. Other members of the council of ministers will be inducted after the Kumaraswamy government wins the trust vote tomorrow.
The reversal of the BJP’s fortunes in Karnataka — where it emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats but was ousted by a coalition composed of the Congress party and the regional Janata Dal (Secular) party — marks one more election loss at the hands of a united opposition. Despite a string of state poll victories, regional alliances have also thwarted Modi in recent Uttar Pradesh by-elections and in the 2015 Bihar state elections.
West Bengal chief minister and avowed Modi rival Mamata Banerjee, and her Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu, present at the ceremony in Bengaluru yesterday, said their participation was meant to strengthen the alliance of regional parties.
“All regional parties are present here to support Kumaraswamy and his government. We hope for the best. We will keep in touch with all regional parties together so that we can work for the development of the nation … If regional parties get together, they will have maximum strength. It is said in Hindi that whoever will fight us will be destroyed,” she said.
Naidu said this was a critical juncture in Indian politics. Asked about the possibilities of a federal front against the BJP, Naidu said: “We are watching. We all want to promote more regional parties — that is our and Mamata tai’s mission.”
Rahul proud
Rahul Gandhi had earlier said the Congress party will rally regional groups into a common front against Modi: “I am very proud that the opposition has stood together and defeated the BJP, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
According to analysts, the Karnataka result shows India’s main opposition Congress party may be prepared to take junior roles in coalitions if it means taking down Modi. So even if the BJP remains the most popular party, they could still lose upcoming state polls or suffer losses in next year’s national election. That support among regional rivals suggests growing national interest in an anti-BJP alliance, said N. Sathiya Moorthy, a Chennai-based senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank.
Although coalition politics is nothing new in India, but such arrangements of convenience can be unwieldy. The alliance that defeated the BJP in Bihar, a state of 100 million people, fell apart last year amid corruption allegations, allowing a BJP coalition to storm back to power. “The alliance in Karnataka is a platform for a larger anti-BJP coalition on a national scale,” said Sandeep Shastri, a political scientist and pro vicechancellor at Jain University in Bengaluru. “But how much they build on that platform is an open question.”