Regional leaders’ front against Modi builds up
IIf a nationwide coalition of regional leaders, all stepping up beyond their own domicile ambition and aspiration can indeed be stitched, it will augur wonderfully well for democracy
t takes a lot for a proud Bengali leader to set aside the inspiring wisdom of “Ekla chalo re (Let us walk alone)” and call for a larger coming together of like-minded people for a great purpose. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, immediately after the Union Budget was presented in Parliament, at a party platform where she was re-elected as chairman of Trinamul Congress, gave a call to “…all regional parties, setting aside their egos, must come together to defeat the BJP in 2024.”
What Bengal thinks today, to paraphrase for 2022, the rest of the country is also perhaps, simultaneously, thinking.
Echoing her words, leader of an equally proud people, the Tamils, M.K. Stalin, seemed to be thinking of immortal poet Subramanya Bharathi’s words (“We shall not look at caste or religion. All human beings in this land, whether they be those who preach Vedas or belong to other castes, are one”) while giving a clarion call to 37 parties across India to jointly fight a threat of “bigotry and religious hegemony to India’s diverse and multicultural federation”.
Not far from Chennai, in Hyderabad, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao reiterated his perception of the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a threat to India in diverse ways. Thundering vituperatively, he promised to work out a unity formula for all non-BJP parties, three days ahead of an inauguration of the “statue of unity” in Hyderabad, by Prime Minister Modi.
Interestingly, while Ms Banerjee and Mr Rao were unsparingly scathing of the Congress, Mr Stalin continues to believe the Grand Old Party must be part of the larger anti-Modi political consolidation. His outreach, quite amazingly, also included arch-rivals AIADMK, a partner in the current NDA.
Why are these regional leaders shifting public discussion and focus to 2024 weeks before the semi-finals are set to start, including in the crucially large state of Uttar Pradesh, and four others? Why not wait till March 10, when the results would be out?
It is unimpeachable that a democracy needs a viable Opposition. If the GoP can be the frontal lead in such a fightback, it is inspiring to see regional leaders setting a platform for a welcome unity of regional parties, against the saffron behemoth, which is growing more powerful by the day.
The BJP is likely to ask before 2024 — if not Mr Modi, who? A sustainable unity of purpose between a Banerjee, Stalin, KCR, and if the initiative picks momentum soon, joined by Pawar, Thackeray, Abdullah, Ms Mufti, the Yadavs, and Kejriwal, besides eventually, the reluctant Patnaik and Jagan Reddy, even Mr Owaisi, among others, may be the most pragmatically possible answer.
While it is inconceivable for only a coalition of regional parties to cobble up a traction as to defeat the BJP and get a majority in the next Lok Sabha elections, it is still a good ploy to keep away the Congress, hoping it fares better against its national rival in all seats where the face-off is between the two.
If a nationwide coalition of regional leaders, all stepping up beyond their own domicile ambition and aspiration can indeed be stitched, it will augur wonderfully well for democracy, the country and its people.