Alliances to the Rescue or Failure

According to former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav his alliance partner and present Chief Minister of the State Nitish Kumar has committed a ‘historic blunder’ by supporting Mr. Ramnath Kovind, the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) nominee for the forthcoming presidential election. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief was factually incorrect while saying so. Because not only Nitish Kumar, the entire opposition got all their equations wrong while finalising the strategy for the said election. With the failure of the opposition to approach the forthcoming election in a cohesive manner has virtually reduced electoral fight to a no contest. Now, only a miracle can prevent Rashtriya Swangsevak Sangh (RSS) in making an entry to the majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan for the first time in the history of Independent India. Few weeks ago, in this very space we have warned the opposition parties against forming an alliance keeping the presidential election in mind. Because, everyone knows that alliances are formed on principles, ideologies and programmes. But in this case, the opposition had deliberately overlooked all such ingredients in its effort to put up a common candidate. In the absence of ideology or programme, few opposition leaders tried to use the said election as glue to bring various political parties together. The end result of such a wilful omission is there for everyone to judge and in the process the opposition leaders have virtually proved themselves as political novices in front of clever political manoeuvring of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah combine. Beyond doubt, despite having slim majority in the Electoral College, Modi-Shah combine has made all the right moves and it has gained so much strength that even before the first vote is cast in the Presidential Poll, NDA is miles ahead from its opponents. The ruling coalition has not only earned new friends, but at the same time has managed to create a sense of distrust and disbelief in the opposition camp. What could be the right approach for the opposition? All the opposition had to do is to draw a road map and take a vow to contest all forthcoming elections, including the Presidential Election and the 2019 General Elections as one unit. It was not a difficult task. The opposition has done the same only two years ago during Bihar Assembly elections. Two main political forces in the State Nitish and Lalu got equal number of seats and the rest went to the Congress. The process of alliance formation was so smooth that it earned the support of electorate from day one and handed over Narendra Modi perhaps the bitterest defeat in his entire political career. On the other hand, we have also seen the opposite. In 2016, during West Bengal Assembly Elections, Congress and the Left parties decided to come together. But the alliance formation was so laboured and bumpy that it could not earn the trust of the electorate. It was expected that while forming an alliance at the national level, opposition parties would keep these two examples in mind and would not commit the same mistake. But it appears that opposition leaders are in no mood to learn a lesson from their earlier mistakes and disappointed all.