Experiment with untruth

For all practical purposes, the much-hyped concept of a united opposition to fight the ruling BJP, named as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or I.N.D.I.A. has come apart and each day brings confirmation that the very logic for unity among disparate and bitterly opposing parties, was doomed from the first day it was inaugurated in July 2023.Not a day passes by when one party or the other makes arbitrary announcements about seat sharing. After INDIA came into existence as a platform there has been no serious efforts to form a committee to initiate the process of seat sharing and joint campaign. The impossibility of forming a cohesive committee was undone due to the wiles of wiles of West Bengal TMC chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi AAP chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in going ahead in naming Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as the convenor. The reason why Mamata and Kejriwal made the arbitrary announcement was seen as a ploy to block Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who was largely expected to be the convenor. Both perhaps felt that Nitish could upset their applecart but it backfired as the infamous somersault artiste flipped back to the NDA fold again. As convenor of the now crumbling INDIA, Kharge has been restricted since constituents like TMC and AAP have arbitrarily declared that they would go solo in their respective states. The success of INDIA actually hinged on how the Congress played its role as the unifier and guide for various opposition parties. Since Congress is competing with various regional parties of INDIA such as – TMC in West Bengal, AAP in Punjab and Delhi, CPM in Kerala, JMM in Jharkhand, SP and BSP in UP, RJD in Bihar; seat sharing has to be based on ground reality. However, the post-2014 Congress under Sonia and presently under Rahul and his coterie of politically unelectable leaders, who steer the high command wheels, has insulated itself from reality. Congress continues to be focussed only on the Gandhis and in particular the latest fad of Rahul, called Bharat Jodo/Nyay yatra. Too much yatra at huge expenses has prevented the party from investing in strengthening its grass root support bases and utilising precious resources for joint countrywide campaigns with opposition leaders and preparing a blue print for Lok Sabha election strategy. The party has been adrift since 2014 and its condition is worsening but unfortunately, reams and streams about the malady it suffers from is being ignored. Congress today is reduced to a party of family courtiers and those who can never win elections. These are fatal flaws which has caused an exodus of many prominent and promising youth leaders, the future face of the party. Congress need serious introspection about its dwindling vote banks. It has no clear answers to valid accusations that it uses minorities only as vote banks. Though BJP is an unabashed proponent of Hindu majoritarian politics; yet it has far exceeded the achievements of the Congress in promoting the welfare of backwards and minorities. While BJP is blatant about its brand of muscular Hinduvta; Congress has contradicted itself by copying the BJP with its brand of ‘soft Hindutva’. INDIA is breaking up as more parties supposedly with INDIA jump the sinking ship. Congress has to accept the reality that it will have to fight not only BJP but regional parties for votes and the worst could come if it fails to win double digit seats.