Opinion: The seriousness of opposition unity against BJP has not been seen before, there are two main reasons for this ( Image Source : PTI )
In the presence of 15 opposition parties led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his residence on Friday, a big strategy was made to defeat the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Now the next meeting will be held in Shimla on July 12, in which further strategy will be discussed. But, if we look at the presidential elections, then the opposition unity in this country was not visible anywhere in this country. Be it the 2014 elections or the 2019 elections, we used to see in those elections that the opposition leaders used to unite on the platforms. But the discussion of opposition unity could not progress further.
Many times we also saw that efforts were made for opposition unity without the Congress. But the meeting that took place in Patna on Friday showed a serious effort for opposition unity. Leaders of all major parties from Jammu and Kashmir to Kanyakumari were present in it. If there is a conflict between the opposition parties with other parties or with the Congress, then there is a lot of contradiction there. But, in spite of those contradictions, it was not an easy task to bring everyone on a single platform and establish an issue.
Congress must be strong for opposition unity
I believe that Nitish Kumar has been actively engaged in this work for the last several years. This is the result of their hard work. Secondly, for the unity of the opposition, it was also necessary that the Congress should be strong. The way the Congress has performed in Karnataka after Himachal, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s tone has changed after Karnataka’s victory. Before the Karnataka elections, Mamata Banerjee’s tone was looking somewhat different.
There are about 200 to 250 seats in the Lok Sabha elections where there is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress. If the Congress is not strong in that direct fight, then there is no meaning of opposition unity. In such a situation, the strong position of the Congress and the effort of the opposition parties to forge a strong alliance with the Congress is a serious effort.
2 reasons for opposition seriousness
Going forward, it will become a serious question that what kind of form this alliance of opposition parties will take in future. What will be the seat sharing like? They have to decide a lot in this direction ahead. If we look at Prime Minister Modi’s own statement which he gave in the House, he had said that the opposition is uniting because of the ED and CBI raids. We are seeing that central agencies are being used a lot. Those experiments have also forced them to be together. Till now we had seen that JDU leader was not being raided, but now central agencies are raiding him.
In such a situation, it can be assumed that there is a lot of use of central agencies for opposition unity. Second, when BJP chief JP Nadda went on a visit to Patna, he gave a statement that he has to be freed from regional parties. As long as the BJP was raising the slogan that we have to free the country from the Congress, the regional parties were feeling that if the Congress shrinks, their scope will increase. But now when BJP started raising the slogan of getting rid of regional parties, then those parties understood that the time has come to save their existence. After that we saw that Nitish Kumar changed sides and went to Nitish Kumar’s camp.
Since, if we see, today only its old allies are not with BJP, neither Nitish Kumar nor Akali Dal is with them. Uddhav is not with them. He has completely broken Shiv Sena. All these episodes have forced the regional parties to think today. But it is certain that if elections are held in Bengal, how will seat sharing happen between Mamta and Congress, what will be its form?
Face against Modi a big issue
For the opposition parties, the face against Brand Modi is a big issue that who will be the face instead of the face. BJP is also raising the same question. But we should not forget the 2004 elections when on one side Atal ji had a big face, but on the other hand there was no big face of the opposition. But the public had voted on the issue forgetting the face. In such a situation, it is possible that the opposition may bring its face or it may go to the issue without bringing its face. The question is also whether the opposition will be able to come together after ending the contradiction or not?
We are in a parliamentary democracy, where many options are open. Will Nitish Kumar be able to play the role of Harkishan Singh Surjeet? We have seen that when the government of Deve Gowda was being formed, when the government of Indrakumar Gujral was being formed, will Nitish Kumar be able to come in that role? All these questions are standing in our mind at this time.
BJP’s way of fighting elections, PM Modi’s own position, in such a situation, if the opposition comes with their own ambitions, they will fail. But, the kind of big leaders who have come on one platform, it seems that they are serious about the alliance. They have to be ready to make sacrifices for the alliance.
[नोट- उपरोक्त दिए गए विचार लेखक के व्यक्तिगत विचार हैं. ये जरूरी नहीं कि एबीपी न्यूज़ ग्रुप इससे सहमत हो. इस लेख से जुड़े सभी दावे या आपत्ति के लिए सिर्फ लेखक ही जिम्मेदार है.]
