Where is the oppostiion?

About three weeks ago, a motley group of politicians gathered in Delhi to remember socialist leader Madhu Limaye on his 95th birth anniversary. Five decades back, Limaye was seen as a binding force for anti-Congress politics. Ironically, on the afternoon of May 1, Congress leader Digivijaya Singh shared the stage with socialist and Left ideologues to discuss ways to oppose a rampaging BJP. The meeting was touted as a show of unity by the Opposition parties eager to replicate the “Grand Alliance” they had struck in Bihar to successfully stop the Modi-Shah juggernaut in 2015.

Socialist ideologues appeared sceptical on making common cause with the communists, while CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury stressed on the necessity to make the upcoming Presidential election an acid test for Opposition unity. It was left to Limaye’s son Anirudh, who is not in politics, to show the veterans the mirror.

“Modi has acquired an image of a Teflon PM. Nothing seems to stick on him. Look around you. How many people here are under 30? You have to start afresh... build organisations, spearhead movements and then fight elections,” Anirudh said. To rub it in, he lauded the RSS for building organisations which were now benefiting with Narendra Modi at the helm. In the last three years, Modi emerged victorious in successive elections and decimated the Opposition to the extent of demoralising them ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The raids by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department on prominent Opposition leaders or those close to them have left them staring at a credibility crisis. After the BJP’s decisive win in Uttar Pradesh, Opposition parties appear to have realised that blind criticism of Modi was leading nowhere and that the BJP needs to be questioned on issues. This realisation has dawned after three long years and losing 10 states to the BJP. Attempts at forging a “Grand Alliance” have begun at the top level of different political parties, but this show of unity has not gained traction among the voters.

There were issues aplenty, amendments to the land acquisition law, demonetisation and the spectre of jobless growth, to name a few. The Opposition has failed to build a narrative on the issue of demonetisation, which the BJP successfully packaged as a battle against corruption and went on to win the elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand convincingly.

However, all is not lost for the Opposition. The Congress succeeded in overthrowing the Akali Dal-BJP regime in Punjab and emerged as the single-largest party in Manipur and Goa. But the lethargic approach in both the states led to the BJP stitching up alliances and forming governments. The civic body elections in Maharashtra and Gujarat also showed that the Congress vote base has not ebbed and all it needed was a charismatic leadership to pull it out of the morass. Though the BJP made inroads in Odisha at the cost of the Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress appeared to have stalled the progress of the saffron party in West Bengal.

Modi’s sway over the electorate has remained intact, prompting the Opposition to change strategy to target his weaknesses. Hence, issues such as job loss, agrarian distress and lapses in internal security are being taken up by the Opposition, instead of attacking the prime minister directly. Turning the fight with the BJP into a personality battle is always fraught with risks as it would immediately lead to the question, Modi versus who?

The Opposition still lacks a credible face that could be projected as an alternative to Modi. More than a face, the Opposition has been unable to present alternative policies and programmes that could strike a chord with the voters.