THE GRAND ILLUSION

Despite internal turmoil and electoral setbacks, a majority of people still want the INDIA bloc to persist, valuing a strong Opposition even as doubts about its leadership and unity mount

- KAUSHIK DEKA

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, once heralded as the grand anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition, now teeters at the edge of irrelevance. Its survival is hanging by the thinnest of threads as internal contradictions, personal ambitions and regional rivalries chip away at its foundation. What began as an urgent alliance of necessity to counter the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election now resembles a house divided. The recent electoral drubbing in Delhi, coupled with reverses in Maharashtra and Haryana last year, has only underscored the alliance's vulnerabilities-an uneasy mix of ideological divergences, historical baggage and an utter lack of coordination, all conspiring to weaken what was touted as a formidable national alternative.

From the outset, the alliance was built on contradictions. The Congress, the largest constituent, has failed to reconcile its past dominance with the necessity of ceding space to regional outfits like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Samajwadi Party (SP). While they put up a surprisingly strong fight in the 2024 general election, denting the BJP's absolute majority, the cracks in their unity have since widened. The Delhi assembly polls exposed these fault lines in brutal fashion-the AAP and Congress contested separately, their mutual hostility palpable, their losses predictable. The BJP marched back to power in the capital after 27 years, an outcome that could have been avoided had the Opposition acted with a modicum of strategic foresight.