Can INDIA Bloc revive before the next electoral cycle
Hyderabad: Three years ago, on September 13, 2023, there was a major political churning in India when 14 political parties came together and announced the formation of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc with the aim of defeating the BJP-led NDA in the next general elections.
The launch itself was more of a knee-jerk reaction to take on the ruling alliance. The Congress party was not given its due importance initially, and it took a lot of effort on the part of the Left parties to ensure that the grand old party was on board.
When they first met, the leaders agreed that discussions on seat-sharing in the states should start right away. They also announced that INDIA would hold its first public rally in Bhopal the following month. But it never happened. They could not even come to an understanding on seat-sharing.
The members of the INDIA bloc, who had met at the residence of veteran leader Sharad Pawar, announced that the objective of floating the alliance was to decide seat-sharing, coordinate campaigns and turn the INDIA bloc into an electoral force. But it did not happen. Barring the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, they failed to work together.
Over the last three years, the bloc has disintegrated. Some of its members have joined the BJP. Despite some efforts to restore coordination, the bloc is still in limbo. It exists only in name, but there is no coordination among its constituents. In fact, some of them, like the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the AAP, have become sworn political enemies of the Congress.
Though states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Manipur would go to the polls next year, the rift between some of the Congress party’s allies seems to be increasing. In many places, there is a serious rift between them.
The Samajwadi Party in UP has almost decided that it would go alone and would not have any alliance with the Congress. Even if it changes its mind at the eleventh hour, it would be the SP that would decide on the number of seats it would leave for the Congress.
The SP certainly is a major party in UP and the real opposition to Yogi Adityanath’s government. It was the SP that first raised the issue of alleged irregularities in the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. As usual, the Congress later tried to hijack the issue.
After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, after getting the status of Leader of Opposition in Parliament, tried to take on the leadership of the bloc. But it failed to keep the flock together. The TMC, which was not particularly happy with the Congress, has been on and off mocking its political rival in the state. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had even said that Rahul Gandhi was not a suitable opposition face for the post of Prime Minister. She expressed the feeling that she was the most efficient leader to lead the INDIA bloc. The Left parties too felt that Rahul Gandhi was not mature enough to lead the bloc or the country.
Though many states like Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Bihar, UP, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu went to the polls, there was no coordination and no meaningful seat-sharing exercise. The explanation given was that the alliance was only for the Lok Sabha elections.
On June 8, 2026, the opposition leaders held their first formal meeting after more than two years of forming the grand alliance. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced that the parties would meet every two months. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in Hyderabad on August 8. But it never happened. In fact, the Congress appears to have forgotten about it.
While the DMK had severed its ties with the Congress party and vowed that it would not participate in any meeting where the Congress participated, the AAP, which had quit the alliance, would be fighting a fierce battle with the Congress in Punjab. On Sunday, it decided to form an alliance with the Goa Forward Party to take on the BJP in the upcoming Goa Assembly polls. In Gujarat, it proposes to go it alone.
Though the Congress is in alliance with the National Conference in J&K, cracks seem to have surfaced between the two parties. While the Congress opposes the singing of all stanzas of Vande Mataram, the NC said it would implement the decision of Parliament and charged the Congress with failing to stop it. In Jharkhand too, Congress leaders are not happy with the government and feel that coordination was lacking with the JMM.
The only major benefit the INDIA alliance got was in 2024, when its state-wise approach paid dividends. The SP-Congress combine won 43 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 seats, the opposition alliance won 30 of 48 in Maharashtra, and the DMK-led front swept Tamil Nadu. The results in the Assembly elections that followed were more uneven.
The opposition suffered a crushing reversal in Maharashtra months after its impressive Lok Sabha performance there. In Haryana too, the Congress and AAP could not enter into an understanding, and this helped the BJP come to power.
The alliance now and then tries to claim that it is still alive by signing joint letters to the Chief Justice of India on issues such as SIR or holding protests on the premises of Parliament House.
The alliance will once again be put to the test before the next electoral cycle, though the chances of the parties uniting appear unlikely.