India's opposition parties attempt to oust Modi
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Leaders of India's opposition have come together to form a coalition in an effort to take out the current prime minister.
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India's PM Narendra Modi during a luncheon at the State Department on June 23, 2023, in Washington. (AP)
Representatives of India's 26 opposition political groups have joined forces to create an alliance to depose the country's populist prime leader, Narendra Modi.
The alliance was dubbed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA.
The leaders' conference represented a substantial improvement in relations between the country's leading national and regional opposition groups, which had previously failed to unify owing to power struggles, personal confrontations, and ideological disagreements.
Early this year, it was agreed that until they created a unified front, no party stood a chance against Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration, which would seek a third term in the May 2024 election.
The alliance includes India's main national opposition party, the Congress, as well as important regional parties such as the Trinamool Congress, which dominates West Bengal under popular chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and the Aam Aadmi Party, which governs Delhi and Punjab.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress party, told reporters that it was "very important to save democracy and the constitution in the interest of the people of the country,” stressing that the party was uninterested in the PM position unlike the past and would not attempt to dominate.
INDIA alliance claimed that it had "come together to defeat the hatred and violence being manufactured against minorities" under the Hindu nationalist policies of the BJP government in a manifesto made out at the leaders' conference in Bengaluru, Karnataka's southern state.
The alliance will settle on a detailed electoral plan at upcoming meetings, but its tagline will be "Jeetega Bharat," which means "India will win."
Modi is still popular in India even among those who do not necessarily support the BJP.
The alliance rules 11 of the 26 states, while the BJP governs 15. The BJP also has a commanding legislative majority following the 2019 election, in which it won 303 of 543 seats.
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It is worth noting that Modi’s government has been widely criticized for exploiting the law to target and silence critics and opposition figures.
Recently, an opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, was disqualified from the election race after allegedly being found guilty of defamation for a 2019 campaign trail remark implying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a criminal.
A top opposition leader in India, Manish Sisodia, was also arrested in February on corruption charges which involve defects in formulating Delhi’s liquor policy.
Although opposition parties like Congress and the Trinamool Congress have gained confidence from state election victories over the BJP, the BJP's funding, resources, and authority are greatly beyond those of any other political party.
The BJP met with members from its own 38 political allies on the same day the alliance was announced. Modi called their partnership a "hardcore corruption convention" in a stinging assault. He went on to say that “alliances built on negativity have never won."
