As 15 political parties at the Patna event team up to challenge the BJP in 2024, the alliance may be christened ‘Patriotic Democratic Alliance’ in order to blunt ‘nationalism’ narrative of the BJP.
Though Union Home Minister Amit Shah pooh-poohed the united opposition meeting at Patna as a mere ‘photo session’ and a ‘no show’, the joining of hands by leaders of 15 political parties for their common goal of ousting the BJP-led government at the Centre is a significant move.
The assemblage of 15 political parties, 32 leaders, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is enough to send a strong signal for opposition unity to take on ruling BJP at the Centre in the 2024 general election. However, the blip, between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party over the Central ordinance on the Delhi government’s powers sends a wrong signal to the public. The Congress maintained that the meet was not a platform to discuss parliamentary issues such as the ordinance, the AAP insisted that it will be difficult for the party to attend any future meetings till the Congress publicly denounces the ordinance. The deliberations lasted close to four hours, after which the leaders, in one voice, announced that they intended to contest the polls together.
The positives before Bengaluru meet
The united opposition is to soon formulate its common minimum programme at Bengaluru on July 12. According to reliable sources, the old United Progressive Alliance is being given a go by and the new alliance of opposition parties would be named ‘Patriotic Democratic Alliance’. The new word “Patriotic” symbolises the determination of a direct confrontation to the political hegemony of RSS-BJP of using nationalism for their political benefit. The opposition intends to blunt ‘nationalism’ narrative of the ruling party with its patriotic identity.
That the ruling party is taking note of the developments can be understood from the fact that Amit Shah must not have convened the opposition leaders to discuss the Manipur massacre but for the opposition forging unity. The resolve of the opposition leaders to defeat the BJP is also manifest in their move to prepare a blueprint of the strategy and programme even before arriving in Patna to participate at the meet. They had already worked out the tactics to field one candidate against the BJP candidate in one constituency making the contests one on one on most seats. As Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told the mediapersons after the meet that the stronger party in a particular state would be given preference in finalising the electoral mechanism.
