Oppn Alliance Brands Itself as INDIA to Fight NDA in 2024

New Delhi/Bengaluru: It’s going to be “INDIA” versus NDA during the 2024 general election. The 26 Opposition parties which met on Tuesday in Bengaluru struck off its old identity -- the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) -- and banded together under a new avatar called the India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Besides the Congress’ top brass like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, 11 chief ministers attended the strategy meeting for the battle royale of 2024.

Indicating that the Congress was not seeking the top post, Congress president Malliakrjun Kharge said the Congress was not interested in power or the post of Prime Minister. In his inaugural address on the second day of the key Opposition meeting, he said: “Our intention in this meeting is not to gain power for ourselves. It is to protect our Constitution, democracy, secularism and social justice.”

Addressing a joint press conference after a meeting of the 26 Opposition parties in Bengaluru, Mr Kharge said: “This was a very important meeting to save democracy and the Constitution in the interest of the people of the country… We have come together and discussed various points. With one voice, people supported the resolution adopted today.”

“Our alliance will be called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA),” Mr Kharge said. He said an 11-member coordination committee will be set up and its composition will be finalised at the next meeting in Mumbai. The dates for the Mumbai meeting will be announced soon. A Common Minimum Programme (CMP) for the Lok Sabha electios in 2024 will also be chalked out at the Mumbai meet.

Mr Kharge also mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was now trying to bring together parties that had splintered, which shows that “he is afraid of the Opposition parties”.

“We will move together and hope to succeed (coming back to power) in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll,” Mr Kharge said, exuding confidence, adding that the alliance will fight the 2024 polls “unitedly”.

He said the BJP’s fear was evident as it hadn’t bothered about its allies so far, but its president was visiting states now extending invitations to become BJP allies. “I wonder where are the 30 political parties backing the BJP (at the NDA meet)… I don’t know whether the 30 parties claimed by the BJP are recognised by the EC,” Mr Kharge said.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr Rahul Gandhi said the fight in 2024 “will be for the voice for India and against crony capitalism”. He said: “This is a fight for India’s voice and that is why we have chosen this name -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The fight is between the NDA and India, between Narendra Modi and India and their ideology and India. We are defending the Indian Constitution, the voice of our people and the idea of this great country, the idea of India. We all know who wins when someone takes on the idea of India.”

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: “The BJP is making deals to sell the country, to buy democracy. This is why they don’t let independent agencies function. India will win, the BJP will lose. Bharat will win, the BJP will lose. INDIA will win, the country will win.” Ms Banerjee added that a “real challenge has started” and asked: “Can the NDA challenge the alliance (INDIA) in the 2024 elections?”

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal accused the Union government of destroying all sectors of the country and said about five years back the Railways were in a good condition but it has been now been destroyed. “Airports have been sold and the economy has also been destroyed under the Modi regime”, he added. He claimed that the people of the country were not happy with the Modi government, be they housewives, farmers, businessmen, students and others, and 26 parties had come together to “save the country from hatred”.

In their “Samuhik Sankalp” (joint resolution) released after the meeting, the parties expressed their steadfast resolve to safeguard the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution. “The character of our republic is being severely assaulted in a systematic manner by the BJP. We are at a most crucial juncture in our nation’s history. The foundational pillars of the Indian Constitution -- secular democracy, economic sovereignty, social justice and federalism -- are being methodically and menacingly undermined,” they alleged. “We have come together to defeat the hatred and violence being manufactured against the minorities; stop the rising crimes against women, Dalits, adivasis and Kashmiri Pandits; demand a fair hearing for all socially, educationally and economically backward communities; and, as a first step, implement the caste census,” the parties said in their resolution passed “in one voice” at the meeting. The Opposition parties resolved to fight what they claimed was the systemic conspiracy by the BJP to “target, persecute and suppress our fellow Indians”.