Shikha Mukerjee | I.N.D.I.A. bloc faces a vacuum: Who’ll fill Yechury’s shoes?

Having forged itself as a unity of disparate parties with a primary agenda of defeating the BJP and ousting Narendra Modi from power, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc has reached only halfway there. Its partners need to encircle the Centre currently under Mr Modi in his third term, by winning more states if it has to fulfil its commitment to defending multi-party and inclusive democracy, secularism, federalism and the principles and rights guaranteed by the Constitution, not least of which is the separation of powers between the judiciary, legislature and executive.

In politics, it is only rarely that the larger goal supersedes short-term interests. Dealing with tricky situations through dialogue was Yechury’s strong suit; because more often than not neither he nor the CPM that he headed had any vested interest in those fights. Within the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, parties more often than not have vested interests that invariably reveal itself during elections.

These are skills and competencies that I.N.D.I.A. as a bloc has to find a way of replacing. There is a vacuum in its ranks that has the potential of weakening the alliance by creating disruption. Unlike the United Progressive Alliance in 20004 and 2009, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is not led by the Congress. As a party it is too big and not many of the 28 parties of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc are prepared to accept its leadership of the collective.

The Congress Party is always suspect. It is perceived by its partners as ambitious, sometimes domineering, inexperienced in a collegial mode of operation where consultations are a part of reaching decisions on the one hand and timing is the other. The experience between the launch of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc in 2023 and as it is now is that its major sponsor, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United), has walked out.

Having invited parties in opposition to the BJP to unite in 2022 “I’ll urge all parties, including the Congress, to get together and then they (BJP) will lose badly”, Nitish Kumar did a somersault by quitting the alliance with the RJD in Bihar and joining forces with the BJP.

The reason was his ambition versus the distrust of the other parties within the I.N.D.I.A. bloc about his intentions and his commitment to the cause. The problem of a gap between the intentions and commitments of individual leaders and the common cause has not gone away.

The differences within the bloc that become visible during elections do affect how well it does against the BJP. In Haryana, where the Assembly polls will be held on October 5, the failure of the Congress and the AAP to strike an alliance has the potential of turning a near-certain win into a less certain outcome. The decision by the Congress and National Conference to engage in “friendly” fights in five of the 90 Assembly seats in J&K will make a difference in a tightly-fought battle that has enormous significance for both the Opposition and the BJP.

The I.N.D.I.A. bloc owes Yechury a lot more in constantly championing its cause and working at it as tirelessly as he did in bolstering and rebuilding morale and the CPM’s geographical spread against a formidable and abundantly resourceful organisation like the BJP. The bloc is a coalition representative of the middle ground or median voter in Indian politics. To keep so many partners unified to fulfil one purpose even as differences erupt on a regular basis is difficult.

Just how complicated the exercise of accommodating the diversity of aspirations and opinions in a country where the multiplicity of political parties reflects not only differences over ideology, policy and strategy but also personal preferences is obvious.

Yechury performed a critical role in India’s disorderly politics by functioning as a centripetal force; he brought the energies of bickering parties together by keeping the focus on the primary task, which was to defeat the BJP.

It is unlikely that the CPM will throw up a leader who will continue to play the balancing role within the I.N.D.I.A. bloc. His loss is as big for the I.N.D.I.A. bloc as it is for the CPM. He was the big hitter for the coalition and his party.

As general secretary, Yechury was the party’s clean-up man, enabling it to punch way above its weight in constructing a national alliance to defend despite repeated failures to win elections in its strongholds of West Bengal, keep the BJP at bay in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal.

He was as much a leader of the Left as he was paradoxically a pillar that upheld the shaky middle ground against the right-wing, communally divisive, authoritarian persona of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s star campaigner and boss, backed up by the RSS. His absence creates a vacuum as much for the CPM, which is unprepared to replace its general secretary, and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc where he played a balancing role in maintaining the equilibrium.

The I.N.D.I.A. bloc owes Yechury a lot more in constantly championing its cause and working at it as tirelessly as he did in to strengthen the middle ground representing the median voters against the BJP. In order to do this, he succeeded in getting the CPM on board in a coalition of which the Congress is a key partner. As a result, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc had, through Yechury’s presence and support, a a strong bulwark from the Left against a formidable and abundantly resourceful organisation like the BJP. To keep so many partners unified to fulfil one purpose even as differences erupt on a regular basis is difficult. The leadership question within the CPM will affect how the Left-centrist parties engage in the next few months when crucial elections are due in Maharashtra and Bihar.

It needs political imagination, intuition, commitment, patience and hard work to convert an idea into the beginnings of a desired reality. Yechury had it. He successfully brought together and kept together the Congress, the Trinamul Congress and the CPM at the national level, despite these parties being sworn enemies in Kerala and West Bengal. Finding another adhesive to get the Opposition parties to remain consistent in their battle against the BJP is the I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s challenge.