The INDIA alliance, formed with the aim of defeating the BJP at the Centre, is facing several major internal contradictions.
During the protest held in Delhi against the Chief Election Commissioner, regional leaders including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were arrested by the police and taken away in buses. At that time, the ‘sudden dharna’ by Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi drew all the media attention toward them.
Criticism has emerged that the Congress party’s self-serving strategy of ignoring the sacrifices of its alliance partners and trying to stage a “Rahul show” has begun to shake the very foundation of the alliance.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh Yadav stood as the backbone of the INDIA alliance by winning 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh. But when protests erupted on the streets of Delhi, even though state leaders stood on the ground and raised their voices, the Congress leadership viewed them merely as alliance workers.
After the other leaders were arrested in Delhi, Rahul’s solo performance, carried out without consulting the alliance partners, has caused a major uproar.
“Is the alliance being used only as a platform to project Rahul Gandhi as a national leader?” This doubt has arisen among the alliance parties. Political observers say that Congress’s “big brother” attitude could end up hurting the alliance.
It is also said that Rahul Gandhi’s eagerness to position himself alone as an alternative to Narendra Modi at the national level is shrinking the stature of the other state leaders in the alliance.
Are the alliance parties dissatisfied?
The incidents that occurred during the protest held by the opposition parties against the Election Commission in Delhi have caused major dissatisfaction among the alliance partners, according to India alliance sources.
Sudden decisions: During the Delhi protest, opposition MPs and leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav, were arrested by the police and taken away in buses. However, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi changed the planned protest strategy at the last minute, entered the All India Radio Bhavan premises, and staged a sudden sit-in protest.
As a result, what had been a joint protest by the opposition as a whole instantly came to be seen in the media as ‘Rahul and Priyanka’s personal struggle and arrest.’
Because of this unilateral decision taken without prior notice by Congress’s top leaders, other alliance leaders are said to have raised the question, ‘Are we being used only for the sake of a crowd?’
Furthermore, reports emerged that Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav also did not attend the lunch hosted by Congress, due to this dissatisfaction.
To ease the resentment caused by this decision taken without prior notice, Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal was compelled to contact the concerned leaders and offer an explanation.
Is the strategy right?
For Congress, centering Rahul Gandhi may be beneficial in its effort to restore its declining image at the national level. But it creates friction with coalition ethics. When an image is created that Rahul alone is the center, the stature of leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, and Arvind Kejriwal gets diminished.
Leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, who won in Uttar Pradesh on their own strength, may reconsider operating under Congress’s “Delhi-centric policy.”
Although the spontaneous actions of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi have caused dissatisfaction among alliance party leaders, it is difficult to immediately create a split within the INDIA alliance. This is because the alliance parties are united by the common goal of “opposing the BJP” and regard the BJP itself as their primary ideological and political adversary.
Moreover, in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu, seat-sharing and electoral calculations still reinforce the need for an alliance.
Although Rahul Gandhi’s intense struggles have helped the Congress party’s resurgence, the alliance parties expect that, as far as the INDIA alliance is concerned, it should not turn into a “one-man show.”