A question to ask as the INDIA bloc turns three: Where is it going?

On June 23, 2023, fifteen Opposition parties came together in Patna, vowing to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party collectively in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Their coalition, which has since taken the name of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, will turn three next week.

That this disparate group of parties has survived for so long is in itself an achievement, given the challenges facing any political formation that opposes the BJP. But recent developments in Indian politics make it clear that the INDIA bloc has achieved little beyond survival.

What has changed

The alliance started out primarily as a coalition of regional parties strung together by the wily Nitish Kumar, who was the chief minister of Bihar at the time. The Congress was expected to play the second fiddle in it. Three years on, it is the Congress that is firmly installed at its helm.

Kumar had ditched the INDIA bloc and gone with the BJP even before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Other large Opposition parties, such as the Trinamool Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, stand diminished after their recent defeats in May.

In West Bengal, the BJP ended Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year reign, while in Tamil Nadu, the DMK suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the film...

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