Commentary
The Message of the Bengaluru Meeting of Opposition Parties
by Dipankar Bhattacharya

The successful second conclave of Opposition parties in Bengaluru and the emergence of a new coalition with the acronym INDIA have clearly rattled the Modi regime. The desperation to put up a parallel 'alliance' show in Delhi on the same day by discovering and manufacturing new parties from all corners of India showed the growing nervousness of the regime.

This marks such a stark contrast to the BJP's arrogant boast of ruling India unchallenged for the next 50 years! Remember JP Nadda's arrogant statement in Patna a year ago that the days of regional parties in India were over? Remember Narendra Modi's 'ek akela' boast in Rajya Sabha on February 9 this year when he said that one man had proved to be heavier than the collective might of many in this country?

The arrogant power-drunk BJP today is desperately trying to revive the dormant NDA banner ahead of the 2024 elections. Its arrogance led several of its former long-standing allies like the Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and JDU to sever their ties with the BJP. The same BJP is now trying to split these parties and accommodate splinter groups as its allies. It engineered a split in the LJP after Ramvilas Paswan's demise and now it is playing the number game by presenting the single former party as two new-found allies!

A jittery Modi camp is now trying to pit India against Bharat, thereby once again revealing its contempt for the Constitution of India. "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States", says the very first Article of the Constitution of India. The Modi government wants to drive a wedge between India and Bharat and reduce the states of India to the status of colonies of an over-centralising Union Government.

The Modi government knows only one model of governance. It cannot rule except by waging a constant war on India - the constitutional foundation and federal framework of India's democracy, the composite culture and diversity of India's social fabric, the rights and liberties of India's citizens and the survival and dignity of India's toiling millions. India will have to summon all its strength to overcome this calamity about which Dr. Ambedkar had forewarned us right at the time of adoption of India's Constitution. The constitutional vision of a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic must prevail over the nightmare of the all-round anarchy and crisis that the Modi regime has inflicted on the country.

The message from Patna and Bengaluru must now be taken to the people in every corner of India. The coming elections will have to be fought as a powerful people's movement to defeat the BJP. The battle has only begun. We shall fight! We shall win!

Message of the Bengaluru Meeting of Opposition Parties