Does Rahul Gandhi have the ability to unite the Opposition, just like his mother once did?

On Tuesday, a group of Opposition parties, led by the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, came together at Delhi’s Constitution Club to step up their attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the suffering caused by his decision to invalidate high denomination notes and to demand that he explain the corruption charges that have surfaced against him.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee were flanked by representatives of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, DMK, Janata Dal (S) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha at the joint press conference where they announced their plans for a common minimum agenda to take forward their campaign.

The press meet was high on rhetoric with both Rahul Gandhi and Banerjee training their guns at Modi but the proceedings were marred by the absence of other Opposition parties like the Janata Dal (U), the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Nationalist Congress Party.

Both Rahul Gandhi and Banerjee were at pains to play down the differences in their ranks, insisting that all Opposition parties, which had joined hands in the winter session of Parliament to pin down the Modi government, were on the same page on the issue of demonetisation and that they had only stayed away from the Tuesday meeting because of local compulsions.

With several political parties declining the Congress party’s invitation for a joint appearance, the big question is whether the Tuesday meeting can lay the foundation of a united front of Opposition parties to challenge the Modi government.

“It is true that there was convergence among the Opposition parties in the recent Parliament session on the issue of demonetisation but it is too early to say if this unity can lead to the formation of a broad anti-BJP front,” remarked CPI leader D Raja.

UP polls

While state-level rivalries will come in the way of forging a united national front, much will depend on the results of next year’s assembly polls. If the Bharatiya Janata Party wins the crucial assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, it could compel the regional parties to rethink their position, sink their differences and join the Congress in putting up a united fight against the saffron party. Past experience has shown that when a group of parties take the lead in the formation of a common platform, the bandwagon effect takes over and other political parties tend to gravitate towards it.

In fact, the latest Congress effort to rally like-minded political forces to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party is a reminder of the weeks preceding the 2004 Lok Sabha elections when Congress president Sonia Gandhi personally reached out to potential secular political players, leading to the formation of the United Progressive Alliance. The Left parties extended crucial support to the Sonia-Gandhi-led effort even though they were pitted against the Congress in West Bengal and Kerala. Similarly, both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, arch rivals in Uttar Pradesh, also supported the Congress-led UPA government. The DMK, which had been a member of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance when Atal Behari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, also joined the new front.

Sonia Gandhi’s role in the formation of the UPA can hardly be over-emphasised. Though she was under constant attack for her foreign origins and dismissed as a political lightweight, the Congress president was eventually accepted as the leader of the alternative front by die-hard critics like NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress-baiters like former Prime Ministers VP Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Not only did she steer the coalition to two consecutive electoral victories in 2004 and 2009 but her credibility was further established when she declined the Prime Minister’s post.

It has now fallen on Rahul Gandhi to emulate his mother in building a similar alliance of secular parties if the Congress is serious about dethroning the well-entrenched Modi government as it is well-recognised that the grand old party does not have the geographical footprint or the organisational strength to take on the BJP single-handedly.

Uphill task

Like Sonia Gandhi, the Nehru-Gandhi scion faces an uphill task. Like his mother, he is also derided as a non-serious political player who lacks both maturity and credibility. But unlike Sonia Gandhi, who managed to overcome these hurdles with her persistence and hard work, Rahul Gandhi has not shown the same determination to learn on the job. He is undoubtedly more vocal and visible these days and has made a conscious effort to bring together the disparate opposition parties in Parliament but the united front came apart on the last day of the session when Rahul Gandhi led a delegation to Modi on the demands of farmers in Uttar Pradesh just hours before the opposition parties were to meet President Pranab Mukherjee to highlight how demonetisation has hurt the poor and vulnerable.

The meeting on Tuesday was an attempt by Rahul Gandhi to repair the chinks in the opposition camp but to little avail. It is to be seen if the Nehru-Gandhi scion can learn from his mistakes and follow in his mother’s footsteps by building a broad-based coalition as she had done in 2004. He met with partial success when Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee accepted his invitation for a meeting of Opposition parties and agreed to address a joint press conference with him though it is no secret that she does not have a high opinion about the Congress vice-president. It is also a fact that her presence is also aimed at creating fissures between the Congress and the Left parties which have been working in tandem ever since they joined hands in contesting the last West Bengal assembly elections as allies.

Will Rahul Gandhi succeed in persuading other opposition parties to set aside their differences and come together in the near future? It appears difficult at present but as President Pranab Mukherjee once remarked – every event generates its own momentum. It is anybody’s guess if the current developments will trigger any political realignments.