After Delhi verdict, what is the future of INDIA alliance?   -OxBig News Network

In June 2023, 26 political parties from across the country came together to form the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The sole purpose of the alliance was to present an alternative to voters and defeat the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Though INDIA bloc failed to achieve its purpose, the coalition’s electoral performance in the General Election exceeded all expectations, thereby strengthening it as a political force to reckon with.

However, just nine months down the line, the INDIA bloc seems to be unravelling. Internal bickering and conflicting ambitions that led to below-par results in Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections were replicated in Delhi poll results.

INDIA alliance members’ performance in Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi polls have put the BJP back in the driver’s seat in national politics.

INDIA parties backed AAP

In Delhi, many INDIA bloc parties, including the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), backed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the February 5 Assembly election, but the largest constituent of the anti-BJP coalition—Congress—was left to fend for itself.

Number of non-BJP, non-NDA states down  

With the defeat of the AAP in Delhi, the number of non-BJP, non-NDA governments in the country is now down to nine. States governed by the INDIA alliance include Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Punjab.

Though formed with the sole purpose of defeating the BJP and PM Modi, the INDIA alliance members have been at loggerheads with each other over several issues. Differences came to the fore again as the Congress and the AAP failed to forge a formal alliance in Haryana and Delhi.

And all this despite the common knowledge that parties fared better collectively against the BJP in 2024, preventing the saffron party from getting a majority on its own.

Though leaders of the INDIA coalition also argue that the alliance is for national polls but Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi results have shown that cracks are wide open.

The Samajwadi Party, which played a major role in pushing the BJP on the back foot in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, backed the AAP in Delhi, even though the Congress is a key constituent of the INDIA alliance.

Omar sums it all up

After early trends today showed the BJP in the lead in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s summed it all up in his social media post.

“Jee bhar ke lado aapas mein” (fight as much as you like amongst yourselves) stated the meme that he shared on ‘X’.

“Samapt kar do ek dusre ko” (finish off each other), the post added.

He appeared to be pointing both at the Congress and the AAP who by fighting separately ended up benefitting the saffron party.

The fact is the INDIA alliance, which includes leading national and regional parties, has not been able to overcome internal differences to pose any serious threat to the BJP in the months that followed the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

One of its biggest strengths was its regional diversity. However, ideological differences, historical rivalries and personal ambitions seem to have got the better of the alliance.

With every party looking at maximising personal gains, losses are imminent.