The opposition conclave, convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, was a keenly watched event for multiple reasons. The event was expected to reveal not just the developments in the anti-BJP camp, but also the internal dynamics in the grand old party.
The meeting, touted as a mega opposition event coming in the backdrop of the unprecedented opposition unity seen in the recently concluded monsoon session of the Parliament, saw the participation of 19 parties. In what only further reaffirmed the respect that Sonia Gandhi evokes among the opposition leaders, majority of the prominent names, including regional stalwarts and chief ministers, attended the virtual meeting.
Amongst the leaders who attended the meeting were West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Shoren, RJD's Tejashwai Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D. Raja, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, Jose K. Mani of Kerala Congress (M) and AIUDF's Badruddin Ajmal.
The Congress was represented in the meeting by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior leaders A.K. Antony and Randeep Surjewala, apart from Sonia Gandhi.
The meeting was an effort on the part of Sonia Gandhi to reassert the Congress' role in forging opposition unity, coming as it does in the wake of talk of regional parties mulling a united front sans the Congress or regional stalwarts seeking to secure the pole position in the exercise to bring the parties together.
A few months ago, a meeting of the Rashtra Manch, a cross-party outfit, at the Delhi residence of Pawar had given rise to speculation about the regional parties testing the waters with regard to forming an alliance that is anti-BJP and does not include the Congress.
The Congress has been keenly watching the national pitch of Mamata Banerjee, who, after her victory over the BJP in the assembly elections in West Bengal earlier this year, sought to project herself as a leader of national importance. Her recent visit to Delhi, which coincided with the monsoon session of Parliament, and during which she forcefully called for opposition unity, was seen as her attempt to transcend the regional barrier.
Possibly alarmed by Banerjee's moves, Rahul Gandhi had, during the monsoon session, come out of his comfort zone and engaged with opposition leaders, and hosted a much-hyped breakfast meeting. However, the regional bigwigs had stayed away from Rahul Gandhi's event, and instead deputing party juniors to attend it.
Sonia's meeting also came across as a message to detractors within the party, who have been raising questions about the manner in which the Gandhis are running the party. She sought to assert her stature at a time when a dinner hosted by party senior Kapil Sibal recently made news as a Congress outreach to opposition parties that was exclusive of the Gandhi family.
Meanwhile, even as the meeting was seen as an effort in the direction of forging opposition unity before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, internal contradictions were evident. Significantly, if the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2022 are being described as the first test for opposition unity, the two prominent parties from the state – Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party —stayed away from the Congress-convened event, raising doubts about the parties joining forces for the polls.
The Aam Aadmi Party and the Akali Dal, prominent voices critiquing the Narendra Modi regime and the BJP, were also conspicuous by their absence. They were not invited to the meeting, only bringing forth the inbuilt fault lines in the opposition space.
Sonia hit the right notes in the meeting as she talked about the larger political battle that the opposition parties have to fight outside the Parliament. She said the ultimate goal for the parties was the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and exhorted the parties to rise above their compulsions. She asserted that the Congress will not be found wanting in the collective campaign of the parties.
While she has conveyed a message to opposition stalwarts and to critics within the Congress, there is immense unfinished business both within and outside of the party.
