Mamata Banerjee’s bid to sideline Congress weakens Opposition unity

An emphatic victory in the West Bengal assembly elections early this year had prompted Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to consider herself for a bigger role at the national level.

And rightfully so for Banerjee is a three-term chief minister, having fought and won convincingly two very tough elections in her career — in 2011 against the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2021.

But her national ambitions are driven by a single agenda — to unseat the Congress as the lead player in a grouping of the opposition parties.

This strategy appears to have been devised by none other than poll strategist Prashant Kishor who till some time ago was knocking at the Congress' doors for an entry.

His joining seemed certain till a section of Congress leaders who were consulted by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra put a brake on the move.

Since then, Kishor is out to get back at the Congress.

That's the reason why Banerjee of late has been stressing the need for a broad-based Opposition coalition minus the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Her argument is that the Congress has drastically weakened since 2014 and failed in putting up a determined fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or in giving a credible alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But so far, her efforts appear to have hit a rough patch.

Banerjee went to Mumbai and met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar after which she stated that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a coalition headed by the Congress that ruled the country for 10 years from 2004 onwards, does not exist anymore.

She also met Shiv Sena leaders Aditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut during her stay in Mumbai.

Four days later, the Shiv Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, attacked the West Bengal chief minister for her attempts to sideline the Congress and emerge as the opposition’s pivot against the BJP.

In defence of the Congress, the Sena claimed that any attempt to keep the grand old party away in any opposition grouping would tantamount to strengthening the BJP and the “fascist” forces.

Coming from a party that championed the Hindutva ideology and remained an ally of the BJP for decades till November 2019 when it formed a coalition government with the Congress and the NCP, the statement was significant.

It also meant that the Sena was not ready to accept Banerjee's leadership. A remark by Raut to welcome Rahul Gandhi (aap aaye bahar aayi meaning with you came the spring) at a protest by Opposition members in the Parliament House complex said a lot about the new-found bonhomie between the Congress and the Shiv Sena.

Then came a smart move by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. She invited a select group of opposition leaders to her residence for a strategy meeting and deliberately kept Banerjee out.

The meeting was attended by Pawar, Raut, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah and TR Baalu of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge were also present.

Though the Congress insisted that the meeting was part of a series of interactions Sonia Gandhi would hold with the opposition leaders, the message was loud and clear. She had made her displeasure known.

None of those present objected to Banerjee being ignored given that she had rubbed some of them the wrong way. In Goa, she poached the lone NCP legislator and obviously that didn't make Pawar happy.

Banerjee's call to the opposition parties to unite and fight against the BJP in Goa also failed to find any takers.

Majority of the anti-BJP parties are of the view that the Congress is the fulcrum of the opposition unity and no grouping without it will succeed in the long run.

One of the arguments being put forth is that the Congress is in direct fight with the BJP on around 180 of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats and no other opposition party is in that position.

In the past too, there have been similar attempts — 1989 and 1996 — but those experiments didn't last long.

While there is no Harkishan Singh Surjeet to bring non-BJP parties together now, the other problem is that almost all regional players consider themselves as Prime Minister material.

It is imperative to have one big block for an opposition grouping to take shape and by annoying the Congress, Banerjee seems to have made a mistake.