Opposition needs a strong counter-narrative

This refers to the editorial, “A giant leap” (March 5). The Tripura poll outcome seems to have triggered a flurry of action in the Opposition ranks. ‘Save federalism’ appears to be the new rallying point of State-based parties as they explore options for mounting a joint front against the BJP’s homogenising juggernaut. Federal parties is how State-based parties like to describe themselves, to project their proposed political alternative as the countervailing force to the unitary BJP that appears to want to subsume every individual identity into one homogeneous entity.

If the Gujarat Assembly poll verdict offered the prospect of the Congress becoming the pull factor of a coalition that can take on the Sangh parivar’s election-winning machinery, results to the three north-eastern States is seeing regional parties attempting to regroup on their own, with the contours of a 1996-like arrangement in mind. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has mooted a non-BJP, non-Congress People’s Front and claimed that a host of leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Andhra actor-politician Pawan Kalyan have spoken to him about the need for a third front. Despite the initial euphoria around the concept of a Third Front, it seems to be a case of counting your chickens before they hatch. The BJP’s electoral success has much to do with its ability to weave a narrative about its political intent and agenda for governance. The party has used all resources at its command to influence voting in its favour. The Opposition will need a powerful counter-narrative, not just arithmetic.