Can I.N.D.I.A.Topple Modi?

The Odds Seem Heavily Stacked Against Them, But A Concerted Strategy And Narrative Can Help The Opposition Limit The BJP's Outsized Ambitions

- KAUSHIK DEKA

It would take nine months and the arrest of Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to bring together the top leaders of the Opposition parties on a single stage. On March 31, at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, leaders representing the 27 parties that constitute the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) assembled for a mega show of solidarity against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arresting Kejriwal for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy case. They also protested the arrest of Hemant Soren, who resigned as Jharkhand chief minister on January 31 after the ED questioned him on an alleged land scam.

But even as its leaders attended the rally, the Congress, the largest party in the Opposition, received a series of notices from the income tax (I-T) department for alleged tax violations, for which it was liable to pay a fine of some Rs 3,500 crore. It was only after the Congress approached the Supreme Court and charged the I-T department with mala fide intention to choke its funds during a crucial election campaign that the tax officials were forced to back down-duly assuring the court that they would not take coercive action against the party till after the Lok Sabha polls. But there was no mistaking the intent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Beyond its rallying cry of a brute majority of 'char sau paar', the BJP's rivals sense a more sinister design-to annihilate all opposition. To do so, the ruling party is willing to use all means at its disposal-engineering splits, poaching or arresting leaders and choking party finances.