Opinion Express View on TIPRA and RLD aligning with BJP: NDA, then and now

May 28, 1996, marked a crucial moment that would shape the politics of the BJP — and the country at large — till 2014. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 13-day government fell that day, and the necessity of large parties wooing allies formed the bedrock of the logic of coalitions. In 1998, the NDA had 28 constituents. In 2024, two terms in, with a comfortable majority for the BJP and heading for an election, Narendra Modi’s NDA is set to have over 40 members. The fundamental difference between 1998 and the current moment is this: The BJP now needs allies – by and large smaller, regional parties — much less than they need it.

In the first week of March, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the TIPRA Motha joined the NDA. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is in seat-sharing talks with the BJP. The latter is the principal Opposition in Odisha, and a deal with the BJD will make the NDA a formidable force in the state where the Congress is relatively moribund. In each case, the BJP has given the smaller party a reason to join the NDA. The Bharat Ratna for former Prime Minister Charan Singh wooed the RLD — headed by Charan Singh’s grandson Jayant Chaudhary, the party was, till then, allied with the Congress and the SP. The TIPRA joined the NDA days after it signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the BJP-ruled Tripura government on a “constitutional solution” to tribal issues in the state. This has been a long-pending demand of the party, whose founder Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma said on several occasions that he would not join the BJP. Clearly, this shoring up of the NDA is a part of BJP’s “Mission 400”. The BJD has long backed the Centre on crucial issues within and outside Parliament – from the CAA and demonetisation to GST and curtailing the Delhi government’s powers.

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In Vajpayee’s NDA, the BJP was forced to place key ideological issues – the Ram temple, abrogation of Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code — on the back burner. Modi’s BJP has a comfortable majority, buttressed by wins in state elections. Simply put, it has no compulsion to listen to its allies. And at the root of the new NDA is the assumption that the BJP government is here to stay. For smaller regional and sub-regional parties, the choice appears stark: Either join the BJP, and by extension have a working and cordial relationship with the Centre or become part of an Opposition that is hobbled by rebellion, crippled by a lack of ideological clarity and seems to lack the drive to take on the BJP juggernaut. It’s also beleaguered with cases against many of its leaders. However, even if it doesn’t “need” to listen to allies, it is in the BJP’s – and the country’s – interest that it does. For, beyond the votes, they represent voices across regions and communities. Any formation that governs a country as large and diverse as India needs to reach out and listen.