Opinion Signal from Jind
Third force senses a political opportunity. It will have to battle old incoherences and ground level change.
The samman samaroh hosted in Jind, Haryana, by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on Thursday to commemorate the birth centenary of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal saw Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav from the JD(U), H.D. Deve Gowda of the JD(S) and Shivpal Yadav of the SP share the stage. The upcoming assembly elections in the state formed the backdrop. But the coming together of these leaders, all of them with a Janata Dal pedigree, may have a larger political context.
With the Congress apparently in decline — though the recent by-poll results have shown some indications of a fightback — and with the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad alliance in Bihar signalling that a united opposition could stand up to an ascendant BJP, leaders of the erstwhile and now scattered Janata Parivar sense an opportunity. If it consolidates, the Janata Parivar may well be a force to contend with in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Karnataka. Add the Biju Janata Dal to the mix and it turns into a political formation that runs governments in three states, with an influence in nearly 180 Lok Sabha seats. All these groups claim a common political lineage — the ideological legacy of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and the social justice politics he championed. With the added inheritance of fighting the Emergency, the socialists have banded together in the past to form the core of the non-Congress governments at the Centre in 1977, 1989 and 1996 and grown to represent the third front in national politics.
A non-BJP, non-Congress formation may still be able to carve out political space but its old in coherences on leadership and policy are likely to remain. Also, the dividing lines have blurred over the years — the BJP has made inroads, for instance, in erstwhile Janata constituencies of the backward castes and the peasantry. Spreading urbanisation, the emergence of large and influential middle classes and a younger electorate have produced a new political dynamic centred on governance. If it wants to be relevant again, the third front will need to address the new reality.
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