Mamata has again taken the lead in her bid to forge unity in the Opposition ranks

The BJP may have easily won four of the five States whose Assembly election results were declared earlier this month but that has hardly dampened the spirit of Opposition leaders in their quest to make a mark nationally in the next Lok Sabha elections. Not one to give up easily, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written yet another letter to her counterparts in the non-BJP States in her ongoing attempts to forge Opposition unity to take on the saffron party’s might in 2024. Not one to mince words, she is exhorting other Opposition leaders to come together and unitedly fight the resurgent BJP. In her words, “all progressive forces” should join hands to fight the “oppressive BJP regime”. In the letter, written in her capacity as the TMC chairperson, Mamata has sought a meeting with other satraps to discuss possible strategies to take on the BJP and commit to the cause of a unified and principled Opposition that should replace the BJP and make way for a “Government that the country truly deserves”. Among her immediate and pressing concerns is that the saffron dispensation is indulging in “direct attacks on our country’s institutional democracy” and trying to influence even the judiciary.

It’s pertinent to mention here that the West Bengal Chief Minister has for quite some time been making sincere attempts to upset the BJP’s applecart. Though she managed to protect her home turf convincingly despite the BJP’s heavy poll machinery and party bigwigs landing there when the State went to polls in March-April 2021, she failed to create a stir in the recently held Uttar Pradesh election in spite of solidly backing the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party which, she had claimed, had a “very good chance” of toppling the Yogi Adityanath Government. Having missed the pleasure of tasting victory, however, didn’t flag her enthusiasm and she is still keenly trying to align together like-minded non-BJP Chief Ministers and parties with her camp. She is, however, not too keen on taking on board the Congress leadership, which it appears she considers more of a liability than an asset. In the recent past, too, she had called for all the like-minded Opposition forces to come together for taking on the BJP in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, unambiguously stating that “let’s not wait for the Congress… because it’s a spent force”.