The Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is gradually falling apart, brick by brick, in the proverbial way. The coming year, 2026 will mark its final epitaph. The Congress also appears to be prepared for the imminent. The party decided to hold its solo show in Delhi’s iconic Ramlila Maidan on December 14 where it held a massive rally against, what it alleges, “vote-chori”.
The reasons for the party deciding to go solo were obvious. One, the party has taken up an issue on which the majority of the INDIA bloc members do not agree. For example, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is straightway refusing to buy the theory of “vote-chori”. Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule also disagreed with the “vote-chori” theory. Her opposition is significant as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been trying to present Maharashtra as the “biggest proof” of “vote theft” alleging that the BJP “stole” the government in collusion with the Election Commission of India.
As four important states are going for elections next year, the inherent contradictions with the INDIA bloc will be obvious. In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress, which, otherwise claims to be a part of the INDIA bloc, will go alone and the Congress will fight against it, if the party really wants to fight. The party has left it open for the TMC in the hope that it may contain the spread of the BJP in that state. Even during the 2024 General Elections, despite being part of the INDIA bloc, the TMC fought on its own and there is no reason that it will not repeat the same experiment this time as well.
In the southern state of Kerala, the Congress is placed in a direct fight against the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). The CPI-M is also a part of the INDIA bloc. The two parties fought against each other in Parliamentary elections in the state and are now headed for another showdown in the Assembly elections scheduled in the first half of the year 2026. The fierce rivalry in Kerala will also cast a shadow over the “possible” alliance between the Congress and CPM in West Bengal.
Tamil Nadu will be the only state where the Congress will have an alliance with one of the INDIA bloc partners, the DMK. The alliance in fact is older than the INDIA bloc.
Also read: 2026 to be a year of high-stakes political battles
Similarly, the Aam Aadmi Party, which was part of the INDIA bloc, contested against the Congress in the Parliamentary elections. The party, in power in Punjab, is placed in a bitter fight against the Congress, which is going to be its main rival and challenger in the state for the 2027 Assembly elections.
This raises serious questions about the very survival of the INDIA bloc as a cohesive and effective Opposition force that can hold the ruling party/ alliance accountable. The MPs of the Opposition parties belonging to the INDIA bloc may appear to act in unison, but that “unity” is just incidental, not deliberate or purposeful. Since these parties are already opposed to the BJP like the TMC, CPM or AAP, they end up seen as siding with the Congress in the Parliament.
This reflects a lack of leadership in the INDIA bloc, which it has suffered from right from the beginning. Its founding member Nitish Kumar backed out immediately after the bloc was constituted as he returned to his old alliance partner the BJP and is sharing the government with the NDA in Bihar.
That the INDIA bloc was constituted out of desperation and just for the sake of opposition was clear from day one and its consequences are being felt till today. Although Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was chosen as its convener, he did not provide any leadership to the Opposition alliance as he restricted himself to the role of the Congress president only.
It is natural that the independent political parties in an alliance will obviously have differences on issues and ideologies and had there been none, these would not be different parties. How to navigate as a unified force despite all such differences would determine and define the success and the impact of the alliance, as it is not just the show of strength, but optics as well.
No doubt the INDIA bloc was constituted purely for the purpose of Parliamentary elections only to provide a unified opposition to the BJP but for the bloc to gain credibility it is important that the alliance partners are seen as united. If they are not able to forge unity and also make it look so, it will lose credibility. Optics does matter a lot in politics and the INDIA bloc partners need to remember that.
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