INDIA Bloc Reset Broader Consensus On National Politics

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The INDIA bloc’s meet on June 8, 2026 in New Delhi has reset a broader consensus on national politics to take on the BJP despite its regional conflicts that surfaced with DMK keeping away from and AAP declaring that it was not part of it. Nevertheless, as many as 25 political parties participated, the Congress President and the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said, adding that they reached a collective resolve on five key issues.

BJP had earlier said that INDIA bloc was dead and buried, but this level of success of the INDIA meet despite structural fragility and regional friction within, has come as contradiction to their narrative. After the meet, BJP mocked INDIA bloc and claimed that it has shrunk from stadiums to a single room (at Constitution Club New Delhi), described the alliance as a “figment of imagination” plagued by intense internal conflicts, and is in disarray with “no leader, policy, or office” after key partners like DMK and AAP left. One of the BJP leaders even said that the alliance is effectively dissolved, lacking a cohesive structure, policy, or leadership. BJP’s narrative against the INDIA bloc clearly reveals their own “regimentation” approach within their party and in their RSS family.

INDIA bloc runs differently, there is no regimentation but democracy, no single leader but collective leadership, and no political autocracy but political federalism. INDIA bloc tries to achieve “unity in diversity” and there is not structural regimentation, which its detractors try to project as structural fragility. Every political party in INDIA bloc has its own regional or national interests and it is not a small achievement that 23 political parties participated in the meet along with two other political individual personalities after a series of setbacks in the last two years after the Lok Sabha election 2024. The meet decided to meet regularly from now on, the next meeting to be held in August in Hyderabad. Regular coordination matters, which amount to a reset of the INDIA bloc.

The other achievements of the INDIA bloc meet are its five key resolutions. It resolved that the bloc would write to the Chief Justice of India, flagging concerns over the Special Intensive revision (SIR) and the alleged ‘vote loot’. It demanded the immediate resignation of Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan, stating that he had “presided over the betrayal of lakhs of youth who appeared for NEET and CBSE exams”. These two issues are very sensitive, and has political implications for the ruling establishment, given that the third and final phase of SIR in the country has already been announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI), while the youth of the country under the banner of Cockroach Janata Party (not a political party but a non-political front) has threatened nationwide agitation if Pradhan does not resign or is not removed this week.

The third important resolution of the INDIA bloc has called on the Union Government led by PM Narendra Modi to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the “current critical economic situation” in the country including inflation and price rise, unemployment crisis among youths, and farm sector distress. The fourth important decision taken in the meet was to hold coordination meetings every two months, and the fifth and last, but not the least, that the participating political parties committed themselves to daily parliamentary coordination during sessions.

The significance of these decisions at this juncture is more focused on the collective resolution of the INDIA bloc constituent political parties to corner the ruling BJP led by PM Narendra Modi on governance failures, for which they have reset their institutional framework. Their aim seemed to prepare for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, and to oppose the sweeping changes in the political system of the country that PM Modi is set to introduce in the coming months, which included delimitation and one nation one election among others. It can be counted as success of the INDIA bloc meet.

The course of events in the recent months, especially after the state election results on May 4, 2026, has clearly brought the conflicting interests within the INDIA bloc constituents. Regional parties have expressed their trust deficit against Congress, which is the largest political party leading the bloc. In Kerala UDF led by Congress was in opposition to LDA led by CPI(M), but both participated in the meet. In West Bengal, TMC led by Mamata and the Congress fought each other, but both came to participate.

In case of Tamil Nadu, Congress joined hands with the TVK led by C. Joseph Vijay for form government after election result, which irked its old ally DMK in the state. DMK stayed away from the meet but it has said that it will remain in solidarity with the opposition against the BJP on national issues concerning Tamil Nadu. DMK did not come despite the party was approached by Mamata and SP Supremo Akhilesh Yadav. TVK has defeated DMK and Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu, and DMK have never been ready to share power with the Congress. If Congress joined hands with TVK, it is no surprise. TVK has not yet decided to join INDIA bloc, but it also does not support the BJP, and not likely to. If fragility in the INDIA bloc is seen in Tamil Nadu, it will not give advantage to the BJP, since BJP has also been split, and its important former leader Annamalai will launch his own party.

As for AAP, it is in power in Punjab where legislative assembly election will be held in 2027. Congress is the main opposition there, and BJP has little presence. It was natural for the AAP to declare that it was not part of INDIA bloc, which is no advantage to BJP. Therefore, BJP’s structurally fragile narrative against INDIA bloc, though partially true, will not benefit them.

However, the real problem is with split within one of its constituents TMC, whose rebel group of 58 MLAs out of 80 in the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal has formed their own group and one of the rebel leaders was given the status of the Leader of the Opposition. However, more concerning development has taken place in the Lok Sabha where 20 TMC MPs has declared their support to NDA led by BJP. It may effectively reduce the strength of the INDIA bloc in the parliament. However, INDIA bloc will be able to get issue based support of both AAP and DMK in national politics against BJP’s agenda to defend secularism, federalism, and victimization of opposition leaders and states they rule.

Congress was criticized for parting ways with the DMK and Left parties criticized it for aggressive campaign against LDF in Kerala. JMM of Jharkhand and RJD of Bihar have also raised their grievance. However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that he “welcomes all the criticism with a smile” and assured that the Congress would work with “love and affection” to keep the alliance united.

Uttar Pradesh is going to poll in 2027 which will be crucial for the INDIA bloc. SP supremo said that defeating BJP will be crucial. While acknowledging the Congress’s pan-India presence, he urged Congress to be “large-hearted” and allow dominant regional parties to take the lead wherever appropriate. It gives a hope that there will be some sort of alliance between the Congress and SP, though they are presently preparing to contents on all seats on their own. The possible unity in Uttar Pradesh has unnerved the BJP.

To address the organization or structural fragility, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and CPI(ML)L general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya called for a concrete organizational structure. Several other issues were raised. INDIA bloc has decided to meet every two months to discuss all the issues. INDIA bloc has just been reactivated, and most likely to evolve first into a stronger federal front, secondly a stronger parliamentary coalition with greater cohesion, and thirdly a stronger electoral alliance before the Lok Sabha election 2029. (IPA Service)