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'Not sure if INDIA alliance intact, future not so bright': P Chidambaram
P Chidambaram advised that if the INDIA bloc wants to take on the ‘formidable' BJP, then it must challenge the saffron party on all fronts.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday praised the Bharatiya Janata Party, describing it as “formidably organised” across all fronts. However, he also expressed doubts about the unity of the INDIA bloc, admitting he was uncertain whether the opposition alliance remained intact.
Speaking at the book launch event of Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav's 'Contesting Democratic Deficit: An Inside Story of the 2024 Elections' at the India International Centre in Delhi, P Chidambaram said the alliance appeared to be showing signs of strain.
The senior Congress leader, however, said it's not too late to save the bloc, “there's still time”, he added.
"The future is not so bright as Mr Mrityunjay Singh Yadav says. He seems to feel that the INDIA alliance is still intact. I am not sure. Maybe Salman (Khurshid) can answer because he was part of the negotiating team of the INDIA alliance," he said.
INDIA bloc ‘seems frail’, BJP ‘formidably organised’
Chidambaram said he would be very happy if the INDIA bloc is completely intact, "but it seems frail".
"It can be put together. There is still time. There are still events which will unfold," he added.
The senior Congress leader went on to describe the Bharatiya Janata Party as a "formidable machinery" which is "so formidably organised". And in order to take on the party's dominance, the INDIA bloc has to challenge it on multiple fronts.
"In my experience and reading of history, there has been no political party as formidably organised as the BJP. In every department, it's formidable. It's not another political party. It's a machine behind which it's a machine, and the two machines control all the machinery of India, from the Election Commission of India to the lowest police station in India; they are able to control or sometimes capture these institutions," Chidambaram said.
He added that the INDI alliance is fighting a "formidable missionary" (BJP), not another political party. "This formidable missionary must be fought on all fronts," the Congress leader said.
Pressing on the importance of the 2029 general elections, Chidambaram said that they could either strengthen the BJP or lead to the restoration of "a full-fledged democracy".
"As the author has described from a ringside view, the difficulty of fighting this formidable missionary. That's the message I get from the book. So the next elections, we don't know where it will go. 2029 elections may make a decisive turn to strengthen this formidable missionary and then we are beyond repair or the 2029 elections must return us to a full-fledged democracy. The 2029 elections are critical," he stated.
BJP takes swipe
Taking a swipe at Chidambaram's description of the saffron party as "formidable", BJP leader Amit Malviya said that the repeated electoral defeats have left the Congress "scarred".
"P. Chidambaram used the word “formidable” six times to describe the BJP and its election machinery in a speech that lasted less than three minutes. The successive defeats have left the Congress scarred, much like Pakistan after its bases were destroyed by the Indian Air Force," Malviya said in a post on X.
