The combined vote share of AAP and the Congress in this election was higher than the combined vote share of the BJP, LJP and JDU.

The Delhi election result is a big jolt not only to Arvind Kejriwal but also to the INDIA alliance. Kejriwal has lost a government, and along with that, he has also lost the sheen that had made him a powerful contender for the top job in the past after he had defeated Modi when he was seen to be un-defeatable. Delhi was Modi’s Waterloo, not once but twice. But in his third attempt, he succeeded in humbling his bête noire, his most dangerous competitor. Modi must be a happy man, but leaders of INDIA should be worried. And for the debacle, no one but the INDIA leaders should be blamed.

If AAP and Congress had contested together, then Modi would probably not have succeeded even in the third try. The combined vote share of AAP and the Congress in this election was higher than the combined vote share of the BJP, LJP and JDU. AAP managed to get 43.57% vote, whereas the Congress had 6.34%. Together, their vote share was 50.91%. Whereas the BJP and its allies had a vote share of 47.15%, 3.76% votes less than that of INDIA. I know that an election is not only a game of arithmetic but also of chemistry and social composition on the ground. If both AAP and the Congress had fought together, campaigned together, and had Rahul and Kejriwal attacked Modi and the BJP together, then the possibility of INDIA scraping through couldn’t have been ruled out, and the BJP would not have won after 27 years.

AAP has been accusing the Congress of having played in the hands of the BJP and indirectly blaming the party for its defeat. Both parties had contested together in the parliament elections and yet, failed to win a single seat. When the parliamentary elections concluded, Gopal Rai, the Delhi unit convenor of AAP, held a press conference in the national capital and announced that the alliance with the Congress was over. He said that the alliance was only for the national election, and in states, every party was on its own. And once AAP had unilaterally broken the alliance, then the Congress was left with no option but to treat AAP like any other party, like an opponent. In this election, Rahul Gandhi equated Kejriwal with Modi, saying both were liars, and AAP reciprocated by releasing a poster a few days before the voting commenced, bracketing Rahul along with Modi as corrupt.

Now the question is, was it wise for the parties, who are still members of the INDIA alliance and coordinate with each other in Parliament, to abuse each other in the crudest form? What impression will it leave on the voters, who don’t support the BJP and the NDA? Why should people not call them opportunists of the first order? Why should such alliances be taken seriously by voters? Why shouldn’t voters teach them a lesson during elections? And if Delhi voters rejected AAP and the Congress, then voters should be congratulated as they have seen through their farce.

The INDIA alliance was created to fight the BJP and Modi. But it never had a structure. It did not even bother to come out with a vision document. It does not have a convener. It does not meet regularly to consult on major national issues. Nobody even knows if the INDIA alliance is still in existence after the parliamentary elections. Their leaders only meet when the Parliament is in session for floor coordination. Who should be blamed for this? The Congress has a national footprint; it has been in the national government for more than five decades. Other parties are majorly confined to one state, except AAP, which had governments in two states.

No doubt, the Congress has a bigger responsibility to lead the Opposition and build a system within the INDIA alliance and prepare it for the bigger fight. The Congress has failed in this endeavour to a certain extent, but other members also can’t be exonerated. They are equally to be blamed. They don’t miss an opportunity to attack the Congress. During the parliament elections, Mamta Banerjee had said that the Congress would not win even 40 seats, and very recently, the TMC leaders had said that Mamta was ready to lead the INDIA alliance. Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party has said that the “Congress worked hard for the BJP’s win.” When Rahul Gandhi was raising the Adani issue, Sharad Pawar gave an interview openly siding with Adani.

I know one can say INDIA is a democratic platform, and every member has a right to express his or her views. Fine. But time requires certain restraint and discipline. The INDIA alliance has to realise that the country and its politics have changed since 2014. Every contrarian view of INDIA is used by the media and the BJP to tarnish the image of the INDIA alliance and its leaders. They are painted as a power hungry, quarrelsome lot who can’t be trusted to lead the country. These members should realise that every word uttered by them is microscopically scrutinised by the ruling establishment to throw mud at them. We must not forget that we are living in a technological age, where in no time a word reaches millions of people. Social media is so powerful that it can make or break any leader’s career.

In today’s world, communication is the key. If INDIA plans to unseat Modi at the Centre and defeat the BJP in states, then all its constituents need to speak in one voice, appear like one entity, and should help each other in whatever ways they can; that’s the basic requirement. If they can’t, then, at the least, they should keep quiet instead of passing judgement on their own partners in INDIA. The Delhi result was barely out when Omar tweeted, ‘Aur lado aapas mein’ (Now, fight more with each other). Was it really needed? Omar should have asked for a meeting of the INDIA leaders, and he should have raised the issue there. Instead, he issued the statement on a public platform, and the media had a field day. Did his tweet help INDIA? No. It damaged it. Then who gained? The BJP.

Leaders of INDIA should know that the BJP, against whom they pretend to fight, is an extremely organised force, and if the INDIA constituents want to remain in the wilderness for decades to come, then they should keep fighting with each other. They should forget that disunited they can defeat Modi and the BJP. Delhi is a prime example. Unfortunately, and rather sadly, it has to be said that the INDIA alliance leaders, except for a few, lack a national vision and have no sense of history. They are fighting for petty gains. If they continue behaving in such ways, then the day is not far when all of them will become history, and the BJP will rejoice at their misfortune.

The writer is Co-Founder, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B