To Defeat BJP, a Hopeful UPA+ Alliance Called 'Secular Democratic Front' is in Works

Although the Exit Polls have predicted a massive victory for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the opposition is hoping the ruling dispensation falls short of the magic number so that it can cobble up an alliance. In fact, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is so hopeful that along with six other parties, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Aam Aadmi Party, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and the Left Front they have come up with a plan in case Modi 2.0 doesn't become a reality.

They have decided to call this alliance, Secular Democratic Front (SDF).

According to a Hindustan Times report, the name was suggested by the Congress. However, last year, following the tussle between the Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat camps within the CPI(M), an All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader has suggested that a worker-farmer alliance, a Left and democratic front, and the Congress should unite to defeat the BJP. The idea was to unite to defeat all the secular and democratic forces in the country.

The HT report noted that Congress leaders came together to decide on a three-step plan in case no party had a majority. The first step of the plan was to send a letter prepared by the parties to the President ahead of the results, announcing the alliance. However, the plan was dropped after Mayawati said she wasn't comfortable with announcing the alliance before the results.

In an article published by the CPI(M) organ “People’s Democracy”, K Krishnaprasad, an office-bearer of the AIKS, the farmers’ wing of the party, had written, "The worker-peasant alliance and a Left and Democratic Front can work as a thread to unite all secular and democratic forces, including the Congress, and ensure the consolidation of all the anti BJP-RSS votes to make sure the defeat of the (Narendra) Modi government as well as take up the challenges that India faces today."

“Hence, the basic issue is not the correlation of the Left with the Congress party, but the leadership role of it in the vast alliance against the BJP, which is controlled by the fascistic RSS,” Krishnaprasad had written in the article.