In reaction to political pressures, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was created in 2004 faced numerous challenges, including the Left’s abandonment in 2008, arm-twisting by some allies, the desertion of many constituents between 2004 and 2014, and its ultimate decimation in 2014 after an unexpected second chance in 2009.
Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress president, and West Bengal Chief Minister made two politically crucial statements during a visit to Mumbai on Wednesday. She claimed that if all regional parties banded together, defeating the BJP would be simple. “What is UPA?” she said following a meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar. There is no United Progressive Alliance.”
The emphasis on “regional parties” coming from Banerjee, who was once a member of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance), is a signal to these parties that the Congress is not in a position to oppose the BJP and that an alternative coalition of regional forces is better suited to do so. Banerjee was possibly implying that a new grouping was needed, one in which the Congress would not be the automatic leader.
UPA’s Beginnings
It was formed following the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress was barely seven seats ahead of the BJP with 145 seats. Keeping the BJP out became a must for the secular opposition, and Congress, as the single largest party, naturally became the center.
Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the then-General Secretary of the Communist Party of India, led the charge. He and the Congress, together with Surjeet, eventually gathered 14 parties for a post-election coalition with the Congress, including the RJD, DMK, NCP, PMK, TRS, JMM, LJP, MDMK, AIMIM, PDP, IUML, RPI(A), RPI(G), and KC (J).
‘United Progressive Alliance’ was not the initial idea for a name. According to many involved, the earliest alternatives were ‘United Secular Alliance’ or ‘Progressive Secular Alliance.’ However, atheist M Karunanidhi, the late DMK patriarch, told Congress president Sonia Gandhi at a meeting on May 16, 2004, that the word secular in Tamil denotes non-religious. He proposed the ‘Progressive Alliance,’ which was accepted given his status.
On May 22, 2004, Dr. Manmohan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Pawar, RJD president Lalu Prasad, LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan, JMM chairman Shibu Soren, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, DMK’s T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, and A Raja, and PMK chief S Ramadoss’s son Ambumani Ramadoss were among those who took the oath.
Setbacks Occurred
TRS was the first party to depart the UPA in 2006. KCR, then-Labour Minister, and his party colleague A Narendra resigned from the government to protest the TRS’ demand for Telangana statehood.
In 2007, Vaiko’s MDMK withdrew its support for the government, accusing it of failing to implement most of the CMP’s projects.
The most severe setback occurred in 2008 when the four Left-wing parties withdrew their support due to the government’s determination on pursuing the India-US nuclear accord. Disagreements about the pact arose in 2005, following Prime Minister Singh’s visit to the United States, during which New Delhi and Washington agreed to continue civil nuclear cooperation.
The government was forced into the minority, but it overcame the no-confidence motion thanks to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, humiliated when it was not invited to join the UPA in 2004.
In 2009, the PDP and the PMK were forced to leave their respective states due to electoral realignments. In Tamil Nadu, the PMK left the UPA and joined with the AIADMK against the DMK-Congress, while the PDP resigned as the Congress chose to form a government with the National Conference in Jammu & Kashmir.
The Second Act of the Play
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was re-elected in 2009, with Congress shockingly winning 206 seats.
Despite being in a considerably better position than five years before, Congress still needed allies. The Trinamool Congress and National Conference then arrived, and the Railways portfolio was given to Banerjee.
However, in comparison to UPA-I, the number of partners had shrunk. Only the Trinamool Congress, the National Congress Party, the DMK, the National Conference, and the Indian Union Muslim League were sworn in with the Congress.
This time, the UPA did not have the Left’s support. Paswan and Lalu were also absent. They snubbed the Congress while building an alliance for the Bihar elections, and the Congress refused to allow Lalu’s RJD to join the administration. The RJD, as well as the SP and the BSP, offered their support to the government. In 2010, Lalu withdrew his support in protest at the Rajya Sabha’s passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
The Trinamool Congress and the DMK left the UPA in the same year. The DMK, the second-largest member, withdrew its five ministers in March 2012 to protest the government’s failure to address their concerns in the proposed UN resolution against Sri Lanka over alleged human rights violations against Tamils. In September, the Trinamool Congress withdrew six ministers to protest the government’s decision to proceed with FDI in multi-brand retail.
On the same issue, Jharkhand’s JVM-P, which has two MPs, withdrew its support. That year, the AIMIM also left the UPA.
The Annihilation
The Congress received its lowest-ever vote total of 44 in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Even though the grouping was still referred to as the UPA, there was no UPA after 2014. Congressional leaders claim that they now refer to opposing parties as “like-minded parties.”
As a result, Banerjee is correct in claiming that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) does not exist. Its top officials haven’t met in a long time. Except for the DMK, the NCP, and the JMM, Congress’s relations with most of them are tense.
The Congress has continued to face setbacks, culminating in a rout in 2019. Several prominent leaders have left the party in the previous seven years, as it has stumbled from one state defeat to the next. Many in the opposition believe that Congress can’t provide the leadership needed since its home isn’t in order.
