In face of Modi juggernaut, India’s opposition appears increasingly weak

CNN —

Under the searing New Delhi sun, more than a dozen of India’s top opposition leaders joined hands in a rare show of unity imploring voters to “save democracy.”

Standing before thousands of supporters at the city’s historic and politically important Ramlila Maidan, the March 31 rally marked the opposition’s strongest attempt yet to sway voters against electing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a third straight term.

The consequence of continued Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule, they say, would be the erosion of the very foundation upon which modern India was built: democracy.

“This election is for saving democracy and we must fight united,” main opposition party Indian National Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge told the crowds, who were waving the party flag of orange, white and green. “There is no level playing field in this election.”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters are attending a rally by Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of the northeastern state of Assam (not pictured), for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in Nagaon District, Assam, India, on April 4, 2024.

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It echoed a similar rally more than 40 years earlier on the same spot, when opposition leaders fired up huge crowds to help change the course of the 1977 election – ending the 10-year rule of India’s powerful third prime minister and political scion Indira Gandhi.

Gandhi had imposed a state of emergency, jailed key opposition leaders and curtailed civil freedoms. To some, India’s future was perched on a needle point between autocracy and democracy. She lost the election and, in the eyes of many, India’s democracy was saved.

To many supporters in the crowd three weeks ago, India