India's INDIA Alliance Has Effectively Ceased to Function as a National Political Force, Leaving the BJP Without a Credible Federal Opposition

Eighteen months after its formation generated international attention as a potential check on the BJP's dominance, the INDIA opposition alliance has lost five of its fourteen original constituent parties, failed to agree on a joint candidate for a single state assembly election, and produced no common policy document — an implosion that analysts attribute to the incompatibility of its members' regional interests and the structural difficulty of opposing a party that controls the institutions of state.