THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-August 30, 2017- Topic 1

Rallying together

A viable alternative must be found to the BJP

Not all political alliances increase the winning chances of the constituent parties. At the Patna rally on Sunday called by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, 18 Opposition parties came together on a platform against the Bharatiya Janata Party, but not all of them can make meaningful alliances. The vote banks of many of them are in different States, and there is little chance of their being able to help improve the prospects of one another. 

The Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, will gain nothing by joining hands with the RJD, which has negligible presence outside Bihar, or the Samajwadi Party, whose base does not extend much beyond Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, neither Mr. Prasad nor Akhilesh Yadav of the SP has much to gain from teaming up with the Trinamool. Only the Congress, with a nationwide presence, can hope to benefit from this coming together of different regional parties. The Congress is a small player in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, but its national-level ambitions will get a big boost if the Trinamool, the SP and the RJD come together on the same platform. In the present circumstances, the Congress can emerge as an alternative to the BJP only at the head of a coalition of regional parties. But it will have to do a lot more than bring different parties from different regions together; it will need to stitch together viable alliances in each State. In West Bengal, for instance, the Congress cannot hope to tie up with both the Trinamool and the Left Front. The party might have to walk a fine political line to keep disparate elements together at the national level.

For Mr. Prasad, the rally was an opportunity to make a political statement after being dumped by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. It was also an occasion to share the stage with Janata Dal (United) dissident leader Sharad Yadav, who defied Mr. Kumar and chose to stay with the grand alliance. But the fact remains that without Mr. Kumar, the grand alliance is not the same in size or shape, and cannot be expected to take on the combined might of the BJP and the ruling faction of the JD(U). The situation is not very different in Uttar Pradesh where the Congress’s alliance with the SP is not enough to best the BJP. Without Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party on board, the alliance would not gain the critical mass to fight the BJP. Whether the Congress can indeed bring together at the national level parties opposed to one another at the State level is doubtful. But even if it manages that feat, the real challenge will be to present a viable national alternative to the BJP as the head of a cohesive coalition with well-defined policies and programmes. For that, a shared antipathy to the BJP is not enough.

Vocabulary

Alliance: a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations.

Example: A defensive alliance between Australia and New Zealand

Synonyms: association, union, league, confederation, federation

Prospect: the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring.

Example: There was no prospect of a reconciliation

Synonyms: likelihood, hope, expectation, anticipation

Negligible: so small or unimportant as to be not worth considering; insignificant.

Example: Sound could at last be recorded with incredible ease and at negligible cost

Synonyms: trivial, trifling, insignificant, unimportant, minor, inconsequential

Presence: the state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing.

Example: Her presence still comforts me

Synonyms: existence, being there; attendance, appearance

Ambition: a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.

Example: Her ambition was to become a model

Synonyms: aspiration, intention, goal, aim, objective, object, purpose

Circumstance: a fact or condition connected with or relevant to an event or action.

Example: We wanted to marry but circumstances didn't permit

Stitch: a sudden sharp pain in the side of the body, caused by strenuous exercise.

Example: She ran with a stitch in her side

Synonyms: sharp pain, stabbing pain, shooting pain, stab of pain

Viable: capable of working successfully; feasible.

Example: The proposed investment was economically viable

Synonyms: feasible, workable, practicable, practical, usable, possible

Disparate: essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison.

Example: They inhabit disparate worlds of thought

Synonyms: contrasting, different, differing, dissimilar, unalike, poles apart

Dump: deposit or dispose of unwanted material, typically in a careless or hurried way.

Example: Trucks dumped 1,900 tons of refuse here

Synonyms: dispose of, get rid of, throw away/out, discard, jettison, ditch

Indeed: used to emphasize a statement or response confirming something already suggested.

Example: It was not expected to last long, and indeed it took less than three weeks

Synonyms: as expected, to be sure, in fact, in point of fact, as a matter of fact

Antipathy: a deep-seated feeling of dislike; aversion.

Example: His fundamental antipathy to capitalism

Synonyms: hostility, antagonism, animosity, aversion, animus, enmity

Coalition: an alliance for combined action, especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government or of states.

Example: A coalition of conservatives and disaffected Democrats

Synonyms: alliance, union, partnership, bloc, caucus, federation, league

Cohesive: characterized by or causing cohesion.

Example: Today I got a real sense that we were beginning to become a cohesive unit, looking out for each other.