Six political parties Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar, Rastriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Indian National Lok Dal of Om Prakash Chautala, Samajwadi Janata Party of Kamal Morarka have come together to stop Bhartiya Janata Party. They have decided to merger their parties and form a new political party. Yet they have not decided the name, symbol and flag of the new party but Mulayam Singh Yadav has been appointed as the National President.

There is saying that the leaders of Janata Parivar cannot remain together more than one year and separated more than two years. They come together to get separated. The merger and separation are in the DNA of Janata Parivar constituents. This is the story of Janata Parivar.

But this time story is not as usual because all the leaders of Janata Parivar are coming together for their survival. From the day the results of Lok Sabha election was declared all the so called socialist leaders are struggling to get the political space. They are on the verge of losing their relevance.

All these leaders had been decimated in their respective states by BJP during Lok Sabha elections. The Narendra Modi’s wave has brought them on mat and now their very survival is on stake.

This is important to note that the top two leaders of this family Lalu Prasad Yadav and Om Prakash Chautala have been convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act and cannot the contest the election.

Samajwadi Party impact is limited to Uttar Pradesh, INLD to Haryana, JD(S) to Karnatka and JD(U) and RJD to Bihar. Except Bihar there will be no impact of this alliance and one will not able to help other during elections.

The ambition of Mulayam Singh Yadav and upcoming assembly election in Bihar, have also played a role of catalyst for this merger.  

Mulayam Singh Yadav has never hid his ambition of Prime Ministership, but that is history. Now, he wants a role at national stage i.e. to be the centre of opposition unity.

The first test of this grand alliance will be in Bihar at the end of 2015. Because this is the only state they are expecting to have an impact of this reunion.

In Bihar, this is a marriage of convenience. Nitish Kumar build his political persona on opposing Lalu Yadav and his politics. He used to use ‘Jangal Raj’ adjective to describe Lalu-Rabri regime. But, when defeated by Narendra Modi, both decided to shake hand. To fight common enemy (Narendra Modi), the friends and foes come together and become part of the new Janata family. There is no concern for people behind this thought. This reunion is totally based on arithmetic of vote shares of JD(U) and RJD in Lok Sabha election.

But they should understand that politics is not arithmetic. In politics one plus one does not become two. Every election is not the election of Delhi and every leader is not Arvind Kejriwal who can stop Narendra Modi and BJP.

The inherent contradiction is visible in this reunion of the so called family members. They have decided to merger their respective parties but yet there is no consensus on the name, symbol and flag of new party. According to news, Samajwadi Party wants new party to have its name and symbol. But JD(U) and RJD have apprehension over it. They are not eager to go in election with a new symbol. In the election year they do not want to lose their own identity.

The next big challenge before new party is leadership issue in Bihar. Will Nitish Kumar accept Lalu Yadav as his leader or Lalu Yadav will accept Nitish Kumar as his leader? Then how they will satisfy their follower during tickets distribution in assembly election of Bihar?

All these leaders of Janata Family are used to run their respective party as a private limited company. Hence, the question arises that whose writ will be final? Will other leaders follow that writ?

There is high risk of grouping within the party. All these leaders might have group of their own followers.    

Except opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this Janata Family has no other agenda. There is apprehension that in the absence of any agenda for aspirational India, they might fail to win the support of people. If they failed in Bihar, this new party will disintegrate.     

Politics is an art of dealing with contradictions. Bihar election will be litmus test for them because that time we will be able to know whether they overcome their contradictions or succumb to that. Time will tell whether in aspirational India, they make the history or repeat the history and become the part of the history.