Why Opposition has failed to corner Modi over demonetisation

November 28 was supposed to cause a serious dent in the Centre's demonetisation exercise with the Opposition protesting against the government's move. It turned out to be a damp squib, instead. The fault lines in their ranks were evident like never before.

The Left and the TMC differed on whether or not it was a bandh or aakhrosh diwas, the JD (U) broke ranks with the its allies and came out in support of the government, and the Congress amended its earlier position claiming that it was not opposed to demonetisation per se, but critical of its faulty implementation. At the end of the day, it was advantage BJP.

The Opposition's painstakingly crafted show of unity threatened to come apart at its very first test. The TMC refused to join the rest of the Opposition at a dharna in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament on the pretext that it had not been consulted on the issue - this after Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia had personally pleaded with some of the TMC leaders to join the protest.

The disagreement is symptomatic of the trust deficit amongst the Opposition parties and long-standing ego battles, which it needs to surmount in order to sustain this battle against the government over a period of time.

As things stand, the unity in the Opposition ranks is limited to Parliament, where they have managed to successfully corner the government.

However, the main battle lies outside Parliament. The Opposition needs to mount a sustained a cohesion campaign, if it wants to take on the BJP.

It needs to draw upon the lessons of the 1989 campaign against the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress, when the parties opposed to the then ruling party rallied together to defeat the government. For now that appears easier said than done.