The Republican Left Democratic Front (RiDaLoS) was a coalition of political parties in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

formed before the 2009 Maharashtra state assembly elections, in Maharashtra. The alliance was forged between 14 political parties and many other NGOs and non political groups as well as students organisations in Maharashtra Republican Left Democratic Front Popularly known as RIDALOS as an alternative to the existing coalitions in the state.

Formation

In the weeks leading up to the 2009 Maharashtra Assembly election, RPI leader

Ramdas Athawale Ramdas Bandu Athawale () (born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician and social activist from Maharashtra. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and has its roots in the S ...

announced the formation of the RIDALOS (RLDF) composing of

Republican Party of India (United) The Republican Party of India (United), or RPI(U) is a coalition of many factions of the Republican Party of India (RPI). It was formed in preparation for the 2009 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. The party was initially led by Rajendra ...

, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha,

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

(Marxist),

Peasants and Workers Party Peasants and Workers Party ( el, Κόμμα Αγροτών και Εργαζομένων, KAE) was a political party in Greece. The party was allied with the Party of Democratic Socialism (KODISO), the party contested the 1981 parliamentary ele ...

, Janata Dal (Secular),

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

, Swabhimani Paksha,

Chhatra Bharati Chhatra Bharati (Hindi छात्र भारती) is one of major independent student organization based in India. The Organisation is based on socialist ideology. Chhatra Bharati is not affiliated to any Political Party; But during elections, ...

and Others. Ridalos contested all 288 Assembly seats against both

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

NCP NCP may refer to: Science and medicine * Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (a temporary name for COVID-19), an outbreak that was officially identified in late 2019. * HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein 7 (NCp7), a target of zinc finger inhibitors * Nucleosome ...

and

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

Shivsena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bombay ...

combines. He announced that the RIDALOS would be secular and would champion the cause of the poor and backward sections of the population. RIDALOS main focus was to be on the development of the

Scheduled Castes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

Dalits Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

Adivasis The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

and farmers. Athavale emphasised that he would not later support Congress or NCP despite his history of allying with them. Athavale also requested

Prakash Ambedkar Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (IAST: Prakāśa Yaśavanta Āmbēḍakar) (born 10 May 1954), popularly known as Balasaheb Ambedkar, is an Indian politician, social activist, writer and lawyer. He is the president of political party called the Van ...

to join the RIDALOS (Third Front) But, Prakash Ambedkar did not join the Third Front (RIDALOS), Rather he formed Fourth Front composed of

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (IAST: Bhāripa Bahujana Mahāsaṅgha; BBM) was an Indian political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar on 4 July 1994. The party was a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and had its roots in the Sched ...

All India United Democratic Front The All India United Democratic Front (also known as AIUDF and ''Sarva Bharatiya Sanyukt Ganatantric Morcha'') is a political party active in the Indian state of Assam. It is the 3rd largest political party in Assam Legislative Assembly after B ...

Peace Party of India The Peace Party (PECP) is a political party in India. It became the sixth largest political party of India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, following the state legislative assembly elections of 2012. It won three seats in those election ...

, and few other small organisations.

Meeting

The first round of meeting was held in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and then followed with major public rally at Shivaji Park. It was attended by heavy weights political leaders from state as well as from national political parties. Even film stars and cricketers took part in this public rally to attract crowds.

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

Star

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

and Cricketer

Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...

was star campaigner of RIDALOS.

Members

The following were the founding members of this coalition: * RPI(U) * LDF * * :*

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...

CPI A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistic ...

:* PWP :*

SCP SCP may refer to: Organizations Political parties * Soviet Communist Party, the leading political party in the former Soviet Union * Syrian Communist Party * Sudanese Communist Party * Scottish Christian Party Companies * Seattle Computer Produ ...

Lok Bharati Lok or LOK may refer to: Places * Lok, Serbia, a village * Lok, Levice District, Slovakia, a village * Lok, Pakistan, a village * Loka (pronounced Lok): a plane of existence in Dharma People Surname Lok (English origin) * Anne Locke, Lock ...

* JD(S) * SP *

RJD The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: ''National People's Party'') is an Indian political party, based in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has tradit ...

* LJSP * RSP * SJP * Socialist Front *

Swabhimani Paksha Swabhimani Paksha is a political party in Maharashtra, India, formed by Raju Shetti, as a political wing of the Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana after its split from the Shetkari Sanghatana led by Sharad Joshi in 2004. In 2004, Raju Shetti was el ...

Prominent Leaders

The following are the Leaders of this RIDALOS coalition *

* Mahadev Jankar *

Jogendra Kawade Jogendra Laxman Kawade (born 1 April 1943, Nagpur) is an Indian politician, professor and social activist. He is the founder and the president of the Peoples Republican Party. He is one of notable activists in Ambedkarite movement. Kawade was ...

Prakash Karat Prakash Karat (born 7 February 1948) is an Indian Communist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015. Education and early career Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on 7 Februar ...

Mulayam Singh Yadav Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...

Kapil Patil Kapil Moreshwar Patil (born March 5, 1961) is politician from Bhiwandi in Maharashtra, India. He became the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministry reshuffle on July 7, 2021. He ...

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former List of Chief Ministers of Bihar, Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Ministry of Railways (India), Railway ...

Jayant Patil Jayant Rajaram Patil (born 16 February 1962) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He has been representing Islampur (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for more than 3 decades. He was the Cab ...

Abu Azmi Abu Asim Azmi (born 8 August 1955) is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He represents the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Constituency, Mumbai. He belongs to the Samajwadi Party. He is the President of the Maharashtra state branch of ...

* Raju Shetti *

Ram Vilas Paswan Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 19468 October 2020) was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Jansha ...

Result

RIDALOS didn't receive much success as expected but became the third largest coalition after congress-NCP and Shivsena-BJP, while Maharashtra Navnirman Sena became fourth largest coalition with winning 13 assembly seats. While Fourth Front led by Prakash Ambedkar got only 2 seats.

References