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 ...

n state of Maharashtra 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 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 Rajendr ...

, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Peasants and Workers Party, Janata Dal (Secular),

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

, Swabhimani Paksha, Chhatra Bharati 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 ...

- NCP 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 Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

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 peoples, indigenous identity by claiming an indigen ...

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 Abra ...

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 Va ...

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 secon ...

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 ...

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 nat ...

:* CPI :* 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 *

JD(S) The Janata Dal (Secular) is an Indian political party led by former prime minister of India, H. D. Deve Gowda. The party is recognized as a State Party in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh. It was formed in July 1999 by the ...

* SP * RJD * LJSP * RSP * SJP * Socialist Front * Swabhimani Paksha * Chhatra Bharati

Prominent Leaders

The following are the Leaders of this RIDALOS coalition * Ramdas Athawale * Mahadev Jankar * Jogendra Kawade *

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 *

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 Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliame ...

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 o ...

* 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 Jansh ...

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