Who would have thought that the authoritarian Viktor Orban regime, which ruled Hungary with an iron fist for 16 years since 2010, would bite the dust through a democratic process? In April, the people of Hungary made what was once believed to be improbable possible.This unthinkable outcome became reality only because some leading Hungarian opposition parties were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice: for the sake of restoring democracy, they stepped aside from the electoral contest and backed the strongest political party in Opposition to Orban so that the ruling Fidesz could not take advantage of a split in votes.Popular opinion polls in the country were unanimous in their verdict in the months preceding the general election: the Tisza Party, led by Peter Magyar, was the unquestioned front-runner in the Opposition to take on the entrenched Orban, who was seeking a fifth consecutive term as prime minister, and a sixth including his term from 1998 to 2002).Among the main opposition parties that withdrew from the contest was Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) which was in power for one term between 1994-1998 and then for two more terms between 2002 and 2010. As a matter of fact, in 2004, MSZP was instrumental in leading Hungary into the European Union.After it lost power to Orban’s Fidesz in 2010, MSZP became the largest opposition party in Parliament, a position it held after the subsequent election in 2014 as well. But its base has steadily declined as Orban consolidated his position in the power structure with a two-thirds supermajority in Parliament.What Hungary’s parties didThe MSZP surprised one and all when it took a bold and historic call in 2026. It said: “The only way to beat an electoral system that amounted to ‘legalised fraud’ was to unite behind the strongest opposition candidate regardless of party”. Since, by all reckoning, Tisza’s Magyar was the most popular challenger to Orban, it backed him unequivocally with the larger goal of overthrowing the corrupt and authoritarian regime.Also read: Orban Is Not Viktorius, and the Ramifications Are Felt GloballyFor the record, the MSZP did not field any candidate in the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election. Could there be any greater sacrifice on the part of an established political party than to forgo contesting the national election to consolidate votes in favour of the strongest Opposition leader?Many other relatively minor parties – Hungary People’s Party, Momentum Movement, Solution Movement, Hungary’s Green Party et al –also came forward, rising over partisan interest, for the larger interest of the nation: restoring democratic institutions and processes severely eroded during the Orban’s 16 authoritarian years in power. They all unilaterally backed Magyar and his Tisza, not even demanding the formation of a coalition.The sacrifice of these parties did not go in vain. As a large section of Opposition votes coalesced behind Magyar, he swept the polls, handing a shocking defeat to the ruling regime. Orban never thought he would have to concede defeat one day. After all, he had eviscerated democratic institutions to such an extent that he – and his gargantuan party apparatus – had taken for granted that he would remain prime minister for life. For him and for his party, elections were a mere formality, only required to legitimise his position as an elected leader.Sounds familiar?Orban made open calls to make Hungary Opposition-free in the years to come, but the grand design fell apart only because many in the country’s politics did the unthinkable: they put the country above the party. Orban had not bargained for it. He had put himself and his party above the country. When the parties that sacrificed partisan interest brought home the truth to the people, it touched a raw nerve of the electorate. Even fanatical Orban supporters turned into his virulent critics when social media brought alive the loot-and-scoot policies of Orban.Can this happen in India? After all, there are uncanny similarities between Orban and Narendra Modi. In fact, the Indian prime minister has been following the Orban playbook quite faithfully. Of course Orban was better-placed than Modi with a two-thirds majority in Parliament that allowed him to impose a new constitutional order in Hungary. He recast the Election Commission and the Constitutional Court virtually as departments of the government.Orban made constitutional changes to ensure that every media house critical of his government went out of business. He officially extended complete government control over all accountability institutions: the State Audit Office, the Central Bank and the Central Statistical Office.Modi is desperately seeking that kind of majority so that he would not need the cover of even a fig leaf before hollowing out constitutional rights and provisions. That’s why his party is on a relentless drive to split Opposition parties and bring turncoats within its fold.Even without a constitutional majority, the Modi dispensation has been doing everything possible to derail the democratic framework through a carrot-and-stick policy. The Election Commission of India stands starkly compromised. O.P. Rawat, a former chief election commissioner of India appointed during the Modi regime, has minced no words while accusing the current Election Commission of gross partisan conduct.The Supreme Court of India has become, as Gautam Bhatia aptly described, an Executive Court, virtually rubber stamping every executive decision of significance for the country.The saga of Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy being hounded out of NDTV – the only mainstream TV channel with the guts to occasionally show the government the mirror – played out in full public view. In the alternative media space, NewsClick headed by Prabir Purakayastha had a similar harrowing experience as it exposed the dark underbelly of the Modi regime day after day.Like his mentor Orban, Modi governs by the dictum of the Brazilian dictator Getulio Vargas, “For my friends, anything; for my enemies, the law.” Gautam Adani, the major financier of Modi’s monstrous political machine, has captured every monopoly rentier license from the corrupt saffron establishment. It is now the new normal for the regime to use investigative agencies such as Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Income Tax Department to frame make-believe charges against Opposition leaders to lodge them in jail just before the elections.It turns out later in an overwhelming number of cases that the charges were false, but that has mattered little to the diabolical Modi regime. After all, it is the ruling party’s agenda to harass and unsettle Opposition leaders and project them in bad light during the elections. If cases are dismissed after the elections, so be it.Minority bashing, dividing societyOrban’s Fidesz had also portrayed Muslims as an existential threat to Hungarian culture, just as Modi’s BJP has been demonising the community as “parasites” in the Indian nation. Orban used to invariably rail against an imaginary “Muslim invasion” to engineer a surge in his declining popularity. The Modi-Shah duo too have raised the Muslim infiltrator bogey during election campaigns to consolidate the majoritarian Hindu base. In India, Islamophobia is not confined to electoral campaigns alone.The atrocities against minorities in the country, through policies and programmes of the Modi years, have been graphically documented by many writers and organisations. Maybe when Modi gets the requisite two-thirds majority, he would amend the Constitution and officially declare India as a Hindu Rashtra and all minorities as second class citizens.Will Indian Opposition parties remain mute spectators as India’s democracy and Constitution face the guillotine? Will they continue to think in terms of narrow partisan ends and seek to zealously protect their narrow turf as the mighty saffron juggernaut threatens to smother them? Or will they take a cue from their counterparts in Hungary and act in the larger national interest?Also read: Interview | How Can the Opposition Throw a Real Challenge to the Modi Govt in This Scenario?The need of the hour is Opposition unity. If these parties unite, there will emerge a distinct possibility that Narendra Modi will be turfed out of power and a modicum of India’s democracy could then be restored, just as it happened to Orban and Hungary not long ago. But such unity calls for supreme sacrifice on the part of each Opposition party of our country, à la Hungary.True, India is not Hungary. India is a much larger and more populous country with innumerable regional parties dotting the political landscape of the subcontinent. So the exact Hungarian replica may not be plausible in India at the national level. But Opposition parties can still ensure that in every state and on every seat, a united opposition exists to take on Modi and the BJP. That would warrant painful adjustments and large-hearted concessions.Hungary’s Opposition parties were ready to make that sacrifice and withdrew from the electoral race to strengthen the position of the strongest party in opposition to Orban. India’s Opposition parties, large and small, should have the courage of conviction to make an honest assessment as to which party is the strongest, where, and make that the sole principle for forging Opposition unity. That is the only way to defeat authoritarian forces and restore democracy. Hungary should hold out the hope for India.N.R. Mohanty is a senior journalist and a former editor of Hindustan Times, Patna.