NEW DELHI, June 4: Armed with the social justice plank and a slew of promises for welfare measures, the Congress made stunning gains with a spirited performance in the Lok Sabha polls that would not only silence its critics but also put the party on road to reclaiming its lost glory.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra spearheaded an impressive campaign, underlining the welfare guarantees the party was offering to the people, but it was the push on social justice that seems to have made the difference with the weaker sections of the society seeming to have sided with the INDIA bloc in several BJP strongholds.
The opposition INDIA bloc led by the Congress appeared set to be a formidable force in the Parliament this time, though still possibly in opposition benches.
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The Congress leaders attributed the party’s stunning comeback to its narrative focusing on issues of the people and its ‘Nyay’ guarantees.
Also, the top Congress leadership strongly raised the Congress’ claim at rallies that the BJP would change the Constitution which seems to have had a strong impact on the ground.
Another crucial aspect was the INDIA bloc fighting with unity at the hustings which brought it rich returns in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Addressing a press conference here, Rahul Gandhi said that all Congress leaders respected the INDIA bloc allies and wherever the alliance fought “we fought as one”.
He also said the general election was a fight to save the Constitution.
“It was on my mind that the people of this country would rally together to save the Constitution. The first and biggest step towards saving the Constitution has been taken,” Gandhi said, adding that it was the poor and the marginalised who stood up to save the Constitution.
He added that the Congress and the INDIA bloc had given India a new pro-poor vision.
“The main thing this election has said, the country has said, is that we don’t want Narendra Modi, Amit Shah to be running this country,” Gandhi said.
After the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls ended, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said the party set the narrative during the Lok Sabha polls with a sharp campaign that was devoid of “agar-magar, kintu parantu” and pushed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the “back foot”.
Ramesh said the first shot at creating a new narrative for the Congress was fired by Rahul Gandhi in the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. The yatra was held between September 2022 and January 2023.
The 144 days, 4,000-km walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir was a very transformative movement for the Congress and for Indian politics, he said.
“He (Gandhi) constantly saying that ‘main nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholne aaya hu’ was the theme. What gave structure to the 2024 campaign was the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ (this year) in which Gandhi had unveiled the ‘paanch nyay pachchees guarantee’,” Ramesh said.
He said the Congress’ ‘guarantee cards’, which state the party’s promises under the ‘Yuva Nyay, Kisaan Nyay, Nari Nyay, Shramik Nyay and the Hissedaari Nyay’ themes, made a major impact.
Political commentator and former Congress leader Sanjay Jha cited the BJP’s loss in the Lok Sabha seat of Ayodhya and said the people of Uttar Pradesh and India have rejected the politicization of religion.
“There is hope. Always. Never give up on the inherent goodness of humanity,” he said.
Though, the Congress pulled off a stunning upset, the question that lingers in the mind is — what if they had started early and not allowed to take the BJP a headstart in the campaign?
Political observers are of the opinion that it delayed seat-sharing among the INDIA bloc allies till the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the hope that a good showing would hand it better bargaining power for seat-sharing.
However, the alliance did manage to get its act together as the elections were declared and ran an aggressive joint campaign, the results of which were seen in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Going forward, the Congress, which was battling an exodus of leaders, will have to ensure that it builds on the gains as it is still in power on its own only in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.
The party would also need to look at a generational shift in leadership roles and Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi may need to step up in organizational responsibilities.
Many had begun writing the obituary of the Congress but its leaders insist that it is not a mere political party but it is an ideology, an idea, which cannot be finished off. (PTI)
