Congress’ CAA-NRC strategy — vocal protests but no communal overtones

Congress' Satyagraha for Unity was interspersed with bhajans and poetry, reiterated Mahatma Gandhi's principles and Sufi saint Amir Khusro's lines.

File photo of Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi | Photo | Suraj Singh Bisht

New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s remarks at the ‘Satyagraha for Unity’ earlier this week seem to have unveiled the party’s strategy to take on the Narendra Modi government for its Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“Anas and Sulieman’s mothers looked at me with tear-glazed eyes…she said my son has sacrificed his life for the country. Then there’s Om Raj Saini, whose five kids are still waiting for him to return home,” Priyanka said at the event, before reading the Preamble to the Constitution in Hindi.

It was a conscious decision, to take the names of both Muslim and Hindu victims of alleged police action against anti-CAA protesters. The five-hour-long ‘Satyagraha for Unity’ Monday was held to express solidarity with those agitating against the CAA and alleged police excesses on demonstrators.

A Congress leader present at the event, and privy to the party’s strategy, told ThePrint that Priyanka, Congress’ UP (east) in-charge, had picked the three names very carefully.

“Two of the names she mentions are Muslims who were at the forefront of the protests. Saini is a very important OBC community in Bijnor, and of course, a Hindu,” the leader said.

A second Congress leader, who was present at the core committee meeting last week where ‘Satyagraha for Unity’ was conceptualised, said, “The idea is to strike a fine balance and not make the issue communal.”

Not surprising then, that the Congress — long accused of Muslim appeasement — openly protested against the ‘discriminatory’ Citizenship Act and ‘brutal’ police response to it, while also ensuring that the agitation didn’t acquire communal overtones.

The party was severely criticised, especially Rahul Gandhi, for not expressing solidarity with students after violence broke out in Jamia Millia Islamia on 15 December. Priyanka has, since then, held a dharna at the India Gate, made an impromptu visit to the same and visited Uttar Pradesh’s violence-hit Bijnor.

The party also plans to hold nationwide protests against CAA on its foundation day on 28 December.

A fine balance

Throughout the event, the Congress appeared mindful to not let the BJP accuse it of religious polarisation. The Preamble was hence read out in different languages to assert the party’s stance on inclusivity.

The Congress also reiterated its secular values by hosting a number of spiritual gurus dressed in saffron clothes, who were greeted individually by Priyanka.

The sources said this was part of a carefully-curated strategy that was decided at the core committee meeting, held at interim chief Sonia Gandhi’s house. Among the senior leaders who attended the meeting were also Ahmed Patel, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Deepender Hooda.

At the meeting, however, Priyanka had advocated for active participation in the protests but others present advised caution, said the second Congress leader quoted above. “The idea is we don’t do what the BJP wants us to do. They paint us as a party that does Muslim appeasement. Sonia ji agreed that we must not play into the BJP’s hands.”

“The CAA protests are citizen-driven,” a Congress functionary told ThePrint. “The Congress Working Committee decided it was important to not politicise them. So we have decided to stay away and do our own protests. Citizens can be a part of our protests but we will let them guide their own.”

After the meeting, the party had reached out to the police to seek permission for the ‘Satyagraha for Unity’ at Rajghat. It was, however, offered the Jantar Mantar venue initially, the Congress functionary quoted above said.

“We picked Rajghat because it sends the message of peace, non-violence and brotherhood. Any attack on the Constitution is an attack on the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi,” Congress MP Deepender Hooda told ThePrint.

A Gandhian satyagraha

With BJP’s push for CAA, and its assertion that even Mahatma Gandhi had assured shelter to minorities, the Congress made a concerted effort to reiterate the Mahatma’s values throughout the event.

There was also little doubt as to who was guiding this Congress protest. As speakers followed one after the other, Rahul got up to instruct the emcee to play music at regular intervals. And it was, of course, the Tricolour that formed the backdrop of the party’s non-violent protest.

As the evening set in and the temperatures dipped, Rahul also draped a khadi shawl around his shoulders. The former Congress chief shut his eyes and lowered his head to the mellow tunes of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, a devotional song widely popularised by the Mahatma, as he meditated on one of the three low pedestals.

The party also seemed to have taken a cue to intersperse its protest with songs and poetry from the citizens’ protest itself.

While the famous Nizami Brothers sang a song written by poet Amir Khusro, another singer sang an adaption of the Italian revolutionary number ‘Bella Ciao‘ called “jaalim waapas jao” (roughly translated as “oppressor, go back”). Bella Ciao was revived during the anti-fascist movement in Italy from 1943 to 45.

M. Salman Imtiaz, the president of Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union, also spoke at the event and drew attention to the “atrocities committed by the police on students”.

Poet Imran Pratapgarhi, who was also present, recited a couplet that went: “Yeh kisne kaha…aandhi ke saath hoon, main Godse ke daur mein Gandhi ke saath hoon” (roughly translated as: “who said I am on the side of the dust-storm…in the time of Godse, I am with Gandhi”).