New Delhi: The Congress will take the help of “like-minded”, left-leaning civil society organisations in at least a hundred “targeted constituencies” in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, ThePrint has learnt.
The party also plans to get its workers trained by NGOs and activists leading various social movements.
Party General Secretary K.C. Venugopal wrote to all state units last month, directing office-bearers to ensure this initiative does not face any hurdles. ThePrint has seen a copy of the 15 January letter.
The Bharat Jodo Abhiyan (BJA) — an umbrella body of civil society groups — which counts political activist Yogendra Yadav as its convenor, will be the nodal platform to work closely with the Congress on this.
Many other prominent civil society faces, such as Aruna Roy, Prashant Bhushan, Tushar Gandhi, Syeda Hameed and Harsh Mander — some of whom held official positions during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA I and II governments between 2004 and 2014 — are expected to execute the plan as “mentors”.
In his letter, Venugopal said that the BJA, formed on 6 February last year, collaborated with the Congress in the Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ last year as well as the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ to “spread core pluralistic and fraternal values of Indian society and constitutional values of social, economic and political justice”.
“Bharat Jodo Abhiyan is active in around 100 targeted constituencies in 15 states of the country and is keen on supporting the Congress party and other INDIA allies in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. I request you to collaborate with the state teams of the BJA in your respective states… BJA is also keen on taking up rapid training to equip Congress workers on the ground to door-to-door campaigning, wherever they can empanel resource persons immediately, since they have a module ready for the same,” Venugopal wrote.
In the communique, the Congress leader, who is considered the eyes and ears of the Gandhis in the party, said the state units should “respond positively to any BJA team members approaching you”, designate a point person in the state Congress unit to be the “interface between BJA and the party”.
They should also write to all district presidents of the Congress where the BJA targeted constituencies fall “to collaborate at the ground level, he added.
Congress sources said most of the targeted constituencies fell along the road taken by Rahul Gandhi during the cross-country foot march ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ between September 2022 to January 2023 and its ongoing sequel — from Manipur to Mumbai on a customised bus.
Yogendra Yadav, however, told ThePrint that the constituencies were picked on a different metric. “These are constituencies which can go either way. According to our analyses, in these seats, the BJP can be defeated or prevented from winning with some additional effort.”
While Venugopal’s letter mentions 100 seats, Yadav said the BJA had identified around 120 such constituencies across states where “our teams have been sent so that work can begin even before the announcement of candidates”.
“2024 is not a normal election, but a critical one. So, we have decided not only to oppose the BJP but also to support any candidate endorsed by the INDIA bloc. We are doing a three-pronged work,” Yadav added.
Apart from the ground-level work, the BJA has also formed communication teams to counter government propaganda, Yadav said, asserting the idea was to take on the BJP’s “troll army with our truth army”.
Ahead of the Ayodhya Ram Temple consecration ceremony last month, the BJA launched a campaign to promote communal harmony, saying the “country is witnessing a frenzy of organised communalism which has got nothing to do with maryada (dignity) or aastha (faith) or dharma (religion) but is a brazen attempt to polarise voters on religious lines in the run-up to the critical 2024 national elections”.
Yadav said the BJA would be involved in “political coordination” not just among civil society platforms, but also with other INDIA partners. The academic-turned-activist, who was a founding member of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, was recently seen with West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata when she sat on a dharna demanding MNREGA dues from the Centre.
This was days after she announced that the Trinamool would not tie up with the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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