SubscriberWrites: Bharat Jodo Yatra crucial intervention in overcoming Congress’ burden of dynasty

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This was an essential and much-needed exercise for a party like Congress, facing an existential crisis after getting decimated in two subsequent Lok Sabha elections and many state assemblies since 2014. To begin with, Rahul Gandhi and the planners of this Yatra should be congratulated for effectively planning and executing it.

Since the Yatra has been completed and fanfare around it has started to settle, it’s an opportune time to analyze what the Yatra has achieved and where the party needs to shift its attention to reap the plausible benefits. But firstly, let us focus on what the Yatra gains.

Overcoming the Burden of Dynasty

Since 2014 most of the criticism of the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has centered around the privileges of Rahul Gandhi. Remember, as a challenger to the UPA government in 2014, Modi’s harshest criticism was for Rahul Gandhi. His use of terminologies like Delhi ke Shahzade (prince of Delhi) Maa-Bete ki Sarkar (referring to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi) and Congress Mukt Bharat (Congress-free India) was an attempt at dual delegitimization- of Rahul Gandhi and his leadership in the perception of the Indian voters as well as the credibility of Congress party as a legitimate national party. Even after coming to power BJP and Modi continued their attack on Rahul Gandhi. Just before the 2019 election, Modi again drew the battle- line by projecting the election between Naamdaar (one with the tag of a big name) and kaamdaar (one who works for the masses). Congress for long seemed incapable of answering this diatribe of the BJP.

Bharat Jodo Yatra, centered on the personality of Rahul Gandhi more than anything else, is a response to the BJP’s unabated vitriolic criticism of Rahul Gandhi being a dynast. The Bharat Jodo Yatra has undoubtedly helped Rahul Gandhi overcome the image of a reluctant politician who takes one step ahead and two steps back. An observation of his press conferences during the Yatra reveals that he wanted his party to take an ideological position vis-a-vis BJP and RSS, especially on economic and social harmony. It can be safely argued that this Yatra has ticked that box as far as rebranding the image of Rahul Gandhi is concerned.

 Locating Deeper Challenges

Many commentaries on the Congress electoral failure since 2014 linked it with the party’s poor organizational presence in many states. This is undoubtedly true for states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where its presence is minimal. However, in these states, Congress’s organizational decline has nothing to do with the BJP and Modi. Congress lost the space to regional forces and rising political aspirations of the Backward and Dalit communities who could not get prominent positions in the party during its heydays. Even before 2014, since the inception of the Mandal-politics, Congress has been a junior player in these states of the Hindi heartland. A closer analysis of the electoral trajectory of the party reveals that it has failed to counter BJP in those states where it has both leadership and a significant organizational presence. Congress does not suffer an acute deficiency in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujrat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh of organizational bulwark or leadership. However, despite this, it failed miserably in 2019. Out of 128 seats these states collectively represent in Lok Sabha, Congress has won only four, one in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and two in Chhattisgarh. 

The dual challenge for Congress lies in countering the charismatic image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by re-claiming its space in the ideological universe of the country on the lines of the idea of India as it envisions. Since 2014 Narendra Modi has emerged on the Indian political landscape as a leader capable of offering something to every section of society. The middle-class Hindu voters see him as a leader whose efforts resulted in building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and removing article 370 to integrate Kashmir with the rest of India. (Article 370 continues to operate but does not provide any special status to Jammu and Kashmir). For the poor and marginalized, his welfare schemes have resulted in the overwhelming acceptance of his party. Modi has created his image as a leader who works for the poor. People don’t blame him even for graft failures like botched execution of demonetization or mismanagement during the Covid pandemic, which entailed suffering, as his acceptance is high in the psyche of the masses. Similarly,  for the small but influential professional classes residing in metro cities of the country, he appears as a nationalist leader, giving a befitting reply to Pakistan and terrorism. 

The real challenge for Congress lies in finding and building an alternate narrative on these questions and carrying them to the voters, especially in states where it has both organizational presence and local leadership. 

By 

Rupesh Ranjan 

Ph.D. candidate at CPS

Jawaharlal Nehru University 

And 

Varsha Upadhyay

Ph.D. candidate at 

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

IIT Guwahati.

These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.

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