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Opinion Tavleen Singh writes: Why Rahul Gandhi’s yatras inspire crowds but fail to rebuild the Congress

Rahul Gandhi has become very skilled at wandering about on yatras and showing himself as a prince who has the common touch. But when the yatra ends, it leaves nothing behind because party workers seem to believe their only job is to burnish the image of the prince, and then go home and rest till the next yatra comes along.

LoP in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav during the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', in Saran district, Bihar. (AICC via PTI Photo)

Tavleen Singh

September 7, 2025 08:40 AM IST First published on: Sep 7, 2025 at 07:09 AM IST

The parade of political princes we saw travel through Bihar in the past two weeks made a compelling spectacle. I found it both mesmerising and a reminder that democratic feudalism goes from strength to strength. The first two princes on parade were Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav and soon, they were joined by Akhilesh Yadav and Stalin. They stood together in an open jeep and drove through the narrow streets of small towns lined with cheering supporters, who joined happily in the slogan of the moment, ‘Vote chor, gaddi chhod’. Stealer of votes, step down. The words do not rhyme in English, but have resonance on account of the angry campaign to discredit the Election Commission that the heir to our most famous political dynasty has led.

This yatra, like the others, was about Narendra Modi. In the exercise to malign him, a mystery man appeared at a public rally and used a famous word of abuse that has mother in it. The Prime Minister responded in churlish and childish tones. His dead mother was being insulted, he complained, and the complaint was taken up by BJP cadres and amplified. This overreaction left me feeling that perhaps the BJP and its fellow travellers (this time) are worried that there is real anti-incumbency against Nitish Kumar’s endless reign in Bihar. But, to benefit, the Opposition is going to need to offer a convincing new narrative instead of catchy slogans, insults and lies.

Rahul Gandhi was liar-in-chief. He said that first it was people’s votes that would be stolen, then their ration cards would be taken away and their land. There is not the slightest sign that any of this is going to happen. But if you can accuse Modi of having stolen elections right from 2014, then why not throw everything at him.

Especially at a time when he has been humiliated internationally by his ex-best friend, Donald Trump, forcing him to scurry off to that coalition of despots and warmongers that constitutes the membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Mercifully, Modi had the good sense to leave before the military parade in Beijing. On the home front, his personal image has been tarnished by the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which seems to have the singular objective of weeding out Muslims, Dalits and some of Bihar’s poorest citizens.

It is not a matter of dispute that these have not been ‘acche din’ for Modi, but the hurdles that his main challenger faces remain huge. By coincidence the India Today Mood of the Nation issue arrived on my desk as the Voter Adhikar Yatra was ending. This poll showed that 52% of Indian voters see Modi as the best man to lead India. Rahul Gandhi came in second with 25% of those polled seeing him as an alternative prime minister. In September last year this poll showed him in a slightly better position at 29%.

This should worry him and the Congress party. It means that he remains unable to convince the electorate that he is a serious contender for prime minister with a real political message. This worries me personally because as a dedicated liberal democrat, I would love to see liberal democracy win against the birdbrained ideas we hear too often from Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. A recent example came from the RSS chief’s lectures in Delhi to commemorate the centenary of the Sangh. Shri Mohan Bhagwat advised Indian women to all have at least three children, but no more than three. It came as a reminder that the mothership of the BJP will never accept that it has no right at all to tell people what they should eat and drink or who they should marry and how many children they should have.

There is no question that the Congress party wasted the many decades they had in power on economic policies that failed to bring mass prosperity to our ancient land. There is no question that the party’s claims to being secular became suspect because of the thousands of Muslims killed in riots under Congress prime ministers. And the more than 3,000 Sikhs killed in the 1984 pogrom organised by the Congress party.

But there is also no question that the Congress party did stand for the kind of inclusive, liberal democratic policies that India needs now more than ever. As someone who remembers well those old days when we were so proud that India was not a Hindu version of Pakistan, it has saddened me to see India change in the past ten years into that Hindu version of Pakistan. If a political party emerged that could base its political ideas on liberal democracy and its economic ideas on free markets, I have no doubt at all that it would be able to take on Modi’s BJP.

As our oldest political party and the only Opposition party today with a national footprint, it should shame the Congress party that after three lost Lok Sabha elections it is still unable to rebuild its organisation. Rahul Gandhi has become very skilled at wandering about on yatras and showing himself as a prince who has the common touch. But when the yatra ends, it leaves nothing behind because party workers seem to believe their only job is to burnish the image of the prince, and then go home and rest till the next yatra comes along.