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Journalism of Courage
IN AN ECHO of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, the Congress’s lukewarm Jharkhand campaign has both its leaders and allies worried. With more than half the seats in Jharkhand having already voted, the JMM as well as the RJD are raising questions over the Congress strategy.
The Congress’s top leaders, for example, have only campaigned in the seats where the party’s candidates are in the fray, skipping constituencies where INDIA allies are fighting. But even in its own constituencies, Congress party flags and campaign vehicles are barely visible, with the party struggling to gather crowds for rallies.
The Congress is contesting 30 of the 81 Assembly seats in the Jharkhand elections, 17 of which voted in the first phase on November 13. Chief Minister Hemant Soren-led JMM is contesting 42 seats, the RJD six, and the CPI(ML)(L) three.
Even the Congress manifesto was missing till a day before voting for 43 seats in the first phase. Now the party faces a complaint filed by the BJP with the Election Commission (EC) accusing the Congress of having violated the 48-hour silence period before polling.
Congress workers admit it is hard to justify the delay given that the INDIA bloc had already announced its “guarantees”. “How could the promises be conveyed to voters in the seats that went to polls in the first phase of elections in such a short time, especially when canvassing was closed for that phase?” a Congress leader said.
Apart from half-hearted campaign efforts, the Congress fight has been hamstrung by surprise organisational changes just ahead of the polls. Hours after the EC had announced the poll schedule in August, the Congress changed its state party chief.
Rajesh Kumar, who was appointed in 2021, was replaced by former three-time MLA Keshav Mahto Kamlesh. Meanwhile, the state party committee that was dissolved as part of the change is yet to be reconstituted under Kamlesh. Only the previous media cell is still functioning.
Party spokesperson R K Sinha admitted that it was not yet clear when the new committee will be formed, but added that the office-bearers and workers of the previous committee are engaged in the campaign.
While top JMM campaigners Hemant and Kalpana Soren have between them held 60 rallies, Congress star face Rahul Gandhi has addressed a total of seven meetings so far, counting Friday. Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge has addressed four more. “Seeing the share of the Congress in the alliance (seat-sharing pact), its leaders should have addressed more rallies,” a JMM leader said, wondering if the Congress got “many more seats in proportion to its strength in the state”.
A source in the Jharkhand Congress said that despite this limited number, the party has failed to generate crowds. “People, especially tribals, want to listen to Rahul ji, but he has come to only a few places. Local tribals are not able to connect with Kharge ji, who at a rally started speaking about Karnataka,” the source said.
The other campaigners for the party include Ghulam Ahmad Mir, an MLA from distant Jammu and Kashmir, and Congress Jharkhand in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi. The source said Mir has been more busy holding organisational meetings while Pratapgarhi could be used better. “Imran has received a good response with his sarcastic shayari (poetry). The party should send him more to Muslim-dominated areas where the BJP is raising alleged infiltration as its biggest poll plank,” the source said.
Even smaller INDIA partners RJD and CPI (ML) L have done better than the Congress. If the JMM is campaigning for candidates across the alliance parties, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav too has stepped in for Congress and JMM nominees.
“Rahul and Kharge ji are national faces and they should have visited the seats of allies too to send a message of unity in the INDIA bloc,” a JMM leader said.
While the RJD is a more loyal friend of the Congress, a leader of the party too expressed exasperation at the Congress efforts. “The Congress cadre is weak here. The party did not utilise the opportunity of being in power in the state to develop dedicated workers on the ground, especially in tribal areas. Every Congress worker here considers himself a leader and they do not want to work on the ground. Largely, their campaign is dependent on the JMM and RJD. Congress candidates too are demanding programmes with the Soren couple and Tejashwi ji,” said the RJD leader, asking why Gandhi did not address more rallies owing to his “strong connect” with audiences and speeches that hit the BJP hard.
Officially, the JMM said there were no problems. Spokesperson Tanuj Khatri said: “Hemant Soren is the leader of the INDIA alliance in Jharkhand. The JMM and other allies are contesting together in coordination and cooperation. Everyone is doing their best to ensure a win for the INDIA alliance.”
Congress spokesperson R K Sinha denied the claims of a “weak campaign”, accusing the BJP of spreading false rumours.
On the alleged lack of coordination with allies, Sinha denied that the Congress was not campaigning on the seats of partners. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been busy in her own campaign in Wayanad, which voted on November 13, is expected to campaign in the Santhal Pargana region for the second phase of polling, Sinha said. Local Congress units were already doing so for allies in their respective constituencies, he said.
However, after J&K, many apprehend what is coming next. In J&K, where the Congress lacklustre campaign had attracted the ire of ally National Conference, the party won only six seats of the 29 it contested in the J&K Assembly elections.
