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Journalism of Courage
There is a sense of deja vu. In 2019, Rahul Gandhi led the Congress into the Lok Sabha election battle promising implementation of a minimum income guarantee programme christened NYAY, and attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale controversy.
A year left for the 2024 elections, the Congress plenary wrapped up on Sunday signalling that Rahul will lead from the front again, and the line of attack would be Modi’s alleged proximity with another industrialist — Gautam Adani.
In its resolutions and declaration, passed at the plenary, the party once again talked about ensuring comprehensive social security to the people, especially a woman-centric NYAY programme, and a Universal Right to Health Act, if voted to power.
Underlining Rahul as the man of the moment, the flavour of the three-day plenary of the AICC was the Bharat Jodo Yatra, with leader after leader lavishing praise on him for “re-energising” and “reinvigorating” the party. The signal was that Rahul — with an “improved image” — will be the face of the Congress campaign, if not declared as the prime ministerial candidate because of coalition compulsions.
“In celebrating diversity, equality and fraternity, it (yatra) presented a clear alternative to the BJP’s vision of India… Crores of workers of the Congress party must build on the momentum of the Bharat Jodo Yatra to defeat the divisive forces of the BJP and RSS,” the Raipur ‘call to action’ said.
The party announced a series of street protests — including a march to Parliament — on the Adani issue.
Rahul too talked of his Yatra “breathing life” into the party and its cadre and asked the leadership to draw up more arduous programmes so that the momentum — “tapasya” in his words — is not broken.
Later, Jairam Ramesh told PTI that the Congress was considering an east to west yatra from Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) to Porbandar (Gujarat), most likely before June or November, with a format different from the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
It may not have as elaborate an infrastructure or as many yatris or be as long in duration, he said. Taking into account jungles and rivers along the route, Ramesh said: “It would be a multi-modal yatra, but mostly it would be a padyatra.”
Another signal from the plenary was that the Congress would build its own nationalism narrative. In the context of the Chinese incursions, one resolution passed at the plenary asked the government to take “any and all measures to defend the territorial integrity of India”. In 2019 too, China was a campaign issue in the context of the Doklam clash.
The other slogans too remain the same as in 2019 – targeting the BJP’s “attempt to subvert the Constitution” and “attack on independent institutions”, and raising bread-and-butter issues like unemployment and price rise.
A declaration passed at the plenary said the time was ripe for a “new vision” to empower “the nation’s producers”, reboot the economy, revive MSMEs, “drastically simplify the GST”, specifically for the benefit of small businesses and traders, and to “safeguard farmers” through measures such as debt relief and legally guaranteed MSP.
The conclave gave a message to the Opposition parties as well — that the Congress is the only party that has “never compromised with the BJP”, and that it was “prepared to work with like-minded political parties on the basis of a common, constructive programme to preserve and protect the Constitution” and address the three main challenges of “growing economic inequality, intensifying social polarisation and deepening political dictatorship”.
However, the details of how the Congress will go about instilling confidence in other parties to rally under its leadership and in people to vote for it remain unclear. The takeaways were basically that it is banking on its old promises, and hoping that the momentum created by the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Adani issue will yield electoral dividends.
Not just Rahul, every leader who spoke at the plenary mentioned the Adani controversy and the Yatra “success”.
In his concluding address, Mallikarjun Kharge said: “Rahul Gandhi has indicated that the Congress party, its leadership, workers, youth, women… all should unite and try to search for the truth. How and through what means did Adani become so wealthy, he said we will fight for that. We are with him, will fight with him and stand with him. We will take this issue to the entire country.”
He said the party had united to make the Yatra a success. “It is the responsibility of all of us to build on the momentum set by Rahul Gandhi by walking on rocky surfaces,” Kharge said.
Rahul asked Kharge and the leadership to prepare a plan of action. “We are a party of tapasya. You saw how a small tapasya for four months has injected life into the party, its cadres and the country. Tapasya band nahin honi chahiye (This should not stop). The programmes should continue… Every Congress worker and leader should participate and programmes should be arduous… Let there be a programme and we will all shed blood and sweat for the country. I can guarantee that the moment the Congress stands up, the country will join,” he said.
However, the party realises that it will have to win some of the Assembly elections this year to set the mood for the Lok Sabha battle next year. In a reference to that, the Raipur declaration said “party workers and leaders must work with discipline, solidarity and complete unity to ensure our victory (as) the results of these elections will set the tone for the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha election”.
