In every election season, the Opposition’s narrative shifts from one issue to another. This summer, the Congress party is leveraging a handful of issues to counter the ruling BJP. This is a complex strategy, requiring precise messaging to undercut the narratives where the BJP is traditionally strongest. Whether this movement will fall flat—as previous attempts have—or slowly rattle the BJP in the upcoming elections (particularly in West Bengal and Assam) remains to be seen.
The Congress party has used this session essentially to craft a multi-front political narrative for the broad-based Opposition, mentioning areas where leadership is allegedly compromised - foreign pressure, national security, and economic sovereignty. To mark out these areas, Congress has pointedly cited former Army General M.M. Naravane’s mention of the leadership's response during the Chinese border approach—specifically, that no clear command was given.
Another issue raised by the Congress is the India–US trade dynamic, specifically the claim that Washington has imposed 18% tariffs on Indian goods while New Delhi has granted duty-free entry to US products. Finally, the party has pointed to the controversial—though unverified—allegations involving the mention of BJP figures in the Epstein files."
These are not three isolated controversies for the Congress; they appear to be part of an attempt to construct a “compromised PM” thesis ahead of electoral battles in four major states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam.
Although Congress is closer to power in only two states — Kerala and Assam— it is contesting against the BJP in only Assam. However, other Opposition parties are also showing a propensity to use this three-edged narrative against the BJP, primarily in West Bengal, where TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee, has been heading the state for more than a decade and wants to retain the government this summer.
Though she has kept away from personally speaking on these issues, her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, has made scathing attacks on the BJP for not countering US tariffs with proportionate tariffs but rather bending to their demands.
Interestingly, in another poll-bound state, Kerala, Congress will be pitched against the incumbent Left parties, yet both sides are showing surprising camaraderie at the national level, coordinating against the ruling BJP at the Centre and leaving the state battle to be fought in the state itself.
Rahul Gandhi, speaking in the Lok Sabha recently, attacked the Narendra Modi-led Union government over the recently finalised trade deal with the United States. He characterised the deal as a 'wholesale surrender,' claiming that India’s energy security had been handed over to America and farmers' interests compromised. Gandhi added that had an INDIA bloc government negotiated the agreement, it would have insisted to Donald Trump that India be treated as an equal partner.
Though the narrative could work as one of the factors in the state Assembly elections, these state-level contests are largely driven by local issues rather than federal ones.
"In today's time, Assembly elections are won based on cadre strength and ground presence, and the BJP has that replete. These national issues have less resonance in state elections, plus when these elections approach, these issues would subsequently fade away, and the new immediate issues will emerge, even more so when these national issues are picked up by the Opposition, the turf on which they are seen as weak challengers," a political analyst said.