The INDIA bloc parties held continuous protests at Rajghat against the Chief Election Commissioner and the BJP, with Rahul Gandhi taking center stage through his active street agitation. Congress leaders accused the Election Commission of partisan behavior and taking orders from the ruling government. Despite initial skepticism from various regional opposition figures, the recent demonstrations have significantly bolstered trust in Congress leadership and solidified its role at the forefront of national opposition movements.

The INDIA bloc parties held continuous protests at Rajghat against the Chief Election Commissioner and the BJP, with Rahul Gandhi taking center stage through his active street agitation. Congress leaders accused the Election Commission of partisan behavior and taking orders from the ruling government. Despite initial skepticism from various regional opposition figures, the recent demonstrations have significantly bolstered trust in Congress leadership and solidified its role at the forefront of national opposition movements.

The INDIA bloc parties held continuous protests at Rajghat against the Chief Election Commissioner and the BJP, with Rahul Gandhi taking center stage through his active street agitation. Congress leaders accused the Election Commission of partisan behavior and taking orders from the ruling government. Despite initial skepticism from various regional opposition figures, the recent demonstrations have significantly bolstered trust in Congress leadership and solidified its role at the forefront of national opposition movements.

The INDIA bloc parties took to the streets for the third consecutive day to protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the BJP at Rajghat. It was the second such protest, which took place after a lunch between opposition leaders together. But Rahul Gandhi, out of all Opposition leaders, has stolen the spotlight because of his assertion on streets.

Perhaps, it is for the first time after Independence that a member of the Gandhi family has been hitting the streets and physically fighting against the government. First, it was Jawaharlal Nehru, and three generations down the line, it is Rahul Gandhi. And that is what has stolen the spotlight from the collective and broader Opposition protest. Most of the cameras are trained on Rahul Gandhi and his dealings with the crowd around him, as well as with the police that wants to detain him wherever he sits and protests.

“Opposition leaders are coming out of air-conditioned rooms and also putting energy on the ground, and they feel that they are not getting enough coverage,” a Congress leader said.

However, it is the Congress that has made heavyweight contributions by disclosing data regarding assembly elections in several states and accusing the Election Commission of India of being not only partisan but also taking orders from the ruling BJP.

Also, several leaders in the Congress and other Opposition parties believe that since everybody knows that it is the Congress that has been taking forward the national fight and leading parties against the BJP in Delhi, the focus is on the Congress and the Gandhis, as they know that it will be them deciding the direction of street movements and protests against the Election Commission.

Meanwhile, the Congress has gained more legitimacy to head the Opposition bloc after the loss of Mamata Banerjee, who, after her loss, aligned herself with the long-talked-about “vote theft” allegedly orchestrated by the BJP. She was, before the assembly elections in Bengal, a vocal critic of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. Several in the party say that many Opposition parties did not align with Rahul Gandhi’s brand of politics earlier.

It was also because the Congress had been losing every close contest with the BJP after limiting the ruling party below the majority mark in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This had reduced faith in the Congress within broad-based Opposition politics. Now, however, there is more trust in the Congress, according to leaders.

The protest has given several Congress parliamentarians an opportunity to spend time with Rahul Gandhi, energising them to spend more time in the protest.

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