COVER STORY

Rahul Gandhi has positioned himself as the prime contender

Ahead of the polls, Rahul Gandhi has to overcome challenges in his party

INDIA-POLITICS-CONGRESS-GANDHI Symbol of hope: Rahul Gandhi, with Priyanka, Sonia and Manmohan Singh, at Sabarmati Ashram | AFP

The first time Congress president Rahul Gandhi got under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s skin was probably in April 2015. Speaking in Parliament, Rahul referred to the Modi dispensation as “suit boot ki sarkaar (government for those in suits and boots)”. With these four words, he sought to paint Modi as a crony capitalist. By corollary, the prime minister was charged with not caring for the farmers, the poor and the marginalised.

This is a battle of ideologies. On the one hand, there is hatred and Godse, and on the other, love, Mahatma Gandhi and the history of Gujarat. - Rahul Gandhi, in Gandhinagar, on March 12
A uniform alliance with one face is neither practical nor politically savvy.The BJP will turn it into a presidential kind of election, with Modi being their face. - Abhay Kumar Dubey, political scientist

Over the last few years, Rahul has worked on this narrative. His effort has been to chip away at Brand Modi. The initial attack on Modi’s credentials as a leader who would usher in “acchhe din” has evolved into an assault on the prime minister’s claims of being a decisive leader and an anti-corruption crusader.

In September 2017, when Rahul was on the verge of taking over as Congress president, he laid bare the blueprint of his line of attack on Modi. During an interaction with students at the University of California, Berkeley, Rahul emphasised, for the first time, on joblessness in the country. He also highlighted the problems faced by farmers.

The speech, made in faraway America, had a resounding impact back home and the BJP fielded its top guns to respond to Rahul’s charges. Congress leaders point out that Pappu jokes dried up after Berkeley, and Rahul successfully shifted the political discourse to the perceived failures of the Modi government and his unkept promises. The narrative adopted by Rahul hinges on Modi’s promises of providing two crore jobs a year and improving farmers’ income. He also charged Modi with being authoritarian, and destroying the country’s economy with his dictatorial decisions such as demonetisation and the hasty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax. More recently, he launched the attack on Modi’s anti-corruption credentials by accusing him of manipulating the Rafale deal to “favour his friend, Anil Ambani”.

For close to two years, Rahul has been raising the issue of alleged corruption in the aircraft deal, even when other opposition leaders doubted if the issue would resonate with the public. Nevertheless, he continued his assault relentlessly, even coining the slogan “chowkidar chor hai (the watchman is a thief)”. This was in reference to Modi’s declaration in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that he would be the nation’s chowkidar against corruption.

Moreover, there has been an attempt to project Rahul as the antithesis of Modi. A leader who cares for the people rather than a few businessmen friends. And Rahul himself has taken the utmost care to present a picture of humility and inclusivity in contrast with the Congress’s depiction of Modi—an arrogant leader, drunk on power.

“This is the only government and the only prime minister who do not like accountability and refuses to take questions,” said K.C. Venugopal, All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of organisation. “Where are the [results of the] promises? Where are the acchhe din promised by Narendra Modiji?”

This narrative will be pursued for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, despite Modi and the BJP finding a strong talking point in nationalism and issues of national security in the post-Pulwama scenario. This was made clear when the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision making body, held a highly symbolic meeting in Gujarat, Modi’s home turf, on March 12. The CWC meeting was last held in the state in 1961.

Focused attack: Congress workers protest the Rafale deal in Delhi. Rahul Gandhi has been raising the alleged corruption in the deal | Aayush Goel Focused attack: Congress workers protest the Rafale deal in Delhi. Rahul Gandhi has been raising the alleged corruption in the deal | Aayush Goel

The symbolism lay in the Congress conveying the message that it was ready to take the fight to Modi’s backyard by launching its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. The symbolism extended to projecting the fight between the Congress and the BJP as a clash of ideologies. Addressing a speech in Gandhinagar after the meeting, Rahul said: “This is a battle of ideologies. On the one hand, there is hatred and Godse, and on the other, love, Mahatma Gandhi and the history of Gujarat. The victory will belong to Mahatma Gandhi, love, brotherhood, the Congress party and Gujarat.”

The Congress has readied its ammunition to take on Modi and the BJP while Rahul has proved that he will not desist from taking on the prime minister directly, pitching himself as Modi’s prime challenger.

A prelude to the big fight was seen in the assembly elections in Gujarat. Rahul led from the front, though he officially took charge as Congress president during the election process in December 2017. He was alive to the need to stitch up alliances with the Patidars, the Thakors and the dalits, all of whom were unhappy with Modi and the BJP government. In that election, his team was a mix of the young and the old, with a veteran like Ashok Gehlot and a young leader like Rajiv Satav.

Further validation of Rahul’s leadership came from the Congress’s victories in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the assembly elections in November-December 2018. The victories were a welcome break from the string of defeats since 2014, with the exception of Bihar and Punjab. In what was a do-or-die battle, Rahul addressed 82 rallies in two months, including in the bastions of the incumbent chief ministers. He attacked Modi head-on during the campaign. And he also successfully managed rival factions in the state units and staved off infighting.

Throughout this time, Rahul showed an ability to adapt to the changing political circumstances by adopting soft hindutva to blunt the BJP’s efforts at polarisation. He embraced and flaunted his Hindu identity, and visiting temples became routine in his campaign runs.

As the stage is set for the Lok Sabha polls, Rahul is ready with a template for the attack on Modi, and he will be looking to replicate the successes in assembly polls at the national level. A big challenge before him is forming alliances. Poll tie-ups played an important role in the Congress coming to power in 2004. The party is more or less ready with alliances in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. However, the complications involved in dealing with regional bigwigs such as Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who are not willing to accept primacy of the Congress in the opposition conglomerate, are only too evident.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has been kept out of the opposition alliance, which comprises the Samajwadi Party, the BSP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. This happened primarily because Mayawati is wary of aligning with the Congress. Rahul’s response has been, in his own words, to “play on the front foot” by putting sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The hope is that the Priyanka effect would not only pose problems for Modi, whose constituency (Varanasi) is in that region, but also lead to a tacit understanding with the regional parties.

“Rahulji took the right decision by sending Priyankaji to Uttar Pradesh,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a Congress leader from the state. “It would have been disastrous for the Congress to be shut out of UP when our mission is to unseat Narendra Modi at the Centre.”

The Congress’s relationship with Mamata Banerjee is complicated—a staunch rival in West Bengal and an uneasy ally at the national level. Even in Bihar, where the Congress has been on much friendlier terms with the regional power, Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, seat sharing talks for the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) have been a prolonged affair, with the regional players indulging in tough bargaining. In Delhi, the local leadership of the Congress has stymied attempts at forging an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party.

Political scientist Abhay Kumar Dubey said that with a uniform alliance at the national level proving to be difficult, Rahul will have to allow the upcoming contest to be state-specific. “A uniform alliance with one face is neither practical nor politically savvy,” said Dubey. “The BJP will turn it into a presidential kind of election, with Modi being their face. It is more prudent to have state-specific alliances that allow regional leaders to play to their strengths.”

Another challenge is to come up with solutions to the core issues that the party is raising such as joblessness and the agrarian crisis. Congress state governments have announced unemployment doles and implemented farm loan waivers to convey that the Congress has solutions to offer to the issues it has raised. Another major proposal made by the Congress is a minimum income guarantee scheme to every person falling in the economically weaker category. And with an eye on women voters, the party has promised to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill, if voted to power. The bill would ensure 33 per cent of the seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures. The party has also promised 33 per cent reservation for women in the Central government and Central public sector undertakings.

Rahul has given directions that in selection of candidates, youth, women and those belonging to weaker sections should be considered. Another guideline set down by him for choosing candidates is that those who have lost elections more than twice should be replaced by new faces. At his insistence, the party’s manifesto is being prepared after having crowdsourced ideas through public, countrywide consultations.

Energising party workers is another focus area of the Congress president, and among the initiatives to give them a bigger say in the decision-making process is the Shakti mobile application, an interactive forum involving the party high command. After the recent assembly elections, the party workers were asked, through the app, to state their preference for the chief minister’s post. The party has also launched a ‘Mera Booth, Mera Gaurav’ programme, which is aimed at strengthening booth-level management by training and sensitising workers.

However, infighting in state units has proved to be a persistent problem for the Congress. Factionalism was kept at bay during the assembly elections, but it is expected to be a major challenge during the Lok Sabha polls, especially when it comes to selection of candidates.

While the Lok Sabha elections present Rahul and the Congress with an opportunity to make a comeback after the party’s disastrous showing in the 2014 polls, there are challenges to be surmounted, both within and outside the party.