Bharat Jodo Yatra: Make or Break Moment for Congress 

The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Congress Walkathon to Unite India) seems to be making the right noises for the beleaguered grand old party, which is staring into political irrelevance after sustained electoral defeats. The Congress is marketing the walkathon led by Rahul Gandhi(RG) as an apolitical mass mobilisation movement that will traverse through 12 states and 2 union territories to save India from BJP’s social fracturing ‘Hindutva’ agenda and public policies. The party, having failed to stop its terminal decline, is now piggy backing on intellectuals and civil society members to reconnect with the electorate and local NGOs to re-establish their faith in Congress. It aims to portray the BJP regime as an authoritarian and emergency like situation with the hope of rekindling and recreating the anti-emergency movement of 1978 to regain its lost political glory. The stated objectives of the Congress yatra appears to be a well thought out plan that could reverse its declining graph but it depends upon the efficacy of its leadership and party system to translate it into action for real gains. 

Reluctant Leader Walking the Talk

The leadership crisis plaguing the Congress after the exit of RG as party president following the Lok Sabha elections 2019 debacle may cast a long shadow on the walkathon. The absence of clear and cogent leadership will act as a dampener in walking the talk because of two reasons. One the stubbornness of RG in taking back his resignation and continuing as the Congress president despite requests from senior party members has created an image of a leader with ‘Quitter’sMindset’thereby lessening his political capital. Two his exit brought back Sonia Gandhi as interim president creating a dual power centre that is causing confusion in party cadres and its traditional supporters. The reluctance of RG in accepting 24X7 leadership coupled with no executive power experience makes him a ‘talking the talk’ leader with miniscule political magnetism to attract new followers and widen party support base. 

Apart from stewardship issues, the Congress does not have the requisite prestige and resources to drive this initiative. It lost its hegemonic dominance post 2014 national elections due to several reasons prominent being dynasticism, minority appeasement, political stagnation, ideological rigidity, collapse of party system and mass exodus of leaders. It has lost the status of one party dominance, consisting of a party of consensus and parties of pressure with effective mechanisms of change and conflict resolution to a political establishment with a complete breakdown in two-way communications between society and politics. The attempt to reconnect with aspirational citizens through a mass contact programme of 150 days in an era of night and day politics seems both unrealistic and naïve.    

Trust Deficit of Intellectuals and Civil Society

The Congress projection of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ as a people’s movement supported from outside by public intellectuals and non-profit making organisations immediately raises eyebrows on the independence and objectivity of civil society. NGOs like academicians cleverly disguised their ideological leanings and covert quid pro quo transactions with left-liberal parties. Their open association with the yatra and walking shoulder to shoulder with RG not only smashes their artificial façade of non-partisan intellectualism, but also publicly reveals their ulterior motives of reviving the Congress and power sharing for personal benefits. The credentials of the NGOs after BJP came to power have taken a severe beating as quite a few international and national organisations have been involved in money laundering, financial irregularities and anti-India activities. This collaborative initiative will be detrimental, as the poor public perception of the Congress and wide trust deficit of the civil society will rub against each other and create further defeatist political traction and negative vibes among the citizens. 

The timing of the discovery of half India and reconnection with people by the grand old party and their beneficiary networks is wrong as they needed to fix their own houses in order before taking on the BJP that has a widespread grassroot presence and deep pockets. They lack an alternative political narrative, acceptable leadership and organisational set ups to counter the saffron upsurge and consolidation. They are still fixated with egotism, imaginary domination and antiquated politics of secularism that is not acceptable by a majority of the populace.

The reading between the lines of the marathon walk reveals three underlying intentions of the Congress PR exercise. One is to internationalise the discourse of Indian democracy in danger and rising sectarianism to malign the image of the BJP government for pure electoral gains. Two it intends to present a mediatized ground swell for the party to send a strong message to non-BJP parties that they cannot defeat the saffron alliance in general elections 2024 without its tacit support. Three to magnify people’s support to bolster RG’s leadership among the cadres and create a belief that only he can bring the grand old party back to power. The centre stage provided to RG is a blunder as his poor leadership achievements and dynastic entitlement will become a liability rather than asset in making ‘Unite India Campaign’ a runaway success.   

           — Praveen Rai is a Political Analyst at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.