Congress: A New Confidence
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-07-24 13:21:07
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
There is a new-found confidence in the Congress party. This was clearly visible in the way it handled the opposition conclave in Bengaluru. After having prevaricated over support to AAP in the Delhi services ordinance matter, the party announced just before the conclave that it would oppose the ordinance in Parliament. That cleared the way for AAP to attend the conclave. At the event, the party asked Mamata Banerjee to co-chair the meet. During the conclave, party president Mallikarjun Kharge reportedly informed the attending parties that the Congress was not interested in the post of the prime minister. All these actions are the direct result of a new confidence in the party and the confidence is in turn the result of three main events.
The biggest of these events was the Bharat Jodo Yatra undertaken by Rahul Gandhi. The response to the yatra exceeded the expectation of the party. It showed that there was suppressed anger in the country against the policies of the NDA government and support Rahul Gandhi received at most places was spontaneous and boosted the morale of the party. It also showed that despite electoral reverses, the ground infrastructure and cadre commitment of the party was intact and just needed to be channelized in the right direction. Although most critics had initially dismissed the yatra as a gimmick to rectify the image of Rahul Gandhi, it is now clear that more than Gandhi, it is the party that has benefitted and even the other opposition parties have started giving it due respect after the yatra.
The next event was the stunning victory in Karnataka. It was clear that the BJP was facing huge anti-incumbency and its divisive policies (hijab row, halal meat row etc.) were not going down well with the electorate in the state. But what was not clear was whether the Congress, beset with internal conflicts, would be able to take advantage of the situation and come back to power. Most observers were of the view that there would be a hung verdict in Karnataka. But the confident Congress proved them all wrong as it turned the tables on the BJP. Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar forgot their differences and ran a good campaign. The Congress also got is calculations right and wrested seats from both the BJP and the JD(S) to register an important win.
The third event which has reinvigorated the party was the election of Mallikarjun Kharge as the party president. Despite his low-key image (or may be due to it), Kharge's elevation has been the best thing that has happened to the party in a long time. He has handled most conflicts within the party with finesse. Hence, after the victory in Karnataka was in the danger of being derailed as Shivakumar was adamant to be chief minister, Kharge defused the situation with what has now become his customary methodical manner. He has also been instrumental in defusing the tensions between Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.
Notwithstanding the contradictions inherent in bringing the opposition parties together on the all-India level when they are fighting against each other in many states, if the Congress can build on this confidence it is rightly going to be at the centre of the new opposition alliance and is expected to give the BJP a tough fight in the nearly 200 Lok Sabha seats where the parties will face-off in a one-to-one contest in 2024.
