November 21, 2024

Congress Bounces Back

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2024-06-04 06:40:39

About the Author

Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

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The Congress party needs to be congratulated for putting up a stellar show in direct fights with the BJP. It has more than doubled its tally from 2019. In states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, it has snatched many seats from the BJP. It has only failed in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. As part of the INDIA alliance, it has performed well in UP, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar. Overall, it has managed to increase both seats and vote share, giving a huge fillip to the party that was being written off by most experts. Although it has not managed to show the door to the BJP, this performance by the Congress is nothing short of a huge victory for the party as, despite continuous tirade against it by all front ranking BJP leaders, it has given its best performance in 10 years.

The cumulative effect of the two yatras and the tireless campaigning by Rahul Gandhi, along with the timely decision to stitch together an all-India alliance with like-minded parties (which the high command forcefully did, riding over the objections of many state units) and wise choice of candidates ensured that the Congress did much better than expected. This means that the party will be reinvigorated and shake off its paralysis. This is good for Indian democracy as a strong opposition is needed to keep a check on the ruling party. It also means that the other opposition parties, mainly the regional parties, that were not willing to give the Congress the leading space in any alliance, will now have to fall in line for the Congress has shown that it is capable of giving the BJP a tough fight and is the only all-India alternative.