oppn parties Rahul Gandhi Says Regional Parties Cannot Fight The Ideological Battle Against The BJP

Story Of The Day

Tiranga Rally Is Excellent. Breaking The Law Was Not

October 18, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Tragedy in Kolkata: Stampede at the Chor Bagan Pujo results in 18 people losing their lives and scores injured /////// The stampede was caused by a sudden downpour which made people in the heavy crowd run for cover
oppn parties
Rahul Gandhi Says Regional Parties Cannot Fight The Ideological Battle Against The BJP

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-05-16 07:26:39

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Rahul Gandhi was at his combative best at Udaipur. In his speech at the end of the three-day chintan shivir, he asserted that only the Congress was capable of leading the battle against the divisive and communal politics of the BJP and the regional parties did not have it in them to do so. 

Gandhi said that "the regional parties cannot fight this battle because this is an ideological fight. BJP talks about Congress, its leaders, its workers, but not about any regional party. That is because they know that regional parties have a place, but they cannot defeat BJP because they don't have an ideology. They have different approaches, we have a centralized approach."

What Gandhi said is true to a certain extent as the regional parties were born to take up the issues of the states they were formed in and have only now, given their victories over the BJP in their respective states, started to flex their muscles and show a desire to spread their wings in other states. But it is also true that these parties have defeated the BJP in their states by going against its divisive and communal politics and thus, they too have an ideology that can counter the BJP.

Further, given the precarious state the Congress is in electorally, in almost 80 percent of the states it needs to tie up with regional parties if it seriously considers itself to be a contender to lead the battle against the BJP. If Rahul Gandhi keeps on discounting the efforts of the regional parties in battling against the BJP, he will keep narrowing the choices before the Congress. That will hurt the party in its bid to revive itself.

Perhaps Rahul Gandhi was trying to take the fight to the regional parties instead of the BJP when he made the above speech as many of them have recently started saying that the Congress does not have the necessary will or the leadership to take on the BJP. In fact, West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and Telangana chief minister and TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao have been trying to unite the opposition minus the Congress.

But Rahul Gandhi must realize that political alliances are need-based and the Congress needs the regional parties more than they need it now. It has been wiped out in many states and if it has to claw back, it has to stitch up strategic alliances with smaller parties. With his speech in Udaipur, Rahul Gandhi has made it difficult for the Congress to look for alliance partners. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Eighteen lives lost at Chor Bagan. Kolkata must mourn first and learn second.

Eighteen lives lost at Chor Bagan. Kolkata must mourn first and learn second.

 Growth Without Jobs Is a Warning

Growth Without Jobs Is a Warning

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.