After a Surat court gave him a two-year sentence for defamation, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Parliament. This caused a huge uproar. Many arch-rivals of the Congress, like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), came out to show solidarity against the disqualification. But in the first press conference after the disqualification, when Rahul Gandhi again took a dig at Veer Savarkar, the party’s ally Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) slammed the Congress. This dissatisfaction is a clear sign that Congress’ real problem is that its politics is all about Rahul Gandhi. And if the Congress believes that the show of Opposition solidarity is an acceptance of its Rahul-centric politics, then it will lead to more disenchantment in the Opposition camp.
Uddhav Thackeray’s discontent
One of the main problems with Rahul Gandhi’s politics is that he talks about Indian culture and history without much thought. It is hurtful to see that a tall Opposition leader shows zero empathy towards the feelings of the people, communities, and sections concerning historical figures and cultures of India. For instance, the Congress party may have a different position than Shiv Sena on the issue of Savarkar, but making statements like “My name is not Savarkar, and I won’t apologise” shows a desperately irresponsible politician with zero respect for the allies and even for the communities. It is not that Rahul Gandhi is unaware of the position of the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Savarkar. But he did not feel it was that important because the Congress loves to believe that Gandhis are larger than life.
Uddhav Thackeray said, “I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that we walked with you in your ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ as it was for the fight to save democracy. But I want to openly tell Rahul Gandhi that Savarkar is a god-like figure for us, and we will not tolerate his insult. We are together in the fight to save democracy. But do not make statements or take steps that will create fissures (between the Senate and the Congress).”
The discontentment of Uddhav Thackeray should be an eye-opener for the Congress. It is high time for the grand old party to realise that Rahul Gandhi-centric politics will only create more such issues. A person with zero empathy for the allies cannot be the centre of the Opposition alliance because then there will be no balance.
Messages for Congress from Opposition Parties
Most importantly, the Congress needs to realise that if the Opposition wants to work together, it will have to include the regional political parties. Each regional party comes from a different state and has its own culture and social history. A leader like Rahul Gandhi who doesn’t understand or isn’t willing to respect such differences can’t be the undisputed leader of such an alliance.
The fact that Rahul’s disqualification brought the leaders of the Opposition together shows that the Opposition political parties are growing up. They want to make it obvious that cooperation with the Congress can only be based on certain concerns and goals. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised Gandhi harshly in the Parliament and asked him to take back a supposed anti-Indian comment he made in the UK. This seemed to cause a split in the Opposition. While some political groups backed the Congress, others, like the TMC, criticised the grand old party for concentrating only on Rahul Gandhi’s conflict with the BJP.
Many Issues of Opposition Parties
It is important to understand how strong the Congress party is across India and how much momentum it has gained since Rahul Gandhi led the Bharat Jodo Yatra. But India’s Opposition politics has changed since Narendra Modi was elected the prime minister. The AAP, for example, now dominates two significant states, Delhi and Punjab. Gujarat and Goa both have active AAP governments. The entry of AAP occurred at the expense of the Congress. Kejriwal was the first to come out in support of Rahul, but there should not be any doubt that he will approve a Rahul Gandhi-centric political narrative of the Opposition.
For example, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is in charge of the Bengal Congress, criticises the TMC government both inside and outside of Bengal. But at the same time, the Bengal Congress wants Banerjee’s support in the Parliament. The TMC itself dismantled the Meghalaya Congress and stole its electoral support. Political parties such as AAP and TMC, or even BRS and SP, are concerned that if the Opposition’s entire optics become Rahul-centric, they will be pushed to the sidelines.
The Congress party needs to understand that this struggle cannot be won while acting haughtily and from the moral high chair. Also, the Congress needs to decide if their main goal should be to back Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister or fight against the BJP.
Sharad Pawar, Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, and Akhilesh Yadav, who lead the political groups of the Opposition, are all experienced politicians who know that a third front without the Congress cannot compete with the BJP. Their main concern right now is that these regional political parties stay around in their states. When Akhilesh Yadav held Rahul Gandhi’s hand during the Uttar Pradesh elections, the SP successfully converted votes to Congress, but the Congress did not. In the recently concluded Tripura elections, where the Left and the Congress got together, a similar situation was experienced.
Regional parties will always try to keep going, no matter what, and it’s becoming clearer with each election that working with the Congress in their states doesn’t help them. On the other hand, they worry about losing political clout in national politics if they accept Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and accept him as the leader of the Opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming general elections in 2024.
Way Forward
So, right now, it is time for the Congress party, under the leadership of its president, Mallikarjun Kharge, to sit down with all these regional stakeholders and find out their shared minimum agenda. If the Congress party is too busy protecting Rahul Gandhi both inside and outside of Parliament, political parties that are not directly affiliated with the Congress but are in Opposition to the Congress will feel more uneasy. These political figures, including Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, and Akhilesh Yadav, have a history in Indian politics. If the Congress party reaches out to these leaders by breaking the ice at the topmost levels, then the situation can be better.
There is no doubt that Congress has goals and wants Rahul Gandhi to lead the party. However, the party needs to realise that strategies that focus on Rahul Gandhi hurt the party. If the Congress believes that the BJP will make even a minor concession to Gandhi, they are delusional. It is a battleground, and the BJP will benefit more as long as the Congress becomes more Rahul Gandhi-focused.
Indeed, there can’t be a third front against the BJP without the Congress, but this is because of history and the thousands of party members and supporters in each state who helped build the party. The Gandhis did not create the Congress, but whether they served as a catalyst to destroy the party or not is something the party’s “karyakartas” should consider. This is the reason why the Congress shouldn’t dismiss the requests and perspectives of the local political parties. Hypocrisy is what comes to mind when people make speeches about being willing to give up things for Opposition unity but then centre their entire political platform around Rahul Gandhi.
After the disqualification of Gandhi, the sentiments of the Congress workers and leaders are obvious, but if the party wants to make it the key poll issue against the BJP, then the other parties might not approve it with ease. But this can be strategically used to bring all the parties to the table to discuss the future course of action. The burden is on Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his ability to strategise freely.
The author is a Columnist and Doctoral Research Scholar In Media & Politics. He tweets @sayantan_gh. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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