Citizenship chorus key to winning back lost ground

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 28

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As the Congress marked its 135th Foundation Day with “Save Constitution-Save India rallies” on Saturday, the mood among the general rank and file was upbeat.

Fresh from twin doses of government formations in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the party appeared better geared to face the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s winning combination than it was over previous years.

In the ongoing Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens protests, the Congress has suddenly found a narrative it has long been looking for since the lost public support on the eve of 2014 General Elections.

“The only challenge before the Congress today is to save the idea of India,” party’s veteran MLA from Himachal Pradesh and AICC in charge for Punjab Asha Kumari says.

The AICC functionary adds that the objectives of the broader mass of Indian people and those of the Congress have today converged.

“Like the people, the Congress also wants to protect the Constitution and the Indian-ness the Constitution stands for,” Asha Kumari notes.

Hoping to become the face of the people’s movement underway against the CAA and NRC, the Congress top brass has of late been making the right noises.

Wresting this anti BJP narrative remains key to party’s communication strategy going forward. Congress leaders concede that it is key to be seen as leading what a General Secretary described today as “a steady build up of anti BJP sentiment.”

That explains why Congress President Sonia Gandhi made a rare video appearance last week to say that she and her party support “students’ just struggle against the CAA and NRC.”

For a party that has witnessed several electoral setbacks starting 2014 Lok Sabha elections, acquiring an edge in articulation of the anti BJP angst is an important task going forward.

Insiders see the current protests as a repeat of larger public sentiment that was seen build up around Anna Hazare anti corruption movement in 2011. The uprising had proved the undoing of Congress led UPA in 2014 general elections — something the Congress hopes the current agitation will prove for the ruling BJP.

“Since the loss in 2014, the Congress has been struggling to get control of the political narrative. We are now getting somewhere. We and the people are on the same page today,” says a senior party leader indicating the aggression with which both former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and his sister and AICC General Secretary UP Priyanka Gandhi are going around the country attacking PM Modi.

Both were in the field today speaking against CAA and NRC.

While the race to win public perception could be long for the Congress still seen by many political parties as elitist (historian Ramachandra Guha had recently questioned the Congress for the absence from the national anti CAA protest scene), the Congress feels it needs to script its own strategy around the current protests and be seen as its focal point.

That brings the Congress to its principal challenge as the party enters the 135th year.

As political analyst Apoorvanand points out, “Political parties now need to shed their inhibitions and resistance and come together in a common public cause to educate people on the perils of CAA and NRC.”

But is the Congress prepared to make sacrifices along the way?

Maharashtra election results showed the Congress is capable of showing flexibility.

A party that had systematically alienated potential allies on the eve of 2019 LS polls suddenly decided to be part of the Shiv Sena led ruling alliance in the key western state.

Insiders attribute the decision to Sonia Gandhi’s pragmatism.

“Sonia Gandhi decided that BJP was a bigger ideological rival than the Sena. The decision was easy and was made,” a Congress Working Committee member says.

Party insiders add that a similar outcome for Maharashtra could not have been guaranteed had Rahul Gandhi been party president.

“Rahul Gandhi was in charge on the eve of LS polls of 2019 and we couldn’t form winning combinations with parties despite realisation that such anti BJP alliances were absolutely essential. The Congress will have to think about how far it is willing to go to keep the BJP away from power,” a Congress veteran said today.

Even in Jharkhand elections, the Congress scripted victory by agreeing to play second fiddle to the JMM and declaring JMM working chief Hemant Soren the alliance CM face.

“Flexibility in alliance formation will remain a challenge for the Congress in the coming days. Yes we played junior partners in both Maharashtra and Jharakhand and we made compromises to form the government. As long as we know why we did that, we will be fine. That clarity must emerge and must remain consistent,” a party strategist said adding that in the future too the Congress would be put to test on striking winnable electoral combinations against the BJP.

Will that be possible remains to be seen with the party at the crossroads over the question of leadership.

The pragmatic Sonia Gandhi has told colleagues she is only holding fort as interim chief after her son Rahul resigned taking moral responsibility for the Congress defeat in 2019 elections.

Murmurs suggest the ground for Rahul’s return is already being laid.

That transition itself would be challenging for the party which turned 134 today, and stepped into its 135th year.