The Rise Of A New Congress From The Ashes Of The Old Guards
· Free Press Journal
A new congress is emerging; a new churn is happening in the grand old party. I know many will not agree with me, but I see a New Congress rising from the dust of history. This New Congress has clarity of vision and a roadmap for the future. Rahul Gandhi is its undisputed leader. And those who, like respected historian Ram Chandra Guha, can’t see this change in the party are either too enamoured of Modi-led BJP or too blind in their bias not to see the writing on the wall.
There is no doubt that the Congress under Rahul Gandhi was seen as lost in an ideological wilderness for close to 8 years since 2014, but once Rahul Gandhi decided to walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, the clouds of confusion gave way to clarity and directness. Like Mao’s Long March, the Bharat Jodo Yatra will prove to be a major milestone in Rahul’s political career. Like Mao, Rahul established his leadership by the time the Bharat Jodo march ended; Rahul also emerged from the shadow of the past and ideological confusion once the Bharat Jodo was over. The BJP, which had called him Pappu, stopped calling him that. But this was just the beginning. Many layers were added by the 2024 parliamentary elections. These layers were constitutionalism and social justice via the ‘Save the Constitution Campaign’ and the demand for a ‘caste census’. If ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was an indication of the Congress’s commitment to secularism, then ‘Save the Constitution Campaign’ was a promise for its fight for Dalit emancipation. ‘Caste census’ was a declaration by the Congress that it was ready to shed its past inhibitions regarding social justice and the Mandal Commission.
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If one adds these three elements and stitches them into a single thread, it gives a clear picture of an emerging ideological architecture that has the potential to successfully challenge the BJP’s Hindutva in the political space and replace the RSS’s narrative in the social sphere. ‘Secularism’, ‘constitutionalism’, and ‘social justice’ together address three very important fragments of Indian society which cover almost 80% of the population. For the minorities, secularism is the single most guaranteed protection for their socio-political existence and for their being within the four walls of the Constitution. The ‘Save the Constitution’ campaign promises Dalits that the concept of equality, which was given to them for the first time in Indian history by Babasaheb Ambedkar through the Constitution, will not be snatched away from them and they will be treated as equals. The caste census was not Rahul Gandhi's original brainwave. It was initiated by Nitish Kumar, but once he switched to the BJP, Rahul lapped it up and is ready to turn it into a social movement.
The social justice movement in the Indian context is as old as Ambedkar’s call for reservations for Dalits, but it received serious recognition when the Mandal Commission report was implemented by the VP Singh government in 1990. Ram Manohar Lohia was its original architect, but VP Singh was its main implementer. It is so ironic that two major streams of Indian politics, Hindutva and social justice, found their voices and became a potent force in the 1990s when the Congress was weakening. The Congress initially did not realise the potential of both the ideological energies and paid a heavy price in 2014. But now, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress is poised to take ownership of the social justice movement and use it as a counterforce vis-à-vis Hindutva.
Rahul Gandhi has realised that the BJP is not like an ordinary political party; it is an ideological party backed by robust, multi-layered, and multidimensional organisations that are supported by the very powerful capitalist and industrialist class. This combination of ideology, organisation, and capital makes the BJP, under the cult leadership of Modi, almost invincible. In Indian conditions, no opposition in the past has faced such a situation or operated within a system so widely eschewed to benefit the ruling party. There is no level playing field at the moment. Critics of the Congress Party ignore this changed condition and then express their anger and hatred toward the Congress. I have been regularly interacting with the opposition leaders, and they are clear that it is very difficult for them to fight this fight. But they saw a glimmer of hope in the 2024 election results and hoped the fight could be fought and won. But the clarity which Rahul has now, I am sorry to say, is absent in the opposition regional parties. This makes the Congress’s job more difficult and arduous.
Another challenge for Rahul Gandhi is a section of his own party, mostly old guards. These elder statesmen of the Congress, still living in the past, believe that the Congress is the default choice in Indian politics, and a few of them are too scared to face the government's wrath. With the recent election, the Congress has realised that it can’t fight its battle with the BJP as long as these ‘slow horses’ are there; they have to be dispensed with, sooner than later. The choice of new and energetic leaders in Kerala and Karnataka is a clear indication that the Congress is preparing for the final war. VD Satheesan is an excellent choice. He is relatively young and popular. Similarly, DK Shivakumar is also dynamic and unafraid of the BJP. He was jailed, but he did not leave Congress, and now he has been rightly rewarded. Then, in Tamil Nadu, the Congress is betting on a young, new face, Vijay, instead of an old, fatigued warrior—MK Stalin.
These changes show that, after ideological clarity, Rahul Gandhi is now more assertive and has decided to build the party according to his vision. The battle is not easy. No opposition leader in Indian history was up against such an overwhelmingly powerful regime, one that fights with such gladiatorial instinct and with so much media support. In the Colosseum of Indian politics, only a gladiator with a killer instinct and who is not scared of being killed in the battle arena in front of onlookers can fight Modi, a once-in-a-generation politician who does not believe in conceding an inch.
The writer is Co-Founder, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B