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In search for the right balance: 4 questions Congress needs to answer to forge a formidable front against BJP

Today Congress cannot defeat BJP on its own. It needs to pick a trick from BJP’s election book.

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Two years back, an industrialist in San Francisco asked me to sum up the difference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. I said,” Rahul who started his journey from the West, knew the culture of corporations and startups, is now visiting every temple in India and Modi who cut his teeth in identity politics and was part and parcel of famous Rath Yatra is busy hopping from one startup to another in your country.” I meant it seriously. I was trying to convey the idea that in India one cannot be done at the expense of the other.

It was very much expected that Congress would soon find a right balance and emerge ideologically coherent Opposition. Today, it reminds me more of BJP under LK Advani who wanted to cast himself in the image of Vajpayee but ended losing his original tough guy character.

Similarly, till today four major ideological positions remain undefined by the Congress making its transition under Rahul Gandhi even more strenuous. This is despite the fact that Congress has done well on the social media due to anger caused by BJP’s political uptightness and outrage politics. But Social media success is only a step in the right direction and not an end in itself.

Dilemma of ideology

The first debate which Congress has not been able to settle is whether it right of center, left of center or centrist party married to hard secularism or a centrist party not averse to Hindu moorings. This debate rages in the Congress and lack of clear signaling has left many voters confused. The lack of clarity creates questions on economic policies which may get pursued by Rahul Gandhi whenever he gets the chance to be at the helms of the affair. I’m sure that P Chidambaram’s weekly articles wouldn’t suffice.  

Address aspirations of OBC

A political development taken place in the last three decades leads us to the second issue. The OBCs in past two decades have rapidly gone through the process of ‘sanskritization’ and have become the new faces of both hard and soft Hindu politics which today stands married to euphoric nationalism. Only a small segment of the OBC remains married to the idea of Samajwadi or Kisan politics who have morphed into regional state-centric parties.  

So, what is the counter of the Congress to an equation which rests on caste but operates on twin wheels of nationalism and Hinduism? It is this churn which expanded BJP in many states. BJP further created a new political grammar by reimagining Dalits into Jatav non- Jatav thereby further fragmenting Dalit OBC polarization at the village level. What is the Congress alternative to this politics? Will it be pure state based caste alignment opposed to nationalism married to Hinduism or aspirational politics on the wheels of different caste combinations?  Well, it remains undefined.

Define stand on nationalism and terrorism
This brings us to the third question. BJP has successfully milked outrage politics and nationalism as its own little ‘precious’. It has also rampantly politicized the issue of terrorism. Many would argue that it is a revenge against the much-touted idea of Hindu terror which ended up as a political tool to hammer RSS but a counter remains unavailable. The issue for Congress remains unresolved.

Despite an attempt to delineate the difference between patriotism and nationalism, the Congress message remains garbled. One such example was Major Gogoi’s case where for days it wasn’t clear as to where the Congress stood on the issue--with Major Gogoi or the chap tied to the bonnet of his jeep.

The absence of clear positioning on the issue of nationalism glued to Hindu symbols in political arena also adds to the confusion. Unclear answers often get interpreted as a soft response to tough issues faced by the Republic.

Road to Delhi passes through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

Fourthly, Congress today is a two-digit party in Lok Sabha. It is non-existent in the state of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which sends 120 MPS to Lok Sabha. (Irony is that in 2009 it sent 20 plus Congress MPs to Lok Sabha)

Till today the debate rages within the leaders on its priority. Should it enter into alliances with regional parties which ends up further weakening the Congress or should it act like a rolling stone and ensure BJP doesn’t come to power at the centre. In past two years, the latter seems to have held a strong sway but lack of clarity on this issue remains baffling to the politically unattached voters or sympathisers.

The only green shoots for the Congress is BJP’s ugly culture war, economic slowdown, and vulgar political hectoring has disappointed many in the middle class. The controversy on Taj Mahal was one such case. The middle class misses the nuance on complex issues as BJP’s has demolished most of them into straight lines. 

Today Congress cannot defeat BJP on its own. It needs to pick a trick from BJP’s election book. BJP remained absent from the scene from 2010 till 2013 till Narendra Modi finally emerged from the shadows. The fight remained between civil society and Congress. BJP just pushed it into the right direction.

If only Congress finds the right balance on ideological issues, it can then hope to tap political constituencies opposed to BJP. It can only happen if people come to know as to where does Rahul Gandhi’s Congress stand on the majority of the issues. And it would be better if they come to know from him.

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