Bharat Jodo Yatra: Congress must sharpen its messaging

The party needs to keep focus on issues of inflation, joblessness and economic distress - instead of harping on BJP's divisive politics

The refrain among those who would like to see a strong Opposition at the Centre is that the Congress lacks the energy, aggression and ruthless strategy to take the fight to the ruling party's door and present itself as a credible alternative to it. The criticism is valid, since all that the Congress seems to have done lately is to accelerate its slide into irrelevance.

Hammered in two successive general elections, multiple state governments ruled by the Congress and its allies hijacked by the nimble-footed BJP, a string of senior leaders quitting the party, citing loss of confidence in its leadership, and the ridiculous muddle over who will helm the party going forward — all this has made the Congress seem outwitted, out-gunned and thoroughly out of ideas as to how it can resurrect itself.

In the midst of this existential crisis, comes the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra — a marathon, 150-day-long mass outreach exercise from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, spanning over 3500 km, 12 states and two Union Territories. It's early days yet, but nearly a week into the yatra, it is beginning to look as if the Congress's long march has a fair chance of bringing the party back into the mindspace of the people. However, whether or not that happens depends on how smartly the Congress and its leadership are able to work this opportunity to make a comeback as a serious contender for power at the Centre.

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Both Rahul Gandhi and his party have been at pains to downplay the fact that he is leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra, — partly because the Congress is set to elect a new president on October 17, and also because he is known to be reluctant to take the top job a second time. But one look at Rahul at the vanguard of the march, pressing flesh, smiling and chatting warmly with people, and you are in no doubt that this padayatra is as much about reinvigorating the Congress as it is about rebranding the 52-year-old politician as a man of the masses, a man who feels for them and can be trusted to make their lives better.

Rahul's political opponents know exactly what is at play here. Not surprisingly, therefore, they have sprung into action, dissing Rahul any which way they can. First, there was a furore over the fact that he met with a controversial pastor who is supposed to have made hate speech against Hindu gods. Then there was a social media outcry over a luxury brand of T-shirt he sported during the march. (That didn't wear too well, because the Congress immediately flagged the Prime Minister's fondness for suits and sunglasses that cost several lakhs of rupees.) Soon after, the minister for women and child development, Smriti Irani, declared that Rahul was guilty of "sedition" because he had said that the Opposition was now fighting not just a party but the entire state machinery. And, of course, sundry BJP leaders have been badmouthing the yatra as Rahul's attempt at "Bharat todo" (break India) rather than Bharat jodo (connect India).

Expect many more such high-decibel rants against Rahul by BJP leaders in the coming months. Ironically, the more the BJP slams Rahul during the course of the yatra, the more apparent it will be that the party feels that the exercise could give an image-boost to the much-mocked scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, and that it needs to go firing on all cylinders to prevent that from happening.

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In the past the BJP has had spectacular success in painting Rahul as an entitled princeling, an effete dynast, a pappu, who could never be a challenger to the charismatic mass leader, Narendra Modi. So why should it be different this time? Why should an all-out offensive against Rahul during the next five months, not succeed in diminishing him even more?

The answer lies in the fresh context that the Congress has picked for itself — and Rahul. A long-haul padayatra lets people check out its leader up close and draw their own conclusions, which makes any adverse propaganda against the person less effective. Indeed, if the Prime Minister is perennially in election mode, working the crowds round the year with his impressive demagoguery, a pan-India walkathon could give Rahul similar exposure, and a similar chance to make a direct connection with people across the country.

Add to that the long association of padayatras with a noble cause. Be it Gandhiji's Salt March in 1930, social crusader Vinoba Bhave's padayatras seeking land for the landless in post-Independence India, or even Swami Vivekananda's Bharat parikrama (1887-1893), wherein he traversed the length and breadth of the country in an effort to understand it, such long marches are redolent of high ideals. And Rahul could well profit from that during his own mega yatra.

Interestingly, the Bharat Jodo Yatra also seems to have injected a shot of badassery into the usually anaemic Congress. Soon after the gleeful social media tirade over Rahul's expensive Burberry T-shirt, the Congress hit back by tweeting a picture of a pair of khaki shorts on fire. (Khaki shorts are, of course, the erstwhile uniform of the RSS, the ideological fountainhead of the BJP.) Needless to say, the proxies of the ruling party and the RSS went ballistic and much censure was heaped upon the Congress for the tweet.

Unless the BJP learns to ignore the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the coming days, there will be plenty more such Congress-BJP war of words that will capture the headlines. And at a time when other Opposition parties such as the AAP, TMC or TRS have shown their contempt for the grand old party's ability to lead an anti-BJP front, this could conceivably allow the Congress to wrest the narrative back to itself as the principal challenger to the BJP — one without which no meaningful Opposition alliance is possible.

But for the Congress to truly capitalise on the opportunities afforded by the Bharat Jodo Yatra, it must do two key things. First, it needs to sharpen its messaging. India today is a deeply polarised country, and you will only be preaching to the converted if you harp on the BJP's divisive politics and the need to uphold the idea of a pluralistic India. In another age, the Congress got dividends from its bare-bones 'Roti, Kapda, Makan' slogan. It needs to do something similar on the yatra, that is, focus relentlessly on the issues that are affecting people's daily lives — the crippling inflation, the lack of jobs, the farm distress and so on — and how India's oldest party has a plan to make their lives and futures better. The fight for pluralism can be fought when you are in power, not when you are seeking it.

Second, the party must sort out its leadership question once and for all. If the election for the post of Congress president next month throws up someone other than a Gandhi, let the family step aside, cease all backroom meddling, and give the person full agency to run the party the way he or she deems fit. And if it is indeed going to be Rahul who formally takes up the reins of the party yet again, there can be no half measures, no now-you-see-me, now-you-don't quasi leadership. He must be fully, unambiguously, invested in the role and do what it takes to re-energise the Congress and lead it from the front.

And, yes, that includes not indulging in such thoughtless actions as the wearing of luxury brands. The long road to political power is as much about theatre as it is about real issues. The Bharat Jodo Yatra is a good start for the Congress. But Rahul, or anyone who leads the party, must understand that dislodging the BJP from power is not going to be a mere walk in the park.

(Shuma Raha is a journalist and author)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.