THE CONGRESS HAND AS A FIST

"Crores of workers of the Congress party must build on the momentum of the Bharat Jodo Yatra to defeat the divisive forces of the BJP and RSS. 

- Kaushik Deka

A mass awareness campaign will be launched against the crudest example of crony capitalism which the entire country and the world is seeing." The concluding sentences of this 'Call to Action' document revealed a new glint of steel in the Grand Old Party's campaign plan for the 2024 general election. Released on the concluding day of the Congress's 85th plenary session, held in Raipur over February 24-26, the document incorporates a four-pronged strategy. Chief among them is the idea of harnessing the energy created by Rahul Gandhi's cross-country yatra. This bleeds over into the other three: trying to win six assembly polls later this year on its own steam; showcasing the governance model of Congress-ruled states, built around a vision of social justice and inclusivity; and tapping into that momentum to build an alliance of like-minded Opposition parties with the Congress at its centre.

 All good in theory, critics could say, till they try to put it into practice. But a new self-confidence was evident in the tone and content of the message, and its source is the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY). Thus, the pivot of the strategy is to amplify its message-an inclusive, progressive vision of India where constitutional values reign supreme, standing against what it calls the BJP's politics of division and Hindutva. And a brand of nationalism that, in Rahul's words, can stand up to external foes like China as also fight internal corporate oligarchs the way the party had once fought British colonialism.