RaGa addressing question of opposition unity in 2024

Delhi responded enthusiastically to the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" of Rahul Gandhi. This must have stunned the BJP. The unexpected gesture is significant in view of the weak presence of Congress in the national capital. This also reveals an important aspect of Indian democracy: accommodation still remains at its core. It goes without saying that the BJP and the RSS have been promoting confrontation and rejection in public discourse for the past few years. They want us to believe that differing views cannot coexist. It is not a correct theme. In its complex course of evolution, human civilization has learned to be tolerant of differing ideas. In fact, it has become the cheered goal of modern civilization to engage with ideas that are contrary to established views. This is the core element of a democratic order.

By their appearance in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, people have shown that the ruling dispensations might have discarded the core element of democracy, but the people still subscribe to it. This is heartening not only for the Congressmen but also for those who believe in a strong democracy to see a huge crowd in Delhi. It cannot be overlooked that voters who had convincingly rejected the party in recent elections of civic bodies chose to greet its leader with open arms. It only displays the deep-seated democratic spirit of the common people.

However, this massive support for the Yatra does not make this question irrelevant if Yatra is going to benefit Congress electorally. After all, Congress is the main opposition party in India, and even if the Yatra is looking beyond individual gains for the party, it has to address electoral needs. We must remember that this is the only party that can challenge the BJP at the national level.

Mainstream media and newspapers have not been positive toward the Yatra from the very beginning. Though it covered the event in Delhi in some detail, it remained dismissive. One of the arguments put forward against the yatra was that people thronged to it out of curiosity. This is a simplistic view of the big political developments. The huge participation certainly displays the frustration and anger of the common people against the present regime. This would be erroneous to dismiss a serious political campaign as being driven by a curiosity factor. In essence, it is a message from the people to the ruling party to express their resentment.

The media has been questioning the ability of the Yatra to bring electoral benefits to Congress. It is partisan. It hardly highlights the fact that the yatra is uniting opposition parties and others. It ignores that many opposition parties and civil society groups have supported it and participated. Among them are the DMK, Shiv Sena, NCP, and others. This cannot be denied; it will prepare a strong ground for broad opposition unity for the 2024 elections.

Analysts are ignoring the contribution of the Yatra to the revival of the narrative of a secular and inclusive India. Without such a narrative, how could the opposition put up effective resistance to the ideology of Hindutva? The Yatra has consistently put forward a counter-narrative to communalism. Rahul Gandhi has been attacking Savarkar and the RSS with a clear voice. Yet Rahul is not ignoring issues on the ground and is raising problems such as unemployment, price rises, and inequality. These are the problems that have acquired dangerous proportions.

The Delhi leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra prompted the mainstream media to bring in the story of the electoral victory of the BJP in Gujarat to drive home the point that, while the Yatra was on, the Congress performed dismally in the state and allowed the BJP to do extremely well. This is a lopsided view of the recent electoral results. It is a fact that the Aam Aadmi Party played an important role in the BJP's victory. The party eroded people's confidence in the Congress as a formidable opposition, and then made a dent in its support base. The BJP's losing assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and MCD elections in Delhi also cannot be ignored.

Furthermore,. This should be interpreted as an acknowledgment of the ideological diversities in politics as well. The party is already in an effective alliance with other parties in Maharashtra, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu. The alliance in Bihar has in it parties with diverse ideologies, from the left to the right. The state BJP could not find any strong allies and is completely isolated. The same is true for Maharashtra. Here's the ferocious right wing. Shiv Sena is a partner of the Congress, along with the NCP. Even after a major split in the Shiv Sena, this is a strong alliance. The opposition cannot remain fragmented in 2024. It will be at their peril.

But everything could not be expected from a single campaign. It would be improper to speculate that Congress will defeat the ruling BJP in 2024 without working on different fronts. It has to address the dissent within the party. It is not correct to think that the yatra will quell them overnight. The party has to evolve a mechanism to bring different factions together.

It is clear that Rahul Gandhi is addressing the vital issue of forming opposition unity before 2024, but he has to do many more things to achieve this goal.

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)