Pursuing the famous Marxist doctrine, one step forward and two steps backward, the Congress has relented to the demands of the satraps of the regional parties like TMC, SP and is virtually pitching to play second fiddle to them. To be reckoned as less important or being in weaker position is certainly not a small bet. By resorting to this strategy, Rahul has succeeded in sending out a strong message that the INDIA bloc would bring down Narendra Modi from power.
Rahul Gandhi’s tactical move has also denied the critics a stick to beat the Congress with and indulge in games of one-upmanship. Ironically, leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and earlier, Nitish Kumar, instead of strengthening the INDIA bloc, have been demeaning it and even blaming Rahul for being more interested in rejuvenating his own party than fighting Modi.
Nitish Kumar had cited the delay in seat-sharing as Rahul’s averseness to truly strengthening opposition unity, as the reason for his parting ways with INDIA. Mamata Banerjee was so angry with the delay in seat-sharing that she announced her decision to quit INDIA and go alone to the polls. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal had also expressed his desire to pull out of INDIA only for this.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had virtually shut his door for Congress by unanimously announcing his candidates for at least 23 constituencies. He even blamed the Congress for INDIA being a non-starter and even projected his PDA as the real alternative to the BJP. Certainly, this nature of posturing by these regional satraps does not enthuse the voters. They are sceptical of their future moves.
On the other hand, Rahul relenting to their demands has boosted his image and projected him as an altruistic and selfless leader. In a way, through their jibes and accusations, these opposition leaders have to a great extent blunted the allegations of Modi, who has tirelessly been accusing the Gandhi family of being power hungry; those who cannot survive without power.
Since November 2023, these leaders have been clamouring for seat adjustment. The fact is these parties do not have enough leaders to field them from the constituencies. On the contrary, the RSS and BJP have already finalised the names of the candidates, but they are still not willing to make them public. Even the Godi media has been maintaining absolute silence. It has been more worried about the INDIA bloc. While they have been trying to project this as real contentious issue, they maintain complete silence in the case of BJP.
The RSS and BJP have so far have not succeeded in finalising seat-sharing in states like Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. Probably, the saffron leadership is waiting for deserters from Congress, after being denied tickets. Even in Bihar, Modi and Amit Shah have not given their consent to Nitish’s proposal to contest 17 seats. In UP too, the small parties are on tenterhooks whether Modi and Shah would concede to their demands.
The situation is Maharashtra is quite complex. After being declared as the original Shiv Sena and NCP, both Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have staked claims for each contesting half of the total 48 seats. The question obviously arises in that situation how many seats the BJP would actually contest. Interestingly, the Godi media is not at all concerned about the internecine clash amongst the NDA constituents.
How this saffron strategy could go unnoticed for the regional satraps remains a mystery. In a way they have been giving the finishing touches to the RSS and BJP insinuation campaign against Congress. With Congress reaching out to Akhilesh and Mamata, it has become explicit that they are yet to acquire political maturity notwithstanding their claim for fame. Congress accepted the offer of 17 seats from Akhilesh. It did not press for two or three seats more.
In Bengal, Congress reached out to Mamata Banerjee to restart talks that fell through last month after she refused to budge from her offer of two Lok Sabha seats. Now the same Mamata is learnt to have agreed to give five seats. A leader like Mamata ought to have weighed in the impact of insinuation she had barbed against Rahul. In fact, she had openly blamed Rahul for the INDIA bloc impasse. She and her colleagues may not agree, but the fact is the recent intensification of the BJP onslaught against her owes to the perception making rounds in the political circle of her losing grip and ground in Bengal. Her failure to rally the entire opposition against the BJP has pushed her to the receiving end.
Rahul’s flexibility has also helped the party in Maharashtra, the state having substantial number of seats. This follows Rahul’s outreach to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. The INDIA bloc must have parties like Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi of Prakash Ambedkar and Soshit Samaj Party of Swami Maurya in UP on the board. More than the numerical loss, their association is most important for tactical and emotional reasons. Congress must not forget that it was simply the feeling of dishonour that had alienated the Dalits and EBCs in the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan from Congress and the party had to lose the winning states.
If the INDIA partners need to properly analyse and comprehend the moves of Rahul Gandhi, it is more important for his close aides and team members to grasp and understand the implications of his moves. There is no denying that they had created mess in UP and Bengal since they could not make out proper implication of his moves. INDIA bloc has already lost Nitish Kumar founder of the bloc and Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtra Lok Dal. Both the JDU and the RLD have aligned with the BJP. INDIA bloc can no longer take such shocks. Rahul’s team members have to realise the inference of his changing tactics and policies.
The strident postures of Mamata and Akhilesh have not gone well down with the people. Most of the believed that Congress was arm-twisted to accept their offers. Rahul adopting too generous stance has earned appreciation for him from the people. They have come to nurse the feeling that it is not the Congress which simply desired to rule. Under Rahul, Congress is genuinely striving to empower the poor and bring about the basic societal and economic changes. (IPA Service)
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