CONGRESS in its 85th plenary session at Raipur in Chhattisgarh outlined a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The Congress made a strong pitch for unity and expressed its willingness to work with like-minded secular parties and set forth a social justice agenda, a departure from its previous welfare agenda. The new agenda promises a dedicated ministry for the empowerment of the Other Backward Classes, the creation of a National Council for Social Justice, the publication of an annual “State of Social Justice” report, reservation in higher judiciary for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs, and a Rohit Vemula Act for students of disadvantaged sections if the party is elected to power.
The party has, in fact, tried to resurrect its social justice agenda from early 2019 which had then started resonating with people. But the BJP somehow managed to shore up its political standing around the general elections in the year. And Congress could just win over 50 seats. Today, Congress, in its shrunken state seems no match for the BJP. And that too at a time when Congress faces tough competition even from the AAP which is trying to step into the political space vacated by the party. With its landslide victory in Punjab last year, the AAP looks set to go from strength to strength. It hopes to replicate the performance in other states. Arvind Kejriwal has exhibited political smarts to enter any political arena and make it his own.
But there is still one year to go before the general elections are held, and much can change during this period. One year is a long time in politics. As things stand, only a combined opposition could be expected to take on the BJP. Gandhi has also been trying to forge opposition unity but there are only feeble indications that he has had any success in the endeavour. It won’t be easy to bring all the opposition parties together on one platform, more so, with several regional leaders nursing their personal ambitions. But for now Congress can take heart from Gandhi’s successful yatra and hope to build on it. And hope that some sort a loose political alliance comes along in the near future.
The plenary made all the right noises with Rahul Gandhi at the forefront. The party outlined a political agenda also but it remains to be seen whether the party can carry it through to the people. Unlike the BJP, the Congress over the past nine years has singularly failed to convey a political message, let alone create a narrative. Can the party do it over the following year? The coming weeks and months will make things clear on this score.
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