Congress needs to focus on politics, not polemics

As a student of politics, I am befuddled by how the Congress appears to be thinking these days. The June 2024 verdict seemed to be a moment of repair and rebuilding for the party. And it could legitimately draw satisfaction from the fact that the Opposition had pulled the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) below the majority mark.

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Take Rahul Gandhi’s comments as the new party headquarters were unveiled. Had the leader of the Opposition framed his allegations about the capture of institutions as a confrontation with the Modi government, no eyebrows would have been raised. That he described the battle as a fight with the Indian State was a clear political fumble. Media headlines, social media posts, debates and counter-allegations followed. The BJP feasted on the stumble and the Congress had to defend itself for its choice of words. Such time and space could have been used to actually challenge the government on jobs, the economy and taxes. Or on education and health services.

Rahul Gandhi also got locked into a fierce and frontal argument with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat for describing the day of the Ram Mandir as a day of true independence and August 15, 1947, as a moment of political independence. He ratcheted up the attack by arguing that Bhagwat should be tried for treason. Once again, high-pitched headlines were all over the exchange.

Once again, the time and focus spent on this was politically wasteful. The Congress scored zero seats in Delhi assembly elections in 2015 and 2020. And in the 2020 elections, party candidates in 63 of the 66 seats the Congress fought in, lost their security deposits. The Congress’ time should be spent on growing organisational roots rather than on polemical spats. And if the Congress believes that it does not have any worthwhile prospects in this election, it may as well have sat them out and joined hands with Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party are, by contrast, running a very different rhetorical campaign from the one led by Rahul Gandhi. Kejriwal deftly avoids any sort of ideological debate with the BJP. If anything, schemes like the one he’s just announced for temple priests, are clearly tactical moves at courting the Hindu vote. He has managed to do so without antagonising large swathes of the Muslim voter, because he remains an antagonist of the BJP and the prime minister. However, for the most part, his focus has remained on issues of development, governance and welfare schemes.

Kejriwal is probably fighting the toughest political battle of his career this time. He must deal with twin PR problems — his arrest in the Delhi liquor scam and the negative perception around the extravagant spending on his house which the BJP has dubbed sheesh mahal. Yet, he has hunkered down and worked in the field since his release from prison.

In taking him on, the BJP, which has not won a Delhi assembly election since 1998 (though it has swept three consecutive Lok Sabha elections since 2014 with a 7-0 tally) has also made a befuddling choice. It has not been able to field a face to take on Kejriwal who can also capture the wider imagination of the public. Murmurs that Smriti Irani would make a wild card entry into the Delhi battleground have not yet shown any signs of coming true. The BJP is probably hoping for a repeat of its Haryana show, by falling back on its organisational machinery in the absence of a strong individual contender. But it appears to be a tactical mistake.

That said, the BJP can afford more mistakes than the Congress.

Rahul Gandhi’s other pet issue — the allegations around the Adani Group — also received a knock this week with Hindenburg, the short-seller that first made the charges, announcing a decision to shut shop. In any case, his own allies and chief ministers have never seemed especially enamoured of the issue. And the average voter probably doesn’t think it makes a difference to her life. This brings us to what the military strategist Sun Tzu warned of in The Art of War: “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.”

The Congress has every right to defend its ideology. But without political power, it cannot address anyone but the already converted. It needs to pick its battles better.

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author.The views expressed are personal