Congress's ‘silent campaign’ in crucial poll surprises all

NEW DELHI: Missing from the big rally stage, Congress’s tactics in election bound Gujarat have flummoxed all and sundry in the wake of the big programmes and loud announcements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. But Congress claims it has a strategy in place, and has focused on localised door-to-door canvassing to mobilise support.

Much is riding on Gujarat elections for Congress which almost ousted BJP from power in Ahmedabad in December 2017, but went silent after the decimation in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The last three years have been marked by Rahul Gandhi’s absence from the scene after his resignation as Congress president, and the confusion among cadres about the future — a period of total rudderlessness.



Battered by repeated defeats in assembly contests, without a single victory post-2019, Congress will face major questions about its relevance if it again loses Gujarat or ends up being a distant second.



Party leaders say a “very good performance” is a must for Congress. Many are already asking of what use are novel endeavours like Bharat Jodo Yatra if they are divorced from power politics and distract a political organization from its primaryjob of consolidating power. For a party ruling in just two states, and having muffed every possible electoral opportunity — Kerala, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Assam — over the last two years, every defeat is fresh source of despondency, which is at the roots of problems like leaders’ exodus, legislators’ defections, and, above all, of political openings for newbies like AAP.

AICC Gujarat in-charge Raghu Sharma said there should be no doubt that Congress is fighting the elections with full strength and has been campaigning in every nook and street for months. He cited ‘11 pledges’ (vachan patra) launched by Rahul Gandhi in Ahmedabad on September — populist promises of free electricity for farmers, farm loan waiver, compensation to Covid-hit families, 10 lakh new jobs and 3,000 new English medium schools, gas cylinder for Rs 500, subsidy to dairy farmers and free education to girls — as the basis of the party’s intensive outreach.