Will I.N.D.I.A bloc be more post poll than pre poll?
With Nitish Kumar ready to do a U-turn once again (the speculation at the time of writing was that he would once again return to the NDA), and Mamata Banerjee also ruling out talks with the Congress, it does seem as if the opposition alliance will be more in the nature of a post poll one than a pre-poll set-up. The only alliances that seem to be working are the existing ones with the DMK in Tamil Nadu, NCP and Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra and the RJD in Bihar. On the positive side, Akhilesh Yadav has gone ahead and finalised his seats with the Congress, giving 11 seats to the Congress which was hoping for at least double that number, but post the Nitish rebellion, the party has adopted a more conciliatory note. Besides as Akhilesh said, it is up to the Congress to take the smaller parties together in the I.N.D.I.A group. The other silver lining seems to be Delhi where some sort of seat sharing has been arrived at with the Aam Aadmi Party, however a pact in Punjab remains elusive. And elections are not too far away.
ROADBLOCKS IN THE YATRA
Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is creating some headlines in the Northeast, but most of these have to do with the tussle with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma than for the yatra itself. In fact, the second leg of his yatra does not seem to be getting the same social media traction as the earlier one. One reason could be a sense of deja vu; while the other reason (and one that should be more worrisome for the Congress) is that the yatra does not have a tangible big-ticket idea behind it. Talking about unity (Bharat Jodo) and social and economic equality (Nyay) are credible issues, but the problem is that they are just being talked about without a concrete plan of action to back the rhetoric. Compare it with the scale and reach of the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony, which was grand on the optics but also backed by a tangible, ideological goal—that of uniting the entire country in the name of Lord Ram. If we step back from the religious overtones and just narrow it down to the politics of it all, then this unifying reachout to all Hindus in the name of Lord Ram comes at a time when the Opposition is talking caste census and hoping to get a chunk of the Hindu vote based on caste divisions. When the Congress talks about governance and harks back to its record of institution building, the Prime Minister looks ahead and talks of ushering in a Ram Rajya.
In addition, even within the Congress organisation, not all are on board with regard to the timing of the yatra, coming as it does at a time when the party should be focusing on the coming general elections. The counter to this of course is that the yatra should be seen as an extensive campaign of over 150 rallies across the country, and that while Rahul Gandhi campaigns, there is nothing stopping the rest of the party from focusing on the coming polls. But this is not quite how it works on the ground; given the fact that Rahul Gandhi is still very much in control, most of the party organisation remains more focused on his yatra than on helping Mallikarjun Kharge with poll preparations. The Congress needs to get both its messaging and its priorities in order.