Not democracy, Rahul Gandhi’s party is in danger!

To put it bluntly, Congress faces a wash out in all three. At least in the assemblies.

All through his walking campaign, Rahul Gandhi insisted that the Bharat Jodo Yatra was not a political one and it was not meant to win elections. Well, he was bang on. The results of the three North Eastern states declared on Thursday bear ample testimony to the Congress leader's claim.

Of the three states which went to polls, Congress was the dominant force in at least two, Meghalaya and Nagaland, for decades. In the just concluded round, Congress scored exactly 8 seats prompting innumerable '8\180' posts on social media. Technically though, it is 8\179 as polling in one seat in Meghalaya was put off following the demise of a candidate.

To put it bluntly, Congress faces a wash out in all three. At least in the assemblies. There are Congress units still functioning in all the districts but clearly they are not motivated enough. Which brings us back to Rahul Gandhi.

In all his foreign tours, at least those announced officially, he rants and rants about how Indian democracy is in danger. He has gone to the extent of raising the bogey of Indians not being able to speak their minds anymore conveniently ignoring the fact that his party holds more than one press conference every day slamming the govt of the day while senior leaders of the party use choicest abuses for the elected Prime Minister.

But when he finally undertook a North to South yatra with much fanfare, Rahul Gandhi had precious little to offer as alternative vision against the Modi regime which he so despises. All he seemed to offer by way of alternative was abstract ideas of love, affection, tears, hand holding and hugs. While nobody can discount the importance of empathy, love, mutual understanding and harmony in a democratic society, these are intangibles values to be practiced in our lives.

But what significance do they hold for a common party worker in an election bound constituency who has to go from door to door trying to convince the voters why he/ she should vote for the Congress. The job becomes tougher when there are extremely motivated and victory driven parties like the BJP in the ring.

That dilemma of the average Congress worker was conveyed to me by a district level Congress leader in western UP in 2022 who lamentably remarked, "Madam hamari party ko ladna ho tab na'.

Many a promising face has had to part ways with the Congress after waiting to get that clarity from the top leadership or even to be given a patient hearing. The case of Himanta Biswa Sarma who is seen to be instrumental in wiping out Congress from the face of the North East is an old one. But even in this round of election, Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, former Tripura chief of the Congress, managed to gain 13 seats for his fledgling party TIPRA Motha while the Congress was confined to three despite forging an alliance with its old rival, the Left. Which once again proves that the problem lies more with the party's attitude and leadership and not individuals per se.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra was extensively covered by the mainstream media for months and with social media accounts of Congress party and its supporters flooding the internet wit candid photos, the yatra will certainly go down as a huge success as a photo album.

But the North East results do indicate that the political message of portraying Rahul Gandhi as the biggest challenger to Narendra Modi has found few takers. Not only have former Congressmen such as Pradyot and Mukul Sangma fared better than the parent party, data indicates they my have weaned away sizeable chunk of votes as well.

While Rahul Gandhi tries to brush away any questions about electoral prospects and insists on his love-affection-tears-hugs policy, his party President cuts a sorry picture by running down the North East results as 'small states' but issues statements hailing by poll victories in Kasba Peth and Sagardighi as historic. The irony is so stark one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

No wonder the voter shave relegated the once dominant party to a small one. And as if to drive home the point that elections are just incidental Rahul Gandhi flies off to a foreign campus where he starts replaying his old 'democracy in danger' record.

Robust voting and enthusiastic participation of the voters proves Indian democracy is thriving in every corner of the country. It is Rahul Gandhi's party that seems to be in danger.

(Smita Mishra writes on politics and current affairs)

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