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#1
The letter “K” distinguishes two phonetically similar but meaningfully different words in the English language: bloc (a combination of parties working toward a common goal) and block (to obstruct). Arvind Kejriwal's “K” has become the reason Rahul Gandhi's allies in the INDIA bloc are blocking Congress's ambitions in the Delhi elections. The ‘common intent' behind the INDIA bloc now seems to extend beyond just anti-BJPism—the initial reason for its formation—into opposition against the Congress itself.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has clearly emerged as the darling of the INDIA bloc. The Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Nationalist Congress Party (led by Sharad Pawar), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and even the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)—whose leader Lalu Prasad Yadav once envisioned Rahul Gandhi as the ‘dulha' (bridegroom) in the bloc's ‘baraat' (wedding procession)—have all signalled their preference for AAP over Congress.
A Withering Group
With its formidable strength of 99 seats in the Lok Sabha, the Congress may have the satisfaction of seeing Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP). But in reality, the INDIA bloc allies seem to favour the AAP, which holds just three Lok Sabha seats. Thus, Rahul Gandhi as LoP is reminiscent of the last Mughal emperors—rulers without an empire.
Trinamool has deployed its Asansol MP, Shatrughan Sinha, to campaign for the AAP. Poorvanchali voters, with roots in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, form a large vote bank in the national capital. In addition to Sinha, Trinamool is likely to field its Durgapur MP, Kirti Azad, to support Arvind Kejriwal's party. Both Sinha and Azad were Congress MPs in the past. Some Samajwadi Party MPs may also be deployed by Akhilesh Yadav in the coming days.
In contrast, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are perhaps the only parties in the INDIA bloc that have not actively opposed Congress. The Left parties, who maintain a tenuous connection with the bloc, have fielded candidates in six of the 70 seats.
Rahul Gandhi has been included in a list of eleven ‘corrupt' politicians by Kejriwal. An AAP poster featuring the tagline “Kejriwal ki imaandari saarey beimaano par padegi bhaari” (Kejriwal's honesty will spell trouble for the corrupt) shows Rahul Gandhi alongside others.
Why Rahul Has Been Soft Towards AAP
The Congress has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission regarding the poster. While party leaders have attacked Kejriwal for corruption, Rahul Gandhi has taken a softer stance—he has refrained from directly addressing the corruption allegations against the AAP. However, he did liken Kejriwal to Modi in terms of “propaganda and false promises”.
From the very first meeting of the INDIA bloc in Patna, the AAP has successfully managed to bully the Congress—once the target of the AAP's founders during the India Against Corruption Movement. The Congress was forced to oppose the Delhi Services Bill in Parliament, and the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee voiced its objections to the legislation. Dr Manmohan Singh's last appearance in Parliament, in a wheelchair, was prompted by the Congress's three-line whip in support of the AAP's peculiar stance, which was eventually negated by the ruling NDA's strategists.
Delhi Congress leaders were the first to raise the allegations surrounding the liquor excise policy, which led to the arrests of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Rahul Gandhi has maintained a relatively soft position towards the AAP, and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has adopted a similar stance, much to the frustration of many Congress workers in Delhi. AAP leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sanjay Singh, has been the intermediary through whom Gandhi and Kharge maintained dialogue with the AAP until the Delhi elections began. However, the local Delhi leadership ultimately thwarted the AAP's attempt to treat Congress as its 'B' team.
MIA In Delhi
Rahul Gandhi's near absence from the Delhi campaign has been attributed to ‘ill health'. Sources within the Delhi Congress reveal that the only occasion on which Rahul Gandhi discussed poll strategy with them was during a Zoom call, in which he was abrupt. Expressing his displeasure with the local unit's functioning, he abruptly ended the call. Priyanka Vadra, who was also on the Zoom call, later informed the participants that Rahul Gandhi was upset with them.
Interestingly, while Rahul Gandhi cancelled his rallies in Delhi due to ill health, neither Priyanka Vadra nor Mallikarjun Kharge stepped in on his behalf during this crucial election season, when every day is precious. Instead of focusing on the Delhi campaign, the Congress leadership travelled to Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on January 27 to hold a rally in honour of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who hailed from the region. The rally's themes—Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan—were meant to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar and to continue the campaign for safeguarding India's Constitution. (Ambedkar was never a member of Congress. In 1936, he founded the Independent Labour Party and contested against the Congress in the 1937 elections. Later, he joined the Central Assembly, with opposition from the Congress but backed by the Scheduled Castes Federation. Post-Independence, he was defeated by the Congress in two Lok Sabha elections. Ambedkar founded the Republican Party of India in his final years. He was a minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's interim government, a coalition formed to seek national unity.)
At the Mhow rally, however, Mallikarjun Kharge criticised Home Minister Amit Shah for taking a dip in the Ganga at the Mahakumbh that day (Kharge, like Ambedkar, has embraced Buddhism). His speech did not address any of the three themes of the rally.
An Alienated Leader?
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi continued his diatribe against the Adani-Ambani business empires. He launched an attack on the media, claiming that India's media was oblivious to the facts on the ground and only reported on ‘Adani-Ambani weddings'. Rahul Gandhi's fixation on the Adani-Ambani narrative does not resonate well either within the Congress or among INDIA bloc allies.
Rahul Gandhi's soliloquy, which has already distanced him from allies, is now beginning to alienate him from Congress workers as well. The current election in Delhi is a do-or-die battle for many party workers fighting for their survival. In the last assembly elections, the Congress polled just 4% votes. If the party faces another defeat, then, unlike the last Mughals whose empire stretched from ‘Delhi to Palam', Rahul Gandhi will find himself seated in the newly constructed Indira Bhavan on Kotla Road—without a functioning party organisation worth its name in Delhi.
In 1969 and 1978, when Indira Gandhi split the Congress to emerge supreme, the party workers of Delhi provided the backbone. Without the Delhi party setup and shunned by its regional allies, the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, faces isolation and oblivion.
(Shubhabrata Bhattacharya is a retired editor and a public affairs commentator)