After Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’, what next for the Congress?

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will formally complete his two-week-long ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar with a symbolic march from Patna’s Gandhi Maidan to B.R. Ambedkar Park, and subsequently, at a public rally.

The Congress leader, accompanied by Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD); Dipankar Bhattacharya of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-M-L); and Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), has in the past two weeks covered more than 1,300 km, spanning 25 districts cutting across 110 Assembly constituencies.

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“For a State that has seen historic deprivation and hardships, the threat of their one true power — the right to vote — being stolen was unimaginable. The fear they had in their hearts needed comforting, and the Yatra came in as a ray of hope against the blatant destruction of democracy being orchestrated in the name of SIR,” Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said in a post on social media platform X.

Moving beyond the immediate issue of voter deletions in the SIR, the latest edition of Mr. Gandhi’s yatra, mostly covered in open-top SUVs (sports utility vehicles) and motorcycles, has also managed to mobilise crowds and build a narrative.

Slogan extended

The yatra, amplified by slogans, including “Vote chor, gaddi dhhodd” (vote thief, vacate the seat), has been framed as a fight to protect the democratic principle of ‘one person, one vote’. But perhaps the most important question that needs to be asked as the yatra winds down — what next for the principal Opposition party?

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Taking a leaf out of its 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, in which the Congress connected the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) call for “400 paar“ (more than 400 Lok Sabha seats) as a first step to end reservation by amending the Constitution, Mr. Gandhi has connected the alleged voter deletions in the SIR to ending entitlements.

“Rahul-ji has been telling people that by removing their names from the electoral roll, the BJP-JD(U) (Janata Dal-United) are not only taking away their right to vote, but gradually, other entitlements — subsidised rations, pension, farmers’ subsidies, unemployment allowance — will all go,” Congress leader Kishor Kumar Jha told The Hindu.

“People need to understand that their vote is their sabse mool adhikar (most basic right). If that is gone, then others can be taken away very easily,” Mr. Jha said.

In the manner of his detailed analysis of the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Gandhi has announced that he will soon come up with what he calls “proof” of alleged voter fraud in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Karnataka.

United face

Notwithstanding the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) decision to send first-time MP Yusuf Pathan and Congress turncoat Lalitesh Tripathi as its representatives to Monday’s rally, the yatra has managed to put up a show of unity. Throughout the yatra, Mr. Gandhi was accompanied by Mr. Yadav, Mr. Bhattacharya, and Mr. Sahani, who form the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar. Heavyweights from the INDIA (Indian National Democratic, Inclusive Alliance) bloc, including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, joined in to present a picture of Opposition unity.

Visibility key

The key to reviving the organisation at the grassroots, and bargain better for seats, is visibility.

The yatra has also helped the Congress position itself as a key player in the grand alliance despite its weak electoral performance in Bihar, where it won only 19 seats of the 70 seats it contested in the 2020 Assembly election, securing a vote share of 9.48%. But given the crowds that Mr. Gandhi has managed to draw, the Congress would like to use the yatra to negotiate a better seat-sharing deal within the mahagathbandhan.

Road ahead

The yatra has given the Congress a platform to reassert its relevance, but its success will depend on translating public enthusiasm into electoral gains by strengthening the party’s organisation and crafting a sharper economic message to translate Mr. Gandhi’s themes of social justice into concrete policy proposals on jobs and welfare.