Cong calls it the Rahul effect but challenges ahead

New Delhi: “I am still not confident about the exit polls. We may not win, but we will do much together and will cut them down to size,” Rahul Gandhi told a senior Opposition leader Sunday, hours before counting began in Gujarat. In the end, the Congress could not breach Narendra Modi’s fortress or reach anywhere near the halfway mark. But the fact that it did manage to bring down the BJP to its lowest tally in two decades has given fresh hope to the embattled Opposition.
That Rahul Gandhi established himself as a challenger to Modi at the national level is a byproduct of the Gujarat battle. “The BJP’s loss (of seats) in Gujarat is a victory for Rahul,” senior CPI leader D Raja said. The larger message of the battle royale, several Opposition leaders told The Indian Express, is that if the BJP’s graph is down in the PM’s home turf, there is hope in other states. Credible state-specific alliances and tactful seat sharing — in other words, a united fight by the Opposition — could make a difference in 2019, these leaders said. “It is a temporary and face-saving win, but it shows a moral defeat for the BJP. Gujarat voted against atrocities, anxiety and injustice caused to the common people. Gujarat belled the cat for 2019,” West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said.
But there is also a big message for the Congress and Opposition parties, which have been criticising the government over implementation of the GST, dip in economic growth, job losses and lack of creation of new jobs and the agrarian distress.
The question is whether they are sending the right message without projecting an alternative vision. While the Congress’s campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh revolved around criticising the BJP governments over governance and development, the results show while these issues had a resonance among the electorate, the absence of a credible counter-narrative, an alternative vision, stopped the voters from embracing the Congress fully.
“Merely exposing and criticising the BJP’s wrong policies and hardships will not cement the confidence of the people into voting against them unless it is backed by an alternate policy direction. What is required is an alternate policy trajectory upon which the widest possible unity of the Opposition forces must be built… that is the message,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told The Indian Express.
In at least 13 seats, the votes polled by NCP and BSP were more than the margin of defeat of Congress candidates. In Porbandar, where Congress veteran Arjun Modhwadia lost, his margin of defeat was 1,855 votes. The BSP got 4,337 votes there. Similar was the case in seats like Botad, Chhota Udaipur, Dholka, Fatepura, Godhra, Himatnagar, Mansa, Modasa, Prantij, Rajkot Rural, Umreth and Wankaner.
DMK’s Tiruchi Siva echoed Yechury. While extending greetings to the BJP, he said “having committed so many unacceptable things like demonetisation and all… and also its monolithic policies… the counter, the need of the hour is for all Opposition parties to come together”.
“If all Opposition parties come together and wage a united fight, this government can be defeated. We have to come together,” he said.
NCP’s Praful Patel said the Congress would have “done better” in the Gujarat election if it had formed an alliance with his party. “The Congress should have tied up with the NCP. They could have done better,” Patel said. Seat-sharing talks between the Congress and NCP failed and the two fought separately.