New Delhi, Oct. 3: The Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have not generated any enthusiasm in Congress circles even as there is a dormant hope among senior leaders that anti-incumbency could come into play to hurt the ruling BJP’s chances.
While it is difficult to find one senior leader who could speak with some confidence about defeating Narendra Modi this time, internal bickering has become a major cause of worry in Himachal. Though the party lost in Punjab and just managed to inch past the BJP in Uttarakhand in the last round of Assembly elections, the central leadership then oozed confidence and openly claimed to be in a position to sweep both the states.
The Congress is deliberately avoiding boastful rhetoric about Gujarat and has decided to run a low-key issue-based campaign but it is in the grip of self-doubt in Himachal, wondering if former chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s clout would be enough to dislodge the BJP government which is not facing any visible public wrath. The pessimism is also an outcome of the general depression the party is suffering in the wake of corruption charges and the uncertain fate of the Manmohan Singh government.
Surprisingly, the level of both activity and confidence was much higher in the run-up to the election in Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress neither has the organisational strength, nor any committed support base. In Gujarat, the Congress polled over 39 per cent votes in both 2002 and 2007 despite Modi’s awe-inspiring domination in the communally polarised electoral ambiance.
In Himachal too, the Congress lost power in 2007 but polled almost 40 per cent votes, barely three per cent less than the victorious BJP.
The party’s tentative approach despite the organisation muscle is baffling as Rahul Gandhi had managed to engineer a fiercely destabilising campaign against Mayawati in UP just a few months ago. The very fact that Rahul has been dissuaded from leading the campaign in Gujarat shows the lack of confidence in the Congress camp. Though some leaders felt Rahul’s no-hold-barred battle against Modi would have sent a positive message to the entire minorities and the secular voters across the country, giving him invaluable political dividend even if the Congress lost Gujarat, others advised him to avoid turning this into a personality clash.
Rahul will sparingly campaign in Gujarat, but will focus on issues of public concern, not Modi. This strategy was reflected today when Sonia Gandhi kicked off the party’s campaign in Rajkot as she did not name Modi even once in her entire speech. She criticised those who sought to snatch credit for Gujarat’s development from the Congress, harped on farmers’ miseries and women’s plight, mentioned enhanced central assistance to state under the UPA regime but did not utter the ‘Na-Mo’ word.
