Does the path to political resurrection pass through the proverbial road? The Congress, whose Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar seems to have drawn a favourable public response, would be hoping that this may indeed be the case. The campaign led by Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Election Commission of India have been complicit in electoral malpractice, was intended to serve optical as well as strategic imperatives. It may have succeeded on both counts. Mr Gandhi’s drive and energy ensured that the rhetoric of disenfranchisement reached, in terms of optics, an audience that is not limited to one state. The Congress’s withering in Bihar began with massive erosion in its caste coalition that featured Muslims, the Dalits and the upper castes. Consequently, it was reduced to an also-ran, dependent on the munificence of its allies. From the strategic point of view, Mr Gandhi’s yatra, the party is hoping, may help bring back some segments of the Muslim and the Dalit vote back into the Congress’s kitty. The Voter Adhikar Yatra has also brought some sparks of life to that perpetually dormant entity called INDIA. Several Opposition leaders joined
Mr Gandhi’s march, which passed through over 100 of Bihar’s 243 constituencies: the challenges now would be to maintain this moment within the Opposition, get the caste matrix right, and ensure a judicious distribution of seats.

The latter challenge might prove to be the hardest. This is because the hints of public endorsement notwithstanding, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress’s big brother in Bihar, is unlikely to yield much space on what it believes is its own turf. The Congress’s poor strike rate in recent elections — it won only 19 of the 70 seats it contested in 2020 — would further limit its bargaining power. The question of the chief ministerial face, if the Mahagathbandhan does well, could become an irritant as well. The answers to such speculative queries belong to the future. But what can be said is that the Congress’s Voter Adhikar Yatra may make the electoral contest a much closer affair.
Mr Gandhi’s march has also shown that even in the age of digital outreach, a yatra is a surer way of reading the people’s pulse.