The dust finally settles on all the five states’ elections with a terrible Congress beating in all five. The fraudsters masquerading as intellectuals are done with weaving fake narratives. One more time they have been checkmated by the sheer brilliance of their beloved leader.
The call for ‘Congress-Mukt-Bharat’ could have been given by Narendra Modi, but it is Rahul Gandhi who took it to heart. Who is Modi to have any say about Congress? If somebody must achieve a ‘Congress-Mukt-Bharat’, it must be Rahul Gandhi himself. And so, election after elections, this brave warrior marches on his political conquest with his single-minded pursuit of annihilating the party he leads, Congress. Even his worst critics admire his uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
It was December 2017 when Rahul Gandhi was elevated as Congress President. The fraudsters told us that Congress took this gamble expecting electoral triumph in Gujarat and being able to retain Himachal. They had no clue what was to hit them in the coming years. Most stunning of Congress leadership years was about to commence.
2017 Gujrat election was a tough one for BJP for a multitude of reasons – over 20 years of anti-incumbency, Patidar agitation, and the biggest was disruptive reforms of Demonetization and GST, that were not taken too kindly by huge business communities of Gujarat. Once the results were out, BJP easily retained Gujarat and Himachal gave BJP a two-thirds majority.
Prince had opened his account of the most charismatic political innings with two boundaries off first two balls. He was just getting warmed up.
He did resign the post of party president after the 2019 debacle but has kept the reign of the party in his hand and is all set to take the formal charge whenever he feels like it, no matter what happens in CWC.
To be able to truly appreciate the grandeur of his sparkling performances, let’s take a tour of the pan-Indian political landscape to examine the accelerated evaporation of Congress from the electoral matrix.
NORTHEAST
The ever-so beautiful area of ‘Seven Sisters’ has always been Congress’s political citadel. The contest in this area has typically been between a dominant Congress and a host of regional parties in different states. It needed some exceptional effort to wipe itself out and that’s what Rahul Gandhi could achieve within a remarkably short period of time.
It all started with Rahul Gandhi managing to force the party’s man Friday in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sharma out of the party to archrival BJP. And he achieves it through very personal humiliation to Himanta. This was the same Himanta Biswa Sharma who was instrumental in pulling the 2006 and 2011 elections in favour of Congress against all odds. The rest is history, as they say. Congress not only managed to lose Assam, Himanta vowed to defeat Congress from the entirety of the North-East.
Manipur has been Congress’s citadel till 2017. In 2017, Congress once again emerged as the single largest party, just two short of the majority. But such was Rahul’s masterly manoeuvres that BJP managed to form the government. In five years, BJP managed a clean sweep, and Rahul’s Congress managed to gift away even the opposition space to regional parties.
In Tripura, Congress with almost 40% vote share was always in neck and neck fight with the Left, till Rahul Gandhi took the control of the party and led it to open in-fighting within the state unit. As a result, in 2018, the Left was finally decimated by BJP and Congress managed to bring its vote share down to below 2% without opening its account. The same performance was repeated in Nagaland, where Congress managed to draw a blank down from the second position in the previous election. The same story Meghalaya. These were performances that left both supporters and critics gasping for breath.
Congress always ruled Arunachal Pradesh till 2019, always winning most decisively in all assembly elections. And yet, under Rahul Gandhi, it was routed so badly by rival BJP that it landed in 4th place. The story of Rahul’s spark is no different in Mizoram.
Congress’s quick and complete degeneration under the regenerative leadership of Rahul Gandhi from the North-East is perhaps the most underrated and untold political story of recent years.
NORTH
Nowhere the leadership of Rahul Gandhi has been proven as intuitive and decisive as in the state of Punjab. This was one state that was supposed to be a cakewalk for Congress till a few months back. Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh seemed in complete control of the state politically reaping benefits from Farmers’ agitation. That was till Rahul intervened with one of the most bizarre interventions by openly backing his archrival, a political joker and turncoat Navjot Singh Sidhu for the post of PCC chief. Sidhu continued to embarrass Captain politically, forcing Captain to resign and quit the party. Rahul could not even muster up the courage to make Sidhu the Chief Minister, who was questioned for his shenanigans vis-a-vis Pakistan. Rahul then went on to appoint a most corrupt guy, Channi as CM just months before the elections. The results, were a complete route for ruling Congress, with both Channi and Sidhu losing elections and a landslide for AAP. Rarely has one witnessed such comical handover of the elections ever.
Congress’s extinction from Uttar Pradesh is a long story and Congress was already in a bad shape when Rahul took reigns. Even in UP, under Priyanka Gandhi, who is proving to be even more inspirational than her brother, Congress could manage to completely wipe itself out of political considerations bring its seat down to 2 and vote share down to 2%. In their traditional bastions, Amethi and Rae Bareli, Congress could not open its account. Rahul himself has moved to Kerala, even Sonia Gandhi won’t dare to contest Raebareli.
Anti-incumbency was palpable in Uttarakhand with BJP changing three CMs in five years. This was one state, where no incumbent government has ever come back to power since its inception. Yet, Rahul could manage just that. Here Rahul Gandhi engaged his CM candidate Harish Rawat more for creating chaos in neighbouring Punjab. Rather than addressing issues of the Garhwal region, where the Party flunked badly. Rawat also ludicrously promised a Muslim University in a state that is known as ‘Devbhoomi’. All these tomfooleries fell flat on its face giving Rahul Gandhi another feather in his cap.
State leadership in Haryana has desisted Congress’s collapse. However, with the ageing Hooda and the imbecilic elevation of electorally inutile Surjewala, Rahul should achieve the goal by the next election. In Delhi, in a tacit understanding with AAP, Congress decided to shift its votes to AAP and stop BJP. That happened but then this shift is now permanent. How enigmatic for a party that ruled Delhi for 15 years on a trot. Only a leader with a vision as bright as Rahul Gandhi could have achieved this.
WEST
Under Rahul Gandhi, Congress has been able to push itself to fourth position electorally in Maharashtra becoming a junior partner to its own offspring NCP. And post 2019 in a most sacrilegious post-poll alliance, it did manage to be part of a Maha-corrupt Maha-Aghadi government, which is always in limelight for only bad reasons. Congress remains trivial in running affairs of the state but an equal party to share the blame for its antics. It may very well find itself to be politically inconsequential in a very short time.
Congress emerged as the single largest party in Goa in 2017, yet BJP manoeuvred to form the Govt after a hilarious set of events. Under Rahul, Congress received a serious drubbing against all odds and by next election should concede its political space to AAP.
EAST
In Bihar, Congress was already reduced to a small player for decades with less than 10% vote share, being a junior partner to RJD. Rahul displayed his innovative leadership by appointing Alpesh Thakor and Shaktisinh Gohil of Gujarat in important political positions related to Bihar. These leaders then started a campaign against North Indians in Gujarat, which was played by RJD to fuel sentiments against PM Modi. As a result, while RJD could win a high percentage of seats, Congress performed so poorly that it gave BJP-JDU the lead to form the government. In coming elections, RJD might even ditch Congress that could find itself being reduced to rubbles like in UP.
In Jharkhand, though the party continue to be on the downside, it could piggyback on JMM for some more time. One of the rare instances when Rahul phenomenon could not obliterate its ally.
In Bengal, Rahul Gandhi with a stroke of political genius formed an unthinkable alliance with the Communists, while fighting them in Kerala simultaneously. Congress achieved absolutely cypher in Bengal, yes, they most unexpectedly lost even in Kerala. Congress’s extinction from West Bengal is now complete, kudos to Rahul. In Odisha, Congress doesn’t have any MP since 2009 and under Rahul, it has even ceded the main opposition space to BJP.
SOUTH
Since the 70s, between Communists-led LDF and Congress-led UDF, Kerala had always voted the incumbent out. Till 2021, when Rahul did the impossible by forging an alliance with the Left in WB and letting LDF come back. With Rahul himself coming to Muslim majority Waynad, now Congress is set to become the junior partner of the Indian Muslim League in UDF. The non-communist Hindus will have no choice to embrace BJP, completing Congress’s extinction from Kerala.
2018 Karnataka election followed a year of flirtations between Congress and JDS to keep BJP out of power. After an emotional and tearful breakup, BJP resumed its duty of power and sanity prevailed. With a waning JDS, Rahul could still make Congress weaker by fueling the rift between PCC chief Sivakumar and Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah.
Since Congress engineered a bitter division of the State of Andhra Pradesh in 2013, creating the state of Telangana, Congress has handed over both the states to TDP and TRS respectively. The Congress Party’s exit as a political force in Tamil Nadu was completed in the late 60s, with K Kamraj exiting Indira-led Congress. Poor Rahul has nothing left to do. But yes, one must never forget, how magnificently he managed an exit from Puducherry against all odds.
However, the real trouble Rahul Gandhi is facing are the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, which has no regional parties to replace Congress. Yet, one can’t blame Rahul for his lack of effort.
In Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh and Kamalnath are becoming inconsequential with age. The only hope for the Party was Jyotiraditya Scindhia, who has already crossed over to BJP after being snubbed by Rahul. In Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel face challengers within the Party. With elections due in these two states next year, Rahul Gandhi is certain to weave his magic to ensure defeat. Complete decimation of the party is still unlikely without the absence of other regional parties, but who knows, he might even have a few more hidden tricks up his sleeve.
In the days to come, we expect him to continue his glorious political path of shoot and scoot, venomous muckraking and spouting innuendos against the PM and philosophical gibberish suitable only for political memes. He would continue to sideline any leader with substance, elevating sycophants and demotivating the rank and file of party cadre. He knows that the compliant cabal would continue to cheer for his coming of age despite Congress continuing to degenerate, losing state after state.
Is there a method in this madness? Is Rahul truly gifted or there is a concerted effort to destroy Congress from the political landscape? It appears if everything happens as per plan, he might retire to some seaside villa in Italy or Bangkok. The question is what happens to all the real estate belonging to Congress?
This article has been co-authored by Rajneesh (@rajneeshisback)
