Prior to the West Bengal chief minister’s visit to Delhi, the Congress was its usual somnolent self with its top leaders relaxing in their Lutyens bungalows or Gurgaon penthouse. Their primary occupation was an occasional dig at Narendra Modi via tweets. They did not seem to be interested in taking to the field to face the BJP.

Now, all that has changed following Mamata’s visit to Delhi and her seemingly avowed objective of leading the opposition’s charge against the BJP which can buttress her claim to be the prime minister. However, it is a post which the Congress’s first family apparently considers its own, presumably because of the earlier occupants from the family although the party does occasionally allow a palpably weak nominee to be the PM for a while. And if anyone who is not a Nehru-Gandhi occupies the office, his position as an usurper is made clear by denying entry to his dead body into the Congress party office and disallowing his funeral rites in Delhi.

Mamata’s ambition, therefore, has set the cat among the pigeons of the dynasty. They have realized that their laidback approach to politics in the hope that the Modi government’s missteps will be enough to unseat it and since there is no other party with a pan-India presence, the prime minister’s position will automatically be occupied by the Congress.

Mamata’s spectacular West Bengal victory has put paid to such daydreams. The Congress has realized that nothing succeeds like electoral success. A party which cannot get to the three-figure mark in the Lok Sabha and is constantly beset by factionalism in the few states where it is in power cannot expect to take advantage of any popular dissatisfaction with the BJP.

The right to do so has to be the prerogative of a party which comprehensively drubs the BJP and disinfects with sanitary sprays those who want to cut their links with the BJP. Since Mamata as a self-proclaimed street fighter has shown the way to tame a school yard bully, she currently has the headwinds behind her as she occupies the opposition space.

For the Congress, this sudden appearance of a formidable “friend” poses a dilemma. The party cannot disown her. Nor can it willingly vacate the main slot in the opposition camp in her favour. Nor is the party broadminded enough to come to terms with the likelihood of Mamata being the prime ministerial candidate while Rahul Gandhi cools his heels. However, the feisty chief minister has at least made Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi shed their lethargy and a snooty attitude towards the other opposition leaders.

So, we now see Rahul cycling to parliament or joining the farmers at Jantar Mantar or jointly addressing the media along with other opposition leaders or chairing a meeting with them to strategize against the ruling party. This is a far cry from the sight of the privileged heir-apparent relaxing on the balcony of his sister’s Shimla home when he should have been campaigning in Bihar.

Having failed to play its part in Bihar where the display of a little more energy by the Congress might have enabled the Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal to be something more than the No 1 party with 75 seats, ahead of both the BJP (72) and the Janata Dal-United (43), it is now up to the Congress to make up for its lapse in Bihar by campaigning energetically in U.P. Although the Congress’s reputation as a laggard has dissuaded the Samajwadi Party, which appears to have a fair chance at present, from teaming up with it, the Congress is still capable of whipping up a fervour to boost the opposition’s prospects.

There is little doubt that the BJP is under a lot of stress, especially in U.P. where it has to win in order to keep up its morale for 2024. The publicity blitz on TV undertaken by the Yogi Adityanath government is a sign of the party’s anxiety as are the frequent visits to the state by the top guns of the RSS and the BJP. However, an unexpected chink has appeared in the saffron armour in view of the strains that are visible between the RSS and the extremists among the Hindus with the latter not taking kindly to the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat’s outreach to the Muslims on the plea that the Hindus and Muslims share the same DNA.

Even if the “secular” camp does not have the intellectual acumen to exploit the intra-Hindutva divisions, it can at least focus with greater gusto on issues relating to the pandemic and the Pegasus spyware, not to mention unemployment, the angst of the farmers and India’s declining status as a democracy in the eyes of the world. (IPA Service)