Usually, seasoned leaders are entrusted with the task of electioneering by the Congress high command. But this is for the first time in recent years that two young Congress leaders – Kanhaiya Kumar and Krishna Allavaru–would be spearheading the battle. Allavaru, a youth in his thirties, has also been appointed as the observer for Bihar by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul entrusting them with the arduous task to counter the BJP juggernaut, does not in any manner diminish the seriousness of the electoral battle.

Led by its youth leaders, the Congress will have a fortnight-long padayatra across Bihar, starting from Bhitiharawa in Champaran, the work place of Mahatma Gandhi and also Jay Prakash Narayan. Kanhaiya is a key figure scheduled to play a decisive role: this is borne out of the reception he was accordedupon his arrival to Patna on March 11. Banners and posters have been put up by the NSUI and Youth Congress along the main thoroughfare of Patna welcoming Kanhaiya. The posters feature photographs of Rahul Gandhi alongside Kanhaiya Kumar and other prominent Congress leaders. NSUI General Secretary Shashi Kumar described Kanhaiya as a "ray of hope" for Congress in Bihar.

It is equally important to note that padayatra will have the catchy slogan: “give employment, stop migration”. The slogan itself makes it candid that the primary thrust of the Congress would be on Bihari youths. Per sources, Kanhaiya may contest the assembly election from Begusarai, his home district. This move positions him to become a key face of Congress in Bihar ahead of the assembly polls.

The strategic importance of padayatra could be gauged from the fact that senior national leaders would be meeting in Patna on March 12 to give final shape to it. The padayatra highlighting unemployment, will traverse 20 districts of the state. Rahul Gandhi will join the padayatra on two days.

Kanhaiya’s projection has enormous political importance. It is a known fact in the political circles that Lalu Yadav sees him as potential threat to the political career of his son Tejashvi. Kanhaiya had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Begusarai on the CPI ticket, but lost to Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh. Almost all the opposition leaders had extended support to him, but Lalu put a RJD candidate against him. As a result Kanhaiya lost the election.

"The scene has changed after the baton of the party was handed over to Krishna Allavaru for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections," said a Congress functionary, who wished to remain anonymous. "Allavaru spends more time with leaders and workers of the party. He is trying to strengthen Congress at the grassroots level."

Kanhaiya's entry into Bihar politics is expected to rejuvenate the youth across the state. Last month, he held a meeting with NSUI activists at his ancestral house in Begusarai district, to gather feedback about the prospects of Congress in Bihar. Participants reportedly urged Kanhaiya to focus more on Bihar than on Delhi. In the 2020 assembly election,Lalu had allotted 70 seats to Congress, but it could win only 19 seats. There has been tension between RJD and Congress among the mid-level leaders. They allege that Lalu was trying to undermine them and it should bargain hard during seat negotiations.

This time the Congress is planning to field around 100 candidates, mostly from OBC, Dalits and EBC backgrounds. Sources point out that Rahul Gandhi would also like to discuss the issue of seat-sharing separately with the CPI(ML). Meanwhile, Lalu would like to accommodate Congress on 50 seats and give 30 seats to CPI(ML). With CPI(ML) winning 12 seats out of 20 it contested, it is said that if more seats were contested by the Left party, the RLD-led coalition could have come to power. However, Congress claims that most of the seats given to contest were not winnable. Quite interestingly, Allavaru will negotiate seats with alliance leader Lalu Yadav. The present Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh will assist Allavaru.

In 1980, Congress was at the height of its power in Bihar, winning 169 seats in the state Assembly, with a significant 34.20% of the total votes. It improved its performance in 1985 with its vote share increasing to 39.30%, and securing 196 seats. In those years, from 1980 to 2000, the number of seats in the Bihar Assembly was 324.

The year 1990 witnessed the emergence Lalu Yadav, Ram BilasPaswan and Nitish Kumar as the backward castes and pro-Muslim faces. The same year also saw the gradual declining of the Congress support base in the state. The three leaders had succeeded in creating their own political vote bank—Muslim, Yadav, Backward—which traditionally were with the Congress. In 1990 polls in Bihar, Congress’ vote share plummeted to 24.78%, and the party could manage just 71 seats. Creation of Jharkhand in 2000 further dissipated the Congress in Bihar, with the number of assembly seats coming down to 243 from 324.

Coinciding with the shift of the backward and Dalit votes, a major section of the upper caste people, especially the Bhumihars and Brahmins, started deserting the Congress and taking shelter with the BJP. The upper caste controlled and dictated the Congress ever since the days of its formation. The OBCs and Dalit Congress leaders were not more than sycophants or flatterers. The OBC and Dalit Congress leaders had varied loyalties, while some rallied behind Bhumihars and Brahmins, others supported Rajputs and Kayasthas. There were some leaders from Yadav community enjoying huge following and support, but they did not have voice in the decision-making process of the Congress.

With the emergence of Lalu, Nitish and Paswan as the backward caste leaders, these Congress leaders witnessed their rebirth in the Congress. They started getting recognition and respect. But by that time, the dynamics of the state politics had undergone complete transformation and Congress had lost its relevance. In such a backdrop they had no alternative, but to identify with the regional parties floated by the three young leaders.

In politics even a one-man party has got its nonsensical importance and value. In recent political scenario of the state, there are some leaders who run family parties, with wife, son, daughter in law and grandson. But these too serve the interests of the bigger parties. They often perform the role of middlemen, the go-between. The leaders of the residual Congress were also resorting to this kind of politics. They knew keeping afloat the Congress was better than joining any other big party. In fact, some leaders of such parties have got membership of the legislative council or got elected to the Rajya Sabha. The leaders of the bigger parties prefer to keep these one-man parties alive and kicking.

Even some genuine Congressmen, committed to the ideology of the party, do not hesitate in saying that Congress has been the B-team of Lalu Yadav’s RJD for two decades now. Some even raise accusing fingers towards some leaders of working for the BJP. The Bihar Congress has become the abode of various sleeper cells of BJP and RJD. Obviously, in this backdrop, the task for Rahul Gandhi to re-energise and resurrect the party has become quite arduous and challenging. Apparently, he has to rely on the young leaders and cadres, as they have yet not become the prey of the vicious appeasing politics.

Some academics and media experts describe Rahul Gandhi accusing some of the Congress leaders as constituting BJP "sleeper cells" as bizarre and a reflection of the deep mistrust within the party. But the fact remains that Gandhi has been forced to identify these leaders. At least assembly election results in Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and even Chhattisgarh which the Congress lost in spite of having a nice pre-election people’s response, are testimony to this. It’s evident that certain senior Congress leaders of these states vitiated and sabotaged the electoral prospects for the party in their states.

Rahul’s efforts to set up a new counter-narrative to the political philosophy of communal polarisation and hatred of RSS and BJP, unfortunately did not get their wider obligation and devotion. These leaders did not take the message of his Bharat Jodo Yatra to their states and areas. For them, it was a perfunctory move of Rahul which would not fetch votes for them.

Some of these leaders also did not want Rahul’s intent to succeed as it would erode the base and philosophy of the RSS and BJP. It was their detachment and aloofness that prompted Rahul to accuse them at a meeting in Gujarat that several leaders of his party were working as “sleeper cells" for BJP. These leaders have remained within Congress while secretly working to further the interests of BJP.

Undoubtedly, it needed strong conviction and commitment to say publicly: "First of all, if we have to carry out strict action, we have to remove 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 people. If you are working from inside for the BJP, let's go and see, work from outside. If you don't have a place there, they will throw you out. So, the first thing to do is to remove 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 people." This assertion is certainly not reflection of deep mistrust within Congress; instead it symbolises the determination of Rahul to take the rightist forces represented by RSS and BJP head on. (IPA Service)