Has Congress Given Up On Gujarat???

PM Modi said do not be fooled by Congress’ lack of presence in campaigning in Gujarat, they have adopted a new strategy of going door to door and influencing people’s minds

Consider these two statements made during Gujarat Assembly election campaign:

On one hand, AAP chief Kejriwal in Gujarat claimed that Congress is finished in Gujarat. He even asked people to not vote for Congress saying that their vote will go in vain and will help BJP come back to power. On the other hand, PM Modi said do not be fooled by Congress’ lack of presence in campaigning in Gujarat. They have adopted a new strategy of going door to door and influencing people’s minds.

Both statements are rather contrary, If Congress is finished as Kejriwal claims, what PM Modi said may not be true and if what PM Modi says is true then what Kejriwal says about Congress being finished is false.

One thing is sure, the Congress has kept everyone guessing. While in just one month, the state goes for poll, Congress seems virtually missing in action. On one hand, new entrant AAP is putting all the might, even while Delhi is facing Air emergency the CM who is also AAP Chief is touring Gujarat with his Punjab counterpart, On the other BJP has started campaign rallies by its star pracharaks: PM Modi and Amit Shah. PM Modi recently laid the foundation of many projects in the state before polls were announced. But you see neither star pracharaks nor major activity by Congress has figured in news or headlines.  Many say that Congress seems to have given up on Gujarat, and say that it has given an open field to AAP.

And the opinion polls we spoke about earlier today, suggest the same. So what is it that Congress is doing? Has it given up on Gujarat? Or the party has some strategy up its sleeves? For all we know the party may have adopted the “Silent Campaign” strategy for Gujarat assembly elections.

Gujarat is a high stake state for BJP, for it has never lost election here in the past 27 years and it is a home state of PM Modi. Losing here means losing its turf. But even so, the Congress gave BJP a run for its money in 2017. The aggressive campaign led by Rahul Gandhi himself made this a neck to neck contest and ensured that the party doesn’t give BJP a walkover. And it worked, BJP came down to 99 and Congress won 77 seats.

However, this time neither Rahul Gandhi nor any high pitched campaign is being run by the party. Gandhi is in fact busy with Bharat Jodo Yatra. He has stayed away from any questions on Polls. And without a strong leader present to drive the campaign, Congress looks like a headless chicken in the state.

But Congress’ Gujarat In-Charge Raghu Sharma has a different story. He says that the party this time is not focusing on mega rallies or flashy events, rather it is focusing on strengthening booth level presence. And the party continues to do groundwork in the state. He believes that the party will form govt in the state winning 125+ seats. That seems a very bold statement looking at what Opinion polls predict.

However, the party says it has adopted a silent campaign strategy this time. That means as opposed to the high voltage campaigns last time, it is focusing more on ground-level activation. It all reportedly began in February 2022 when the Rahul Gandhi addressed the party’s state-level Chintan Shivir in Dwarka. It was a three day brainstorming session after which Congress came up with a strategy   y: focusing more on doorto-door campaign and booth management and raising local issues. The message from him was : “Go to the masses with a vision”.

The idea here being not playing on field set by BJP but adopting Congress’ own strategy which BJP will have a difficult time even countering. And Rahul Gandhi not being involved in the campaign in Gujarat might be a part of this strategy. The Congress may want to make it election about local issues, about unemployment, Covid-19 response and the issues in Gujrat, Issues of Business community, rising inflation, paper leaks, public infra etc. One has seen from the past experience, that last time, Congress vs BJP contest led to national issues taking centre stage. Issues of Hindutva-Soft Hindutva, national security became the focus. Presence of Gandhis or any other star pracharaks may lead to the same this time. It might make the election Modi vs Rahul and Congress might have wanted to avoid that. For any election that is fought on PM modi’s face, the opposition is most likely to lose.

Also Read: Watch: Rahul Gandhi Plays Football During Bharat Jodo Yatra

Thus, as a part of this Silent campaign, Congress has launched partivartan yatra where it is taking out short constituency, booth based  road shows, conducting public meetings. The Congress has started five yatras (marches) in Gujarat. They will cover 175 assembly seats over 5,432 km. During these yatras, Congress plans to implement its “carpet bombing leaders” strategy, wherein top leaders of the party will address 145 mega public meetings and 95 rallies.

In fact, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot who played major role in 2017 campaign, has visited Ahmedabad and bordering district of Rajasthan and Gujarat. He even was in Morbi after the suspension bridge collapse mishap. Apart from him, Former MP CM Digvijaya Singh too is alternating between Bharat Jodo Yatra and Gujarat campaign.

Well, a lot of people still had the question as to why Rahul Gandhi could not lead Bharat Jodo Yatra through Gujarat. The Congress says this yatra route is from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, from South to North. They couldn’t fit Gujarat in this route but they will plan a west to east rally next year. However, Gujarat elections would be over by then. In that case it gives an impression that Congress may not be much bothered about state election and is focusing to build momentum for 2024 national election.

The question is, will Congress’ strategy in Gujarat work or will it give an open field to BJP and AAP? What do you think about this?