#TheHindu #Editorial Becoming an opposition

In 2004, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power after eight years in the wilderness, it had as much to do with the failure of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government’s India Shining project as it had to do with the people’s desire for the return of pluralism and tolerance. For in the six years of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliates had been active, though perhaps not with the kind of fervour that is visible today. In the wake of its loss in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, grappling with problems of identity, had held a series of closed-door sessions that started in late-October 2014 where the party’s top 200-odd leaders, divided into small groups, had debated the party’s future. One of the key areas under discussion had been the need to re-articulate the party’s ideology: roughly summarised, the conclusion was that the Congress must remain pluralistic and inclusive without looking like a pro-Muslim party, and retain the minority vote without annoying the liberal Hindu mainstream. Many members, however, felt that the party had tilted too far in favour of the minorities. But today, with well-known members of civil society — including many distinguished academics, writers, historians and filmmakers — speaking out, the Congress clearly sees this as an opportune time to seize the moment.

On Tuesday, led by party president Sonia Gandhi, Congress leaders marched from Parliament House to Rashtrapati Bhavan to seek President Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention in checking the “growing atmosphere of fear, intolerance and intimidation being deliberately created by sections of the ruling establishment”. Twice earlier this year, the party took to the streets: first, during Parliament’s Budget session as part of a 14-party delegation along the same route to protest against the Modi government’s efforts to legislate a “farmer-unfriendly” land acquisition law; the second time, to express solidarity with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he was sought to be implicated in the coal scam. On both those occasions, too, Ms. Gandhi led from the front. The party’s State units and front organisations have also organised padyatras and sit-ins, occasionally under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, largely on the controversial Land Acquisition Bill, but these have gone generally unnoticed. As the Congress seeks to recover from its 2014 defeat, its efforts to make a comeback have been hampered as much by the delay in installing heir apparent Rahul Gandhi as the new leader, as the lack of clarity on whether it needs to re-invent itself. The party’s mobilisation of its rank and file has been sporadic since its strength was reduced to a mere 44 seats in Parliament. But with civil society rising up against growing intolerance, that has manifested itself both in physical and verbal violence, the Congress feels that it may have found a launch pad for its return. To make a game of it, however, the party will have to articulate its core beliefs and play a leading role in banding together a secular opposition.

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