Can Rahul's 'Open a shop of love’ mantra work as Congress' political narrative?

Over 100 days into the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appears to have finally found the perfect catchphrase to reposition his politics and that of his party while differentiating it with that of the BJP.

To a thundering applause during a massive rally in Rajasthan’s Alwar on December 19 (Monday), Rahul said “main nafrat ke bazaar mei mohabbat ki dukaan kholne aaya hun” (I have come to open a shop of love in the market of hatred). For good measure, the former Congress president also explained that this mantra was one that his party had always believed in “from the time of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar and Azad” because “India is a land of love and tolerance, not hatred”.

It, of course, isn’t the first time that Rahul has verbalised this emotion. In July 2018, after delivering a scathing speech in the Lok Sabha during which he criticised the Narendra Modi government on a range of issues, Rahul had declared he would always respond to the BJP’s politics of hate with love. He had then walked across the Well of the House to give a visibly disconcerted Modi a hug.

However, Rahul’s combat the ‘BJP’s hate with love’ was undone in less than a year with his ‘Chowkidaar Chor Hai’ jibe at Modi during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign.

Now, with the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) that was launched in September from Kanyakumari with a clarion call for unity, Rahul seems to found an emotional catharsis that, in this present time of deep communal, social and economic strife across the country, can resurrect his Congress party despite its many organisational and electoral deficiencies.

Also read: Over 100 days of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul holds a mirror to Congress peers

The rally at Alwar may not have given any signs of how the Congress plans to resolve the turf war between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Tonk MLA Sachin Pilot – their internecine squabbling has been put on hold for the duration of the BJY’s ongoing Rajasthan leg – but Rahul drew heavily on the message of love and unity to advise his party colleagues on how they could overcome any voter disenchantment.

“The yatra has proved that all of you can walk 20 to 24 kilometres a day,” Rahul said, while referring to the entire brass of the Rajasthan Congress leadership that has, over the past fortnight, kept pace with the Wayanad MP’s strides during the foot march.

“I have an advice to offer, it is up to (Congress president) Mallikarjun Kharge, Ashok Gehlot and all of you to accept it…every month, for a day or two days, the entire cabinet of Rajasthan must choose different places in the cities and carry out a yatra. It will bring you closer to the people, it will help you understand their problems better and they (the people) will give you their affection and blessings,” Rahul said, while joking, “it will also keep your sugar, weight and health under check”.

At a time when the Congress party’s ideology or its roadmap for electoral recovery (the recent victory in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, notwithstanding) still appears muddled, Rahul’s ‘open a shop of love’ mantra, could potentially set the Grand Old Party’s political narrative as distinct from the inherently divisive Hindutva pitch of the BJP.

The follow up actions suggested by Rahul – short but regular yatras by state leaders to connect with the voters, ensuring that tribals can exercise the rights guaranteed to them under the law, welfare schemes in Congress-run states are implemented without any pilferage or graft, common citizens and party workers have access to high government offices and senior party leaders, respectively – can then supplement this overarching narrative to strengthen the Congress.

The challenge for Rahul, however, remains on the question of how he would ensure that his party follows through with his message and vision. When he had stepped down as Congress president in the aftermath of his party’s electoral rout in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul had practically accused his colleagues, particularly the senior leaders, of not standing by him on issues he raised. The subsequent years weren’t very different as a section of party veterans continued to remain distrustful of Rahul while his own close aides of the past deserted the Congress in quick succession.

Also read: Himachal CM Sukhu joins Rahul in Jaipur as Bharat Jodo Yatra completes 100 days

The BJY has afforded Rahul an aura of a leader who took the pains of undertaking a five-month-long journey on foot from Kanyakumari to Srinagar, even if it was motivated by the vested interest of reviving his atrophying party. The massive crowds that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has attracted – and continues to attract – is, arguably, a testament of his message of unity and love finding ready takers in a polity wracked by nearly a decade of recurring communal disharmony and deepening economic inequity.

This is a course Rahul needs to stay on beyond the conclusion of the BJY early next year if he hopes to demolish entirely the image trap of an entitled and insincere political interloper that he has been caught in for nearly two decades now. He would also need to be more direct in addressing the issue of communal disharmony and engage with the Muslim community more openly and unapologetically, something that has been glaringly missing through the over 100-day journey of BJY despite the yatra passing through areas like Khandwa and Khargone in MP or Alwar in Rajasthan, which have variously witnessed communal riots and ghastly incidents of mob lynching in recent years.

Rahul cannot preach love and then be seen as someone afraid to embrace and coherently address issues concerning the one religious minority that has been most demonised during the BJP’s reign.

With the Congress presidency now outside the Gandhi family and incumbent party chief Kharge going the extra mile to signal that he will continue to seek the family’s counsel on important matters, Rahul has all the time he needs to push his political narrative. The Congress needs to back Rahul organisationally in his quest. Inviting a controversial and polarising figure like 1984 anti-Sikh riot tainted Jagdish Tytler to important party meetings or to join the forthcoming Delhi leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra may not be the way to do this.