In Hindi heartland, Congress struggles to rise above the Modi din

Addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tried some Q&A with his audience. He beckoned a young guy in the front row to the stage and asked a simple question. This is how the conversation went. Singh: “Did you get ₹15 lakh in your account?”

The young man: “Narendra Modi struck terrorists in Balakot. What else…”

At this point, someone from Singh’s team pushed his interlocutor away from the mic, which the Congress leader had ceded to him with hopes of hearing a litany of woes against the BJP. As the man was guided back into the audience, Singh, who was smiling tell then, fired a volley of questions: “Tere ko naukri mili kya, rozgar mila, paisa mila? (Did you get a job, employment or money)?” Had he not been stopped from completing his sentence, the young man would have most likely ended up arguing, Modi had destroyed terrorists, what else does an Indian want?

There is a very simple morale of this short story: This election, nobody wants to hear about real life issues. In the Hindi heartland, Indians are voting for Modi, the ‘scourge’ of enemies — imagined and real. And, as a logical corollary, the Congress voice is not even being heard.

Past week, after traveling across a few constituencies in rural Rajasthan, this writer discovered that there is indeed a lot of disappointment with the Modi government. People are unhappy because of lack of jobs, crisis in the farming sector, impact of demonetisation and the sluggish markets. But, even after listing out their grievances, they conclude with a ubiquitous statement: “But, only Modi will win.”

During the past four years, the Congress managed to beat the BJP with a convincing margin only in Punjab and Rajasthan. In the recent assembly elections, it won 100 seats against the BJP’s 73 in Rajasthan, making huge gains over its 2013 tally of 23 seats. But, even in Rajasthan, the Congress is finding it difficult to get its voice heard.

A month ago, when Rahul Gandhi announced his minimum guaranteed income scheme — craftily called Nyay (justice) — it seemed he had finally injected a talking point into the campaign. But, on the campaign trail, the word Nyay is rarely heard. Even when it is, the louder din is of Balakot, Pakistan and Modi’s Hindutva agenda.

Why an election in India has become a referendum on national security in a milieu of record-high unemployment, loss of thousands of jobs because demonetisation and hasty implementation of goods and sales tax (GST) is difficult to understand. The only explanation could be that voters have stopped expecting that governments will make any visible difference to their lives and have, thus, started voting on emotive issues like nationalism, religious identity and hate for and fear of perceived enemies. The BJP has understood the psyche of the voter quite well. So, it has concentrated its campaign on spinning new slogans on nationalism and communalism, and continued to stoke hidden fears and anxieties.

The Congress, on the other hand, has failed miserably to read the voter’s mind. In an election being fought on shrill slogans with absolutely no connection with real life, it has raised questions about employment, jobs, agrarian crisis and talked about civil rights and equitable laws and policies. To the average voter, who is being swayed by the BJP’s communal agenda, war-talk and “we don’t have nukes for Diwali” machismo, all this just doesn’t make any sense.

The problem with the Congress is this is the second consecutive election where it has failed to connect with the voter. In 2014, the Congress was wiped out because voters were unwilling to pay attention to a party that had run a government mired in controversies and charges of corruption. Back then, its voice was drowned in a din of anti-incumbency.

This year the signs are even more alarming. In spite of a reasonable amount of anger against the NDA government, a string of victories in the recent assembly polls, impressive numbers at its rallies, the Congress is on the mute.

The signs are ominous for the Congress. In 2014, it had won just three seats in Madhya Pradesh (29), Gujarat (26), Rajasthan (25) and Chhattisgarh (11). This year, after winning three states and performing quite well in Gujarat, it was expected to give the BJP a tough fight. But, with even front benchers at its rallies talking only of Balakot and whatever else they are hearing from Modi, its chances on these 90 seats appear bleak.

Next time Singh is in a mood for Q&A, he should probably ask how many seats the Congress is winning in these four states. The answer would be even more shocking than the one that wiped out his smirk the other day.