The Congress Party at the national level has gained much traction from the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The 4000 km long journey undertaken by Rahul Gandhi in 146 days has raised hopes among those that cherish an India where the soul breathes free and the state has not turned into a big brother constantly keeping a watch on what documentaries people choose to view, which movies are to be banned which ones to be watched. Since 2014 there has been an air of despondency for those who believe in the diversity and happy co-existence among people of all faiths. Religion never became a political prop. Today for the BJP, the main draw for the 2024 parliamentary elections would be the completion of the Ram temple as if, on that structure, hinges the future and progress of this nation. A temple is meaningless if people don’t have adequate healthcare. Today the out of pocket expenses on healthcare is at an all-time high because the state has not made healthcare accessible to rural habitats.
Since the pandemic unemployment has risen manifold and a good number of factory workers have not found new jobs. There is heartburn among the youth on the bleak employment scenario especially for the less skilled among them. The education system is broken as it produces too many people with degrees but without adequate reasoning power and therefore the inability to innovate. Creativity is stifled by regimentation. India needs an ecosystem where ideas are respected, incubated and nurtured. India’s economic model has produced a few billionaires who enjoy state patronage and whose incomes derive from the rest of the population. They run business empires which rely on state institutions that could collapse if the business venture fails. The Congress Party must engage itself with how to fix this broken system. It cannot continue to critique the Modi government at the Centre without coming up with alternatives such as building a robust economic model; an education system that empowers ideas to take wings and a health system that all can access. The Congress must introspect on what actually brought it down other than the runaway corruption by a few in government, business and politics. Unless there is a serious soul-searching, people will soon forget the Bharat Jodo Yatra which will be subsumed by the noise of right wing extremism.
India needs to grow in an atmosphere where public goods are accessible not by virtue of their political leanings but because the Constitution guarantees them those. In Meghalaya, the Congress is perhaps the only Party that has set up quite a few women candidates. Other parties, particularly the regional parties, remain gender blind and only pay lip service to women’s empowerment. It is not easy to decimate a Party that has a history of leading the freedom struggle. However, the Congress needs to learn important lessons from its period in exile.
