One Take | It Happens Only for INDIA: RaGa Gives up ‘Aatmanirbhar Cong’ Dream for Oppn Unity

The idea of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the new opposition front for 2024 Lok Sabha elections, has been inspired by the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Sources say while all agreed that the word India or Indian must be included in the new front’s name, it was Gandhi who suggested that the idea of India, which he found during the yatra, could be incorporated. Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee agreed to it and suggested the name INDIA.

In the euphoria over the new name and new front and as it gets battle-ready, there is one fight which Gandhi has lost.

THE VISION, INDO-US DEAL & BIHAR EXPERIENCE

When Gandhi first entered active politics in 2004 and was made in-charge of the Youth Congress and National Student Union of India (NSUI), he had a vision. It was to make the Congress independent. He wanted it to be free of any control by other parties and carve its own path.

In fact, Gandhi had been closely observing that much of his mother Sonia Gandhi’s time as the party president and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson was spent in cajoling its alliance partners and often taking a step back.

The one which shook him the most was the India-United States nuclear deal, which was close to then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s heart. He saw closely how the Left parties were aggressively attacking the PM.

It was then that Gandhi had made a firm resolve – there would have to be a day when the Congress would be able to walk alone.

It was with this idea that he had suggested the elections to the NSUI in Bihar as a start. But it was a non-starter from the beginning. For a party which was used to ‘sifaarish’ culture and lack of elections at the lowest level, not many were ready for this. The idea was good, but premature, and hence it came as no surprise, when reports of nepotism and false applications began to pour in.

Gandhi had to put this idea on hold. Just as he had to accept the fact that the ordinance on convicted MPs being disqualified, which would help Lalu Yadav, had to be accepted.

LEFT TO AAP, NO ‘EKLA CHOLO RE’

As the Congress faced setbacks at the poll altar, Gandhi had to gulp his idea of ‘Ekla cholo re’ because real politics is different from idealism and demands coalition.

Gandhi first agreed to it when he accepted Adhir Ranjan Choudhury’s proposal that the Congress must tie up with the Left to take on Banerjee.

But the ultimate acceptance was in reaching out to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

At the parliamentary strategy meeting headed by Sonia Gandhi, a day before the Bengaluru meeting, some voices like Manish Tewari cautioned about aligning with the AAP. But for the larger goal of Opposition unity, the Congress decided to support the AAP.

For Gandhi, who has personally never endorsed an alliance with parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), AAP or TMC, the Bengaluru summit has been both an awakening and acceptance.

As INDIA is born, the UPA is buried, so is Rahul Gandhi’s dream of an Aatmanirbhar Congress.