Rahul Gandhi.
After winning the Lok Sabha elections, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi chose his political ground by choosing to be an MP from Rae Bareli instead of Wayanad. Now, on the pretext of Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi has entered the political pitch of Uttar Pradesh and started batting. He visited UP thrice in a month, twice to his parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli and once to meet the families of the Hathras accident victims. How could Rahul Gandhi’s growing political activism in UP politically unsettle not only the ruling BJP but also the opposition parties SP and BSP?
By making Rae Bareli his political workplace, Rahul Gandhi has started reviving the Congress, which has been on ventilator for three and a half decades in Uttar Pradesh politics. Glimpses of this can be seen in the 2024 election results and Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Hathras after becoming the Leader of the Opposition and his letter to CM Yogi Adityanath. Rahul Gandhi reached Rae Bareli again on Tuesday, where he was seen meeting not only party leaders and workers but also the family of martyred Captain Anshuman Singh and trying to deliver a political message.
On the pretext of Rae Bareli, Rahul Gandhi is focusing on Uttar Pradesh as the Congress searches for its long-lost political ground in the state. The results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have raised hopes for the Congress. The Congress, which lost just one seat in UP in 2019, managed to win 6 seats in 2024 and lost five seats by marginal votes. After the results, the Congress people are excited and now Rahul Gandhi has started giving a political edge by visiting UP three times in a month. Be it NEET issue or Hathras incident. Meanwhile, when the Hathras incident happened, Rahul Gandhi wasted no time in reaching out to the people and was seen meeting the families of the victims and delivering a political message.
An attempt to consolidate the fragmented vote bank of the Congress
Rahul Gandhi’s attempt is to once again unite the Congress’s fragmented vote bank in Uttar Pradesh. In this direction, Rahul has achieved success to a large extent in the 2024 elections. The traditional vote bank of Congress was once Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin. With the help of these three, the Congress remained in power in UP for a long time, but in the nineties, the Ram Mandir movement and the politics of social justice spoiled its equation.
The Congress has been in exile in power for three and a half decades, but the results of the 2024 elections have shown its way. This time, the Congress is hoping for a resurgence in UP due to the clear Muslim vote for the India Alliance and the tilt of the Dalit community on the Constitution issue. In the 2022 assembly elections in UP, the Congress got 2.33 percent of the votes, but it increased to 6.39 percent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections two years later.
After establishing the political base of the Congress in UP, Rahul Gandhi is active and plans to rebuild the Congress. Rahul’s activism will increase the restlessness of political parties, because of which everyone will be targeted, so everyone’s votes will be targeted for Congress.
Mayawati’s tension will increase the most
Rahul Gandhi’s activation in UP will raise BSP’s biggest concern. The reason is that Rahul is focused on the vote bank of the Dalit community, which he is constantly trying to cultivate. A large section of Dalits are seen standing in favor of Congress-SP alliance on the issue of constitution. The Dalit votebank in UP is considered a traditional voter of the BSP, which has shifted away from Mayawati to the BJP, but in 2024 they are leaning towards the Congress-SP. In such a situation, the way Rahul Gandhi is raising his voice on the issue of Dalits and carrying a copy of the Constitution with him everywhere, the strategy is going on to connect the Dalit community with him.
In the Hathras tragedy, most of the people from the Dalit community died, whose families were seen solving political equations with Rahul Gandhi. If Rahul Gandhi remains active, his focus will be on connecting the Dalit vote bank. BSP will be most worried if Dalits tilt towards Congress. Dalit votes are slipping away from the BSP elections after the UP elections. A source of tension for Mayawati is to keep the Dalit votebank intact, while the Congress is trying to bring it into its fold. The Dalit community has about 22 percent vote share in UP, which is very important politically.
This will be a cause of concern for the BJP as well
Since Rahul Gandhi is continuously active in UP, not only the BSP but also the BJP can increase the tension. The Brahmin community in Uttar Pradesh was once the core votebank of the Congress, but has completely shifted to the BJP due to the party’s weakness and the Ram Mandir movement. Brahmins are not as dominant in BJP as they were in Congress. The Congress-ruled CM in UP belongs to the Brahmin community. After Narayan Dutt Tiwari, no other Brahmin became Chief Minister. If the Congress gets stronger in UP, the Brahmins may tilt towards the Congress, which could be a cause of concern for the BJP. Political analysts also believe that if Muslims and Dalits move in favor of Congress, Brahmins will also join.
Rahul will also increase the tension for Akhilesh
The political ground on which the SP seems to be standing in Uttar Pradesh was once that of the Congress. After the Babri demolition, the Muslim community moved away from the Congress and joined the SP. Since then, a large section of Muslims have been associated with the SP, but after Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, the hearts of Muslims yearn for the Congress. Rahul Gandhi seems to be raising his voice on the issue of Muslims. The result is that in 2024, the Muslim community has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a Congress-led India alliance. There is no difference among Muslims because of the SP-Congress alliance in UP.
It is believed that whichever political party the Congress had formed an alliance with in UP, the Muslims would have leaned towards that party. Thus, Rahul Gandhi’s activism may add to Akhilesh Yadav’s political restlessness, as the SP’s politics are being run with the help of Muslim votes. The slippage of Muslim votes could be a cause for concern for the SP. So it is believed that Akhilesh Yadav does not want to give more political space to Congress in UP. In the 2024 elections, the SP gave 17 of the 80 seats in UP to the Congress, seats that the Congress had not won for 40 years. After the results of the Lok Sabha elections, the situation has changed and the Congress is busy expanding its political base.
