The Congress has got another chance to in the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana to prove that it is the best alternative to the invincible BJP. But will it succeed in winning people’s heart and stopping the Modi juggernaut?
Bengaluru: With the Election Commission announcing dates for the Maharashtra and Haryana polls, both the BJP and the Congress are going all out to win the elections and form a government.
But going by the mood in the country, it seems that the BJP has an upper hand, with the top two, PM Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, come what may, leaving no stone unturned to see the BJP form the government again.
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However, these elections, give the Congress another opportunity to change the script by shocking the high-flying BJP with a win. These are the first elections after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in which the BJP won more than 300 seats.
But is the Congress ready to stop the Modi juggernaut?
Indian economy is not in good health. Add to it, joblessness and the hit the manufacturing sector has taken. Though the Modi government has given a booster shot by reducing corporate taxes, a sluggish economy will take some time to fully recuperate.
In fact, if the Congress can convert these failures of the Modi government into its advantage with effective campaigning and reaching out to the masses, it can certainly gain a lot.
Last year, three states in the Hindi belt – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - all of which were under the rule of the BJP went to the Congress. Though Congress can use these victories as a morale booster, the victories were more or less due to political fatigue.
At that point in time, Congress president Rahul Gandhi was gung-ho about party’s electoral prospects in the Lok Sabha elections 2019. But to his consternation, the Congress lost ignominiously, thereby proving that the victories in the 3 states were more of political boredom than anything else. While the Congress needed a bad surgery, Rahul Gandhi sacrificed himself.
Will the Congress continue to suffer defeats, or will there be a revival?
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