Mumbai, India – Loud chants and songs on justice echoed round Shivaji Park in India’s monetary capital, Mumbai, as 1000’s of individuals gathered on the iconic venue that had performed frequent host to rallies by freedom fighters when the nation fought for independence from the British many years in the past.
This time, the slogans referred to as for a special “freedom” – from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Get together authorities.
On stage, Bollywood singers Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj sang basic songs from standard movies, new and previous. The park was decked in flags and life-sized cardboard cutouts of politicians from the opposition Indian Nationwide Congress (INC) celebration. Law enforcement officials have been all over the place, however the ambiance was festive – virtually resembling that of a rock live performance. The person on the centre of the occasion: Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi household that dominated India for many of its first 50 years after independence.
On Sunday night, Gandhi and a bevy of leaders from different opposition events launched the election marketing campaign of their Indian Nationwide Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) from Shivaji Park, a day after the Election Fee of India introduced dates for the world’s largest vote. Almost a billion Indians will elect their subsequent authorities in a seven-phase election that begins on April 19 and ends with the declaration of outcomes on June 4.
The INDIA alliance hopes to problem Modi’s BJP, which is aiming to win a 3rd straight time period in workplace, driving on the again of the prime minister’s private recognition, even because the Congress and different critics have accused it of dividing the nation on non secular traces and favouring choose industrialists.
On the coronary heart of the opposition alliance’s efforts are lengthy marches undertaken by Gandhi throughout the size and breadth of the nation, to galvanise assist towards Modi. His Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (Uniting India for Justice March) had culminated in Mumbai on Saturday.
The marches and Gandhi’s message of unity and justice resonated with supporters at Shivaji Park on Sunday.
Ganggu Bai, a 40-year-old prepare dinner who lives in Mumbai’s Dharavi – one of many world’s largest slum clusters made well-known globally by the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire – was amongst these on the Sunday rally.
“I’m right here to assist the way forward for our nation. and ladies’s rights,” she mentioned. “This occasion offers me hope and seems like it’s really for the individuals of India,” she added.
However for Gandhi, the Congress and the INDIA alliance to show that sentiment right into a nationwide wave towards the ruling authorities, they’ll want the votes of greater than their core supporters: Within the final nationwide elections in 2019, the Congress gained simply 52 seats within the Lok Sabha or decrease home of parliament, whereas the BJP gained an awesome majority with 303 seats.
Political message
Addressing the rally, Gandhi insisted that the INDIA alliance’s struggle was not towards a political celebration [referring to the BJP] or the prime minister – however for a imaginative and prescient of India.
“There’s a phrase ‘Shakti’ in Hinduism. We’re combating towards a Shakti. The query is, what’s that Shakti. The soul of the king is within the EVM (Digital Voting Machine) and each establishment of the nation, together with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Revenue Tax division,” he mentioned, including that these establishments are the one cause the BJP is in energy.
The allegation: The “king” is Modi, EVMs might be hacked, and the federal government is utilizing regulation enforcement businesses to coerce opposition members and enterprise leaders into submission.
#WATCH | Mumbai, Maharashtra: On the conclusion ceremony of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi says, “There’s a phrase ‘Shakti’ in Hinduism. We’re combating towards a Shakti. The query is, what’s that Shakti. The soul of the King is within the EVM. This… pic.twitter.com/lL9h9W0sRf
— ANI (@ANI) March 17, 2024
A number of key politicians from the INDIA alliance, like Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Tamil Nadu state Chief Minister MK Stalin and former Maharashtra state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the previous chief minister of Maharashtra, additionally attended the rally.
“Ab ki baar, BJP tadipaar [This time, the BJP will be exiled],” Thackeray mentioned and added that those that tried to divide them [the INDIA alliance] can be defeated.
“Wherever Rahul goes, it seems like a pageant,” Stalin informed the cheering crowds.
Then, he alluded to the litmus check that awaits the alliance.
“The true victory of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra stands in defeating BJP and capturing Delhi,” he mentioned.
Are Gandhi’s marches working?
Gandhi’s rally at Shivaji Park got here a day after he concluded his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra – a 6,600km (4,100-mile) march from India’s east to west, with detours in every state he handed by. His promise: “panch nyay” or “5 pillars of justice” for ladies, youth, farmers, labourers and justice when it comes to fairness.
Throughout the stroll, he introduced a one lakh rupee ($1,200) annual payout to each girl under the poverty line, and a 50 p.c reservation in in all new recruitments of central authorities jobs for poor households.
He started strolling on January 15 this 12 months within the conflict-torn northeast Indian state of Manipur, promising to deliver peace to the area the place tensions between the state’s primarily Hindu Meitei majority and the predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo have led to violence killing a whole bunch and displacing greater than 60,000 individuals. Traversing west from Manipur, Gandhi ended his stroll in Mumbai on March 16.
Beforehand, he additionally walked from South India all the way in which to Kashmir within the north, between September 2022 and January 2023, in a march referred to as Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India stroll), which centered on combating towards poverty, unemployment and rising polarisation between Hindus and Muslims in India.
These messages are what impressed Sudha Prakash to stroll with Gandhi in his first Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“I walked to point out solidarity. I additionally walked to derive energy and hope from the 1000’s of others who walked, every with their very own imaginative and prescient – and but one which was additionally shared – of a greater India for each single Indian,” Prakash, 60, who works as a instructor in elementary schooling in Mumbai, informed Al Jazeera.
“I bought a chance to satisfy so many individuals, individuals from totally different elements of the nation, doing various things, belonging to totally different communities, representing so many Indias … it was great. I got here again exhilarated, emotionally charged and crammed with hope,” she added.
Picture drawback
Aiyshwarya Mahadev, a spokesperson of the Indian Nationwide Congress hailed each the yatras as the biggest workouts the Congress celebration has undertaken in its current previous to connect with the plenty.
“We wished to listen to the voices on the bottom and provides them a voice. So throughout each the yatras we noticed Rahul Gandhi listening to voices that rarely get heard, of individuals from communities which were historically oppressed and marginalised,” she informed Al Jazeera.
“This yatra shouldn’t be about political pomp or any chest thumping, It was actually about reaching the individuals on the bottom, listening to their voices and turning into their voices. On this side it has been an enormous success.”
However many Indians will not be satisfied. The BJP has typically derisively termed snubbed Gandhi’s marches as designed to “break”, not “unite”, India.
Ujal Bhatia, a former Indian civil servant, mentioned he doesn’t consider that Gandhi’s marches will result in electoral good points for the Congress.
“The narrative of the BJP holds sway over a lot of the nation – Hindutva, sturdy authorities plus welfarism which delivers palliatives to the poor,” he informed Al Jazeera. Hindutva refers back to the Hindu majoritarian political ideology of the BJP. The Modi authorities has additionally, over its decade in energy, initiated a collection of welfare schemes focusing on girls and different historically deprived sections of society, although critics query the federal government’s claims on the dimensions of supply of those programmes.
“Rahul will get lots of good vibes from his travels however Congress cadres are weak and the Gandhi household is reluctant to cede energy to regional leaders,” Bhatia added.
Raj Malhotra, a 33-year previous lawyer from Bangalore, shared an analogous view.
“Sufficient individuals within the nation are fed up with the divisive politics and crony capitalism however the opposition appears clueless in utilizing this to its benefit. An enormous a part of it’s because for greater than a decade, the Congress celebration has uncared for to concentrate to organisational weaknesses,” Malhotra informed Al Jazeera and accused the celebration of nepotism and dynastic politics.
“Whereas Rahul Gandhi may nonetheless be a viable candidate, he suffers from being made out to be a “pappu” by BJP’s propaganda manufacturing facility. The celebration actually must look inwards and type its inside mess out,” he added. The BJP and its social media supporters have lengthy described Gandhi as “Pappu”, a pejorative in Hindi-speaking northern India for somebody who’s intellectually boring.
‘Democracy’ vs ‘command and management’
Sam Pitroda, telecom engineer and adviser to 2 former Congress prime ministers of India, Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, conceded that the celebration seems much more chaotic than the BJP. However that, he mentioned, was in essence what democracy is about.
“The BJP is predicated on command and management, whereas the Congress celebration shouldn’t be structured and primarily based on cooperation and co-creation. So typically this seems like chaos. However that’s the core design of the celebration,” he informed Al Jazeera. “Folks get confused that arguments and disagreements over celebration insurance policies means there’s lack of organisation and unity. However if you need democracy, you need to let individuals argue and never be dictatorial.
“Rahul Gandhi can be a sensible and succesful chief. It’s the BJP propaganda which invests in defaming him. How about earlier than elections we have now a nationwide debate between Gandhi and Modi after which we will see who the true “pappu” is,” Pitroda mentioned.
Mahadev added that the marches have additionally performed a optimistic position in uniting the Congress celebration’s members and staff.
“By the yatras, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi [Rahul’s sister] and different leaders have been all on the bottom and the employees bought the possibility to satisfy and work together with them. That additional galvanised the cadre and emboldened them to work with renewed vigour,” Mahadev mentioned.
“It’s a actuality that in at this time’s India, the voices of the opposition get stifled and at occasions, the longer term seems bleak, however by this form of engagement the place a employee is proven that the work that he’s doing on floor is necessary, helps the celebration and is reminded of the large position he performs in our success.”
What’s subsequent?
The INDIA alliance has additionally skilled fissures with key leaders exiting the bloc over political variations. However Mahadev mentioned that by the yatras, the opposition’s manifesto has been formed.
“After we did the primary part of the yatra, we walked by totally different states and interacted with totally different stakeholders throughout the board who spoke about their points. This helped form our narrative and gave us the idea for a number of of our manifesto,” she mentioned. “A number of regional events and our allies within the INDIA bloc even have representations and concepts which will likely be put ahead as the guarantees we make throughout elections.”
Mahadev acknowledged that it was unclear how a lot the marches would instantly result in votes for the Congress or its companions. However that, she mentioned, was by no means the first intention behind the yatras, in any case.
“His footsteps could not all the time rework into votes in place however the thought of the yatras was to speak to individuals on the bottom who got here from numerous socioeconomic constructions, vocations and even marginalised communities,” she mentioned. “These conferences weren’t political gatherings however his interactions to pay attention and to know their actuality, perceive their points and be a voice for them.”
For Gandhi, she mentioned, the marches have been about striving for “peace and unity”, and to “struggle for India as a democracy”.