Ram Temple inauguration and Rahul Gandhi's own pilgrimage

The initial apprehensions of announcing a walk so close to the elections, instead of working on campaign strategy and candidate selection seem to have brought about a redefinition of Bharat Nyay Yatra

The Congress party faces two immediate dilemmas as it enters a make-or-break new year when a general election will decide its future direction. How to prevent assimilation into the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) heady narrative of Hindutva politics and how to reach out to voters with its alternative vision for the nation?

Media reports suggest Congress party leaders are flustered by the invite for the consecration of the Ram Temple on January 22. For all practical purposes, it will be a Narendra Modi show orchestrated by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Attending the official event led by someone styling himself after the manner of Hindu kings as protector of dharma would be to acknowledge the majoritarian narrative of the incumbent prime minister. Refusing to accept the invitation, on the other hand, might presumably anger religiously minded voters and reinforce the Congress' image as a party of "minority appeasement".

The invitation poses a conundrum for the party, like being asked, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" Whichever way you answer, it will only serve the agenda of the interlocutor. The disarray among Congressmen is apparent.

Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress and confidante of the party's first family, advised the prime minister "not to mix religion with politics". "The people of India will have to decide what are the real issues – is Ram Mandir the real issue?" he said. The Congress party, however, quickly distanced itself from Pitroda's views. Party general secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh clarified, "Sam Pitroda's statement is not an official statement of Congress. He doesn't speak on behalf of the Congress. It may be his personal view."

Engaging with the invitation issue is politically futile. The attendance of Congress leaders will not change the minds of voters already polarised along religious lines by ten years of the ruling party's rhetoric. It will also not sway voters who may now be enthralled by the Ram Temple inauguration into voting for the BJP.

Perhaps the Congress should wait and see how its allies in the INDIA bloc react. They can perhaps avoid making the Ram Temple inauguration into a contentious issue by thanking the event organisers and saying they will visit the temple at another time, as it is a matter of personal devotion.

Advancing its political narrative to the voter will be trickier for the Congress. This is where Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Nyay Yatra (BNY) might be a game changer.

By January 22, when the temple inauguration extravaganza takes place, the Congress BNY will have already held a series of state-level workers' meetings beginning on January 5. Rahul Gandhi would have already completed a week on the road; new public issues and images would have been generated.

There were some initial apprehensions about Rahul Gandhi announcing a walk across Northern India so close to the general election. It was thought that he ought to be working on campaign strategy and candidate selection. These concerns seem to have brought about a redefinition of the BNY. It will not be a walkathon like the previous Bharat Jodo Yatra, where Rahul Gandhi and his associates walked tens of kilometres every day, leaving him little time to do anything but recover at the end of the day.

Instead, The BNY will be a hybrid combination of walking and travelling by bus, leaving ample time for both strategy and organisational and public meetings. Rahul Gandhi will address public rallies -- travelling to the meetings by road and then returning to join the BNY -- in effect conducting a whirlwind election campaign across the heartland.

Rahul Gandhi's BNY will take place over 55 days and cover 14 states, including those in crucial states like West Bengal (42 seats), Bihar (40), Uttar Pradesh (80), Madhya Pradesh (29), Chhattisgarh (11), Rajasthan (25), Gujarat (26) and Maharashtra (48). In all, the yatra states cover 355 seats, constituting 65 per cent of the total number of seats. The BJP had won 236 of these 355 seats, while the Congress had managed to win only 14.

In 1989, when former Prime Minister V P Singh campaigned in just two states of North India – Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to unseat Rajiv Gandhi, he claimed that he needed to win only the "heart of India" and the rest of the country would come to him. So, Rahul Gandhi might just be doing the right thing by campaigning across these states. There will also be the added advantage here of seat coordination with the other allies of the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP.

In the "Hain Taiyyar Hum (we are ready)" rally at Nagpur, the Congress leader said the general election of 2024 continues a battle of visions for the future of India: "People think that it is a political fight, a fight for power, but the foundation of this fight is of ideology, of two opposing ideologies." He framed this clash as one between the Congress's vision of "empowerment and freedom" and the ideology of "hate and inequality". By empowerment, he said he meant, among other things, minimum support prices for farmers, a nationwide caste census, employment for the young and the implementation of the Nyuntam Aay Yojana or Minimum Income Support Programme.

The Congress will have to take this narrative directly to the people. The ruling dispensation's near-total sway over the media means that Congress hardly has any chance of getting its message across through traditional media. The ruling party also has a distinct advantage in advertising-induced coverage.

The Congress cannot also hope to build an alternative national narrative merely through daily briefings by its general secretaries. They neither have the charisma nor can they ensure fair media coverage, with prime-time TV anchors largely hostile. This is why Rahul Gandhi's direct communication with voters through the BNY might just be crucial in building a more successful campaign for "the soul of India".