Rahul Gandhi Shifts Electoral Discourse to Social Justice Narrative

In the 2019 parliamentary election, Rahul Gandhi used the Rafale deal to frame his electoral discourse around corruption. This time, however, he has broadened his focus by centering his narrative on injustice, which enables him to address a far wider range of issues, including social, economic, and political ones.

The spotlight remained on Narendra Modi's alleged wrongdoing in the Rafale deal, despite Rahul's subsequent inclusion of "Nyay" (minimum income guarantee) in his 2019 campaign, even as the Congress apparatus refused to support either of his favorite concerns. This time, despite Rahul's persistent emphasis on the call for a caste census, the Congress hasn't taken up the social justice campaign in a significant manner, but the party's communication system echoes the general emphasis on injustice.

Unquestionably, Rahul is the only one who never misses a chance to broach the subject of caste census, and the bulk of Congress politicians, even spokespersons, do not share his fervor for the cause of ending caste prejudice. Nevertheless, because the party has centered its whole campaign on the idea of justice, there is no getting around this problem. The campaign's five pillars are representation, justice for youth, women, farmers, and workers.

The Congress refers to Modi's ten-year government of providing justice to all societal segments as "Anyay Kaal." The present narrative spans a wide variety of topics, from unemployment to pricing, from farmers to OBCs, from young to women, from the poor to minorities. This is in contrast to the limited, unifocal attention on one subject of a defense pact. A Congress official summed up Rahulji's argument as "rich versus all."

On Sunday, Rahul tweeted, asking whether Modi's friends' debts had been forgiven. Indeed. Was the business tax cut in order to benefit Modi's allies? Indeed. Did Modi's allies get inexpensive land? Indeed. Did the income of farmers double? No. Did farmers get waivers for loans? No. By establishing a crony policy that allowed the top 1% of the population to amass India's wealth, Modi has abandoned the country. The Congress is dedicated to enacting just laws that benefit laborers, farmers, and the underprivileged people at the back of the line.

Congress officials say that by adamantly bringing up topics like unemployment, paper leaks, recruitment scams, and dubious schemes like Agniveer, Rahul has built a solid connection with the younger generation. By giving a legal guarantee for the minimum support price, or MSP, he demonstrated his strong support for farmers. The manifesto also includes numerous additional announcements for the agricultural industry. With the promise of universal basic income, Congress is positioning itself to court laborers and other socially vulnerable groups.

Social justice is the cornerstone of Rahul's approach. He included minorities (15%) to his prior projection of 73% of the population (OBC, Dalits, and tribals) as the disadvantaged groups, notwithstanding his earlier claim that 88% of the population was suffering.

Social justice has long been a powerful political tool in Bihar, where the story drew a warm reception from the populace. Tejashwi Yadav, an alliance partner, has launched the Jan Vishwash Yatra to support his record of providing lakhs of employment in a short amount of time, and the public's reaction has been positive so far.

In Uttar Pradesh, Rahul escalated his aggressiveness on the issue of social justice to the point that he told the oppressed people that they would be defeated if they didn't fight for their rights.

Rahul's keen emphasis on caste justice and census may ignite societal unrest, even if the BJP's vote share may seem insurmountable for the Congress-SP combination given the BSP's unwavering refusal to join the coalition.

The BJP questioned Rahul's decision to lead the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, posing the issue of what exactly was wrong and needed to be rectified. Apart from the issue of social representation and empowerment, the BJP hasn't been able to concoct a comparable narrative about the Nyay Yatra, which explicitly highlights injustices done to women, workers, farmers, and youth.

The BJP countered the welfare narrative that dominated Congress politics till a few months ago by highlighting Modi's promise. However, Modi's rhetoric hasn't been able to stop the agenda for injustice so far.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.