Cong campaigns fail to pick pace as cadre ‘demotivated’: Analysts
DEHRADUN: Amid Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) high-octane poll campaign in the state, with its star campaigners right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to party president JP Nadda holding election rallies in both Kumaon and Garhwal regions, Congress’s campaign hasn’t picked up in the hill state where BJP has won all the five Lok Sabha seats in last two parliamentary elections, according to political experts.
The experts said that various factors can be attributed to this such as Congress’s star campaigners, except for general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, did not hold election rallies in the state, demotivated cadre, many party leaders and workers joining BJP, fund crunch, with two of its candidates seeking donations from the voters and factionalism in the party.
Apart from these factors, none of its central leaders have been able to strike an emotional chord with the people in the Himalayan state like PM Modi, who has been regularly visiting the state, making repeated references in his speeches and Man Ki Baat regarding his special attachment with the state and how BJP’s double engine government is moving ahead to make Uttarakhand one of the best states in the country, and terming this decade as the decade of Uttarakhand, they said.
Besides, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is conducting tours of the state almost every day, holding rallies in favour of the BJP candidates and building the election narrative around development works done by Modi-led government, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and initiatives to check demographic changes in the state, an issue that resonates well with the people, especially in hilly districts of the state,” they stated.
According to Dehradunbased political analyst SMA Kazmi, it seems that the Uttarakhand Congress has meekly surrendered. “Senior leaders, who would have given a fight, refrained from fighting elections due to various reasons. The ground-level workers are not enthused due to the indifference of the senior party leadership. There is virtually no campaign or very weak effort by Congress candidates except in the case of Pauri and Haridwar seats. The account freeze by Income-Tax department has further led to the lack of visible campaigning. The central Congress leadership has abandoned the party candidates to fend for themselves, except for Priyanka Gandhi, who toured the state for one day and held rallies,” he said.
The political analysts opined that it is not surprising that realising the aggressive poll campaign by BJP, Priyanka Gandhi during her election rally in Ramnagar on Saturday said people should not go by the rhetoric and publicity glitz of the Modi-led BJP government, but look into what has changed in their own lives, their own families, how they are still struggling and think about the future of their children. Political expert Prof MM Semwal, who teaches political science at Garhwal University, said there are many reasons for Congress’s weak campaign. “The party cadre is demotivated as the party has been out of power for the last 10 years. Many of them think it is a battle they will lose, so why work hard? This is also one of the reasons why many Congress leaders have joined the BJP. Apart from this, the party is facing a fund crunch. Ganesh Godiyal and Virendra Rawat seeking donations from voters is also a strategy to apprise people of how challenging it has become for them to effectively campaign. Besides, the BJP has a strong committed and motivated cadre right up to the booth level. They are also using technology whether it is social media or other means, to reach out to the voters.”
Many Congress leaders leaving the party and joining BJP has hit the party’s poll campaign. Many senior Congress leaders who have resigned from the party in the last one month or so, including former MLA Shailendra Rawat (Kotdwar), former Badrinath MLA Rajendra Singh Bhandari (who was sitting MLA at the time of resignation from Congress, BJP stalwart BC Khanduri’s son Manish Khanduri, senior Congress leader and former minister Harak Singh Rawat’s daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain.
Dehradun-based social activist Anoop Nautiyal said for long the Congress has been a disjointed unit, marred by factionalism and the frequent exits of its top leaders to the BJP camp. “...BJP is a highly spirited and well-oiled organisation while Congress appears to be a house in disarray. It is this dispirited outlook that has perhaps motivated the Congress stalwarts to shy from the...direct electoral battle with cadre-driven rival led by Modi who is seen as a charismatic leader by many in Uttarakhand.”