The Congress has come out with its manifesto for the coming Lok Sabha polls. Called Nyay Patra, it lays out the Congress party’s guarantees for the coming elections. The focus will be economic which is good for that means real issues of jobs and employment will come into play and into the election rhetoric. There is also a lot of focus on welfare schemes, women and reservations, through which the Congress is reaching out to the marginalised and the minorities. In addition it talks about a caste survey which again the Congress has been doing ever since the last assembly polls, hoping to play the mandal card against the BJPs kamandal appeal.
Without going into the details, the optics are good, Perhaps it is because that the Congress has lowered the bar so much but for whatever reason, the manifesto comes as a reassuring message from the opposition. The message has been crafted, now it remains for the leaders to deliver it without getting distracted. The distraction is there with BJP leaders calling it a document crafted only to appease the minorities and dictated by the Muslim leadership. Now it is up to the Congress if it wants to fall into this trap and the debate back to religious lines — where the BJP has an obvious advantage, or stick to the issues that matter. The only way the Opposition can counter the Modi Government is to focus on deliverables and development. The last 10 years are not without their anti incumbancy. The trick would be to identify these areas and keep the focus on them instead of getting distracted by the BJP’s rhetoric.
Also the Congress needs the right faces to deliver the message. Apart from Rahul Gandhi , Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders like Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Maneesh Tewari, DK Shivkumar, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, P Chidambaram and Bhupesh Baghel will make for great prime time warriors for each knows how to craft an articulate well without getting sidetracked.
If the alliances work on ground and the Congress plays its messaging correctly then it could stand a chance of shoring its tally up to even three digits. But that is a big ask.