'Congress must be 'fulcrum' to any alliance against BJP in 2024 polls'

Awantipora: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday that Congress must be the 'fulcrum' of any opposition alliance against BJP in the 2024 general elections. He said that his party is the only political force which has a pan-India presence, PTI reported.

"I certainly believe so. It stands to reason as we are the only national political party even today (besides the BJP)," he told PTI in an interview.

He said that Congress must be preparing already to fight on its own in the polls next year.

"We may not be in power in the state after state, but if you look at the presence in every village, mohalla, block, town, city, you will find Congress workers, Congress families," he said. He claimed though BJP might be in power, Congress is only a national force in sheer presence.

"Just measuring our influence by the number of states we govern or the percentage of votes that we get is a very narrow perspective. The ideology of the Congress is at the Centre. It is a Centre-Left party. Every party veers around to the Congress point of view, to the middle path, the path of consensus and conciliation," he said, substantiating that Congress is the fulcrum and a coalition around the party could only take on BJP.

He believes that Congress must take on BJP alone, but it would be unrealistic in 2024.

"My view is that, for 2029, we should be preparing to fight on our own in every state. But I am realistic that this position may not find favours within my own political party," he said.

He, however, added that in some states, the Congress had given too much space to its allies which is detrimental to organisation building.

Rahul Gandhi's key message has always been to build the organisation first, and power will follow, but the Congress has reversed that sequence, he said, adding that the former party chief's view is the right one.

"Long years of being in power has been detrimental to the organisational vitality. With the Bharat Jodo Yatra, this (organisational vitality) has gotten a booster and momentum, but that has to be sustained," he said.

"We cannot go back to having conflicts within the organisation between leaders, clashes between different groups. One would expect that after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we have found a higher purpose," he stressed.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra is a great cause involving a large number of Congress workers, and the largeness of the cause must reflect in our behaviour and approach when it comes to a halt otherwise, this will just be one episode, Mr Ramesh said.

"I have been saying, this is not an event, it is a movement. So if we want it to be seen as a movement, we must treat it as a movement," he said.

Asked about personal ambition affecting the party's prospects in various states and how the Congress would solve Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot-Sachin Pilot feud, Mr Ramesh said, "This personal ambition and personal goals have been a bane of the Congress. What the Bharat Jodo Yatra has done is that it has brought a sense of collective purpose and solidarity, and that is what is needed in state after state, including in Rajasthan."

The organisation has to triumph, not individual egos and ambitions, as what is good for the organisation will be good for party individuals, but what may be good for an individual may not necessarily be good for the party, he said.

Referring to the Congress organisation as a "sleeping giant", Mr Ramesh said the yatra has certainly given new hope to it, but this is not sufficient as this has just opened an opportunity, and now it depends on the organisation on different levels to take forward the momentum that has been generated.

"It (yatra) has been a great booster dose for the organisation, and people are talking of the Congress in a different light than they were five months ago," he said.

Talking about Gandhi's image transformation, he said this was not the cause of the yatra, but it was a consequence of the yatra.

Gandhi's image transformation among the people has been a great bonus of the yatra, Ramesh said.

"I think the BJP maligning Rahul Gandhi is not going to stop because their only game is maligning and defamation. But the credibility of what they are doing is far less than what it used to be. There will be few takes of the 'Pappufication' as you call it," he asserted.

He also said there has also been a transformation in terms of the narrative of Congress.

"There has been a tremendous rejuvenation and revitalisation of the party organisation in the Congress, and of course, there has been this badly needed correction in the way Mr Rahul Gandhi has been perceived by the public. So these are huge gains made by the Congress party over the last 140 days or so," he said.

The Congress and Gandhi have demonstrated endurance, tenacity, and resilience while at the same time succeeding in conveying the messages of the yatra - "the threats to our republic due to economic inequalities, social polarisation and political dictatorship", Mr Ramesh said.

He asserted that there is no need for doubt that Congress has completely changed after the Bharat Jodo Yatra.