Politics Today: Can Congress Challenge BJP’s Nationalism Pitch?

Plus, PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate two-day Northeast investors’ summit in New Delhi. “Modi ka dimag thanda hai, thanda rehta hai, lekin Modi ka lahu garam hota hai. Aur ab toh Modi ki nason mein lahu nahi, garam sindoor beh raha hai (Modi keeps cool but Modi’s blood runs hot. Now, not blood but hot vermilion is flowing in the veins).” Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made some of his strongest comments yet on Operation Sindoor and the military action against terror bases operating out of Pakistan.

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The remarks, made at a rally in Bikaner, were as much for Pakistan as they were for the domestic audience, underscoring the enormity of the challenge that the Opposition faces. Since the rise of Modi’s BJP, the Opposition, especially the Congress, has struggled to articulate its vision of nationalism as opposed to the BJP’s nationalist Hindutva politics.

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Congress Struggles to Reclaim Nationalism from BJP

Despite its historical role in the freedom movement, the Congress has failed to make use of this political plank now and again, as a result of which the BJP appears to have the monopoly over it. In its draft resolution at the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Ahmedabad last month, the party attempted to define its nationalism, saying that while it seeks to bind people together, the BJP and the RSS’s “pseudo nationalism” aimed at erasing India’s diversity.

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As an Indian Express editorial after the Ahmedabad AICC session noted, the Congress “faces an uphill task of reclamation and resuscitation” on the issue of nationalism. The party needs to find a way to reach across the divide and start a dialogue with BJP voters, many of whom may have voted for it earlier but have moved away from it over the last decade. Nowhere will this be more important than Bihar, which goes to the polls later this year. And it cannot happen if its messaging, especially on a plank as crucial as nationalism, continues to remain muddled. While the PM talks about sindoor flowing through his veins and the BJP organises Tiranga yatras, the Congress has to find a way to talk about nationalism without coming across as small-minded and articulate its idea of nationalism that is more substantive compared to that of the BJP.