Congress poll campaign in Himachal Pradesh a metaphor for its inadequacy
Geographies and physical boundaries in times of Indian election campaigns are, it seems, both redundant and vital in equal measure. And only political players who can synthesise this apparent contradiction have a winning chance at the hustings. As a case in point, take the election to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, voting for which takes place on November 9 and where the incumbent Congress and BJP are the two choices before the electorate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only had a series of well-organised public meetings in the State, underlining the importance of a strong local party machinery and being seen and heard in a given geography in person, but also used the platform provided to raise issues to touch on just local issues but also those feeding into a pan-India narrative that work just as well in distant Gujarat, the other State in election mode, as well. For example, he has been talking about India's Iron lady's nerve having allegedly failed her when it came to notebandi so he did for the country what she ought to have and playing on the ‘corrupt Congress' narrative by asking drivers, cooks and sundry other subalterns who have reportedly been installed as fronts in reals estate deals by various Opposition leaders to not hand back properties to their 'masters' because he will ensure his “benami sampatti ka toofan” will prevent the latter from claiming their illegal assets. So, the pitch works whether the graft charges are against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh or Congress worthies in Gujarat.
Cut to the Congress. Its heir apparent has barely bothered to show up in Himachal Pradesh, the campaign itself has been left to the 83-year-old Chief Minister who has publicly expressed his helplessness at the lack of funds to organise an effective campaign and the party organisation — despite not being in as bad a shape in Himachal as it is in many other parts of North India — is not only terribly downbeat but a classic case study on how to reduce one's own party organisation to a shambles despite being the incumbent government which got 42.8 per cent of the popular vote against 38.47 per cent for the BJP five years ago.
Rahul Gandhi has focussed his efforts on Gujarat, the issues he has raised this election season have mainly been State-specific with no traction for Himachal or as a meta-narrative save perhaps de-monetisation where too its impact on the Gujarati mercantile class has been highlighted. Party strategists may have calculated that given anti-incumbency in Himachal and the voters' penchant for a regime change every five years (beginning 1993, Himachalis have alternatively chosen BJP and Congress), the hill state was a lost cause; what they have not, is the incalculable damage they have done in the process to any hopes of a Congress revival by letting the organisation crumble and keeping their leader away from a State where they have a strong support base.