With the Samajwadi Party and the Congress all set to announce their alliance for the seven-phase Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh starting next month, poll strategists in the grand old party are scurrying around for a fresh campaign theme as its earlier slogan “27 saal, UP behal [In the past 27 years, Uttar Pradesh has been falling apart]” has been rendered redundant.
The Congress will have to change the focus of its campaign as it obviously cannot continue with its earlier slogan since the Samajwadi Party has been in power for over a decade during the past 27 years.
“This is an important political issue and we will have to look afresh at our messaging under the changed circumstances,” said a senior Congress office bearer.
Party insiders admitted that the Congress will not only have to come up with a new slogan, it will also have to explain why it decided on a partnership with the Samajwadi Party, especially since the Congress had earlier declared that it will contest the elections alone because it wanted to strengthen the party organisation in Uttar Pradesh with the long-term aim of capturing power in the politically crucial Hindi heartland state.
Development and farmers
According to Congress leaders, development and secularism should figure prominently in the campaign.
Since the Congress is already running a countrywide campaign to highlight how the poor have been suffering post-demonetisation, it is bound to be a factor in the Uttar Pradesh polls. This is despite the fact that a number of party leaders believe this issue is past its sell-by date.
On the other hand, the Congress may find it difficult to play up the secularism message as it has the potential to backfire on both parties. Not only will the Bharatiya Janata Party use this to accuse the two parties of appeasing the minorities, it can also lead to a reverse Hindu consolidation which will end up helping the saffron party.
Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh suggest that the party should continue with its focus on the twin issues of “vikas and kisan [development and farmers]”. They said the kisan yatra undertaken last year by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had raised the demand of a loan waiver for debt-ridden farmers, lower electricity charges and a higher minimum support price for their produce.
Since these issues have to be dealt with by the Modi government and do not reflect on the Akhilesh Yadav state government, it makes it easier for the Congress to continue to press this issue.
“Personally, I would go with the slogan ‘kisan, mazdoor ko daam, yuva ko kaam [Higher rates for farmers, labourers, and work for the youth]’ as it highlights the issues already raised by Rahul Gandhi,” said a Uttar Pradesh Congress leader.
Akhilesh Yadav, who has emerged stronger from the long drawn-out battle with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, will obviously be the Samajwadi Party’s poster boy. His party campaign will naturally play up the chief minister’s clean image and his development agenda.
When Congress targeted Akhilesh
Prashant Kishor, the Congress party’s chief poll strategist, who had had come up with the original slogan to highlight how Uttar Pradesh had suffered under successive governments over the past 27 years, when the Congress was not in power, will be required to revise his strategy around a new theme now that the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance is set to be sealed over the next few days.
It was at Kishor’s instance that the Congress vice-president had embarked on a month-long kisan yatra in Uttar Pradesh last year to highlight the plight of farmers. Though Rahul Gandhi refrained from attacking the Samajwadi Party at that time, the Nehru-Gandhi scion did take an occasional dig at the Akhilesh Yadav government, especially at the infighting in the Yadav parivaar.
Maintaining that the Congress was contesting the Uttar Pradesh elections to win a majority, Rahul Gandhi had declared at an interactive session with party workers last year in Lucknow: “You know what has happened in the last 27 years when different parties have only divided the state.”
Though the Modi government was the chief target of attack during his kisan yatra, Rahul Gandhi did remark on several occasions that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister had failed to live up to the expectations of the people.
Poking fun at Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi stated that the Samajwadi Party’s cycle had got stuck and will not run anymore, referring to its election symbol. “When Akhilesh Yadav sat on the cycle, people starting pulling the brakes and pushing the handles eventually puncturing the tyres and the cycle got stuck,” the Congress leader said at his meetings.
Reality bites
However, there has been a dramatic change since last September when Rahul Gandhi embarked on his “Deoria to Delhi” yatra. Launched with great fanfare, the Congress campaign soon petered out as it became abundantly clear that the grand old party was not making any impact. The Congress leadership was forced to backtrack on its earlier declaration to go solo after it realised that instead of focusing on its long-term plan to revive its defunct party in Uttar Pradesh, it was more important to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party’s onward march. And since it is in no position to do so on its own, the Congress had little choice but to explore an electoral tie-up with the Samajwadi Party.
Consequently, the grand old party has scaled down its plans to contest all 403 Assembly constituencies in the state, and is currently negotiating for 110 seats, though the Samajwadi Party is not willing to part with more than 75-80 seats. Seat-sharing talks are on, and as Congress Uttar Pradesh incharge Ghulam Nabi Azad announced on Tuesday, the partnership should be sealed over the next couple of days.