A political campaign with a personal touch

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s four-day Vijay Sankalp Yatra from Naraingarh in Ambala district was designed to cover half the constituencies of Haryana in the final hours before the state went to the polls.

Senior journalist Dharmendra Kanwari, who has reported extensively on Haryana politics, said, “I have never seen anything like this or anyone undertake a similar yatra in the final phase of an election.” A fellow journalist concurred, “The BJP has no counter to this strategy. Neither Narendra Modi nor Amit Shah could have pulled off such a tour, especially at such short notice.”

With the rallies sparsely attended and PM Narendra Modi’s mass appeal visibly on the wane, the cameras stayed focused on the stage. His public speeches criticising the Congress seemed to have lost their sting. After 10 years of BJP rule, many Haryanvis seemed sceptical of the promises being made. Most journalists covering the campaign trail admitted that the BJP rallies were indeed flops, with scowling leaders and tense visages.

In comparison, Rahul Gandhi looked and sounded at ease on stage and off, nibbling at the famous giant jalebis of Haryana and sharing pakodas, chai and smiles with workers and security personnel. Several Congressmen, he joked, had joined the BJP out of fear, only to discover that they were forbidden to laugh in the presence of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

Senior political analyst Satish Tyagi notes that even without this yatra, the Congress was already on track to win in Haryana, with a majority. No one in the Haryana Congress had asked Rahul Gandhi to undertake the yatra, but the fact that he chose to pass through constituencies deemed to be hostile or inhospitable to the Congress suggested that it was designed to minimise losses and maximise margins of victory.

It began in the GT Road Belt, a relatively urbanised region where the BJP had performed well in the last two assembly elections. Since then, the BJP’s position in this area has declined. On the first day, Rahul Gandhi passed through the Ladwa assembly constituency in Kurukshetra district, where chief minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting

This seat was chosen especially for him because of the high concentration of Saini voters in the region. However, the massive turnout from the Saini community during Rahul Gandhi’s yatra seemed to upend the BJP’s stratagem.

Pitting 35 communities against one—the Jats—worked spectacularly well in 2014 but since then has yielded diminishing returns. The Congress leader declared that the government formed in Haryana after these elections would represent all chhattis biradaris (36 communities) in the state. This message of unity appeared to have gone down well. Electronic media highlighted a significant moment where Rahul Gandhi not only brought Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja on stage, along with PCC president Udai Bhan and other Congress leaders, but also had them join hands.

Although both Hooda and Selja have consistently denied any internal rift and have shared the stage multiple times, the growing narrative of Hooda vs. Selja in the media may have made such a display of solidarity necessary. Old-timers recalled Rajiv Gandhi sharing an open jeep with Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal as he travelled across Haryana ahead of an election, effectively quelling mischievous speculation of discord between the two leaders.

Kanwari notes that the BJP’s strategy lay in amplifying the supposed rift between Hooda and Selja, hoping to disrupt the Dalit vote base by constantly highlighting their differences. However, this tactic failed. Rahul Gandhi playfully declared that all Congress leaders were lions who sometimes fought with each other, leaving it to him to bring them together.

The yatra also highlighted two major issues in Haryana left largely unaddressed by other leaders: unemployment and drug abuse. On his recent visit to the US, Gandhi met with a group of young men from Haryana who had each spent Rs 35–50 lakh to migrate to America via the illegal and hazardous ‘Donkey Route’.

Many of the men died en route. Those lucky enough to survive confided that they had migrated in the hope of earning sufficient money to send back home. Rahul Gandhi promised one of them, a truck driver injured in an accident, that he would meet his family in Karnal. He kept his promise, and the video of his visit went viral on social media.

Why would young men risk life and limb for their livelihoods if there were enough jobs at home? This point was made by the Congress leader, substantiated by a CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) report that maintains Haryana currently has the highest youth unemployment rate in the country. Censuring Modi government’s controversial Agnipath scheme that replaced permanent recruitment into the army with the four-year contract system, Rahul Gandhi pointed to the neglect of the kisan, jawan and pehelwan (the farmer, the soldier and the wrestler) in the state.

The second issue addressed by him was the growing problem of drugs in many districts of Haryana. In recent years, unemployment has driven many young people toward substance abuse. With political parties choosing not to address this issue despite its severity, Rahul’s words appeared to bring hope to those listening.

Increasing inequality was also addressed. Leaders, he said, always speak of respecting people and communities. But what is the use of ‘samman’ (respect) when your pockets are empty? While a handful of families can splurge thousands of crores on their children’s weddings, most people have no other option but to take loans.

How long can this continue? While ordinary people get poorer, industrialists like Adani and Ambani get richer. Exploitation, discrimination and neglect—three sore points that the average Haryanvi could relate to. Be it the farmer dealing with rising input costs, the unemployed youth searching for a job, or the small business owner competing with corporate giants.

Rahul Gandhi’s grassroots approach, personal engagement and direct communication with the people effectively rode the winds of change, which seem to be blowing in favour of the Congress.