Congress supporters believe that one of the greatest challenges which the party was facing is that voices of the grassroot level workers are not reaching Rahul Gandhi. Some of them are desperately looking for avenues to reach him, they say.
Pandit Vijay Kumar Sharma, a religious leader who adorns a saffron robe, said at an event on a Twitter Spaces, “We will no longer appease anybody in the party and will directly meet Rahul Gandhi. We will build up such a strong force that he will himself invite us. We would not let the party be ruined.”
Responding to concerns whether the leadership of the Gandhis is still acceptable to party workers, Pandit Vijay said, “Let us not question the family which has already given everything. In this country, rich people do not even go out to cast their vote, but the Gandhi family which had enough wealth to live a peaceful comfortable life anywhere in the world is still fighting for the people of India, withstanding all kinds of abuse and violence.”
A Delhi-based lawyer said in a phone interview that he was reduced to tears on the day of the election results. “I literally had tears, and I have not slept properly since then, but I have not lost hope. I may or may not formally join the party, but would start grassroots level campaign. I have to do all that I can to save the idea of a secular India,” he said.
In their attempts to understand the reasons behind the defeat of the party, most Congress supporters zeroed in on the role of media and Election Commission’s inaction. “After the model code of conduct came into operation, Congress vehicles were not even allowed to fly the party flag, but the Prime Minister was giving interview on the eve of elections and EC did not do anything,” said Manish Tiwari, a Congress volunteer from Chhattisgarh.
“Voters’ minds are rigged not only by media, advertisements but even by Bollywood films. Just look at the way they are creating a hateful atmosphere around the release of the film ‘The Kashmir Files’. We have to get into people’s minds and for that we need to capture the media,” said Faraz Shere, a freelance journalist.
“There is no comparison between social media reach and TV news channels’ reach. Right wing channels like Republic, Zee, TV 9 etc collectively reach almost 100 crore people daily. Imagine the power of messaging when all these channels together run Modi’s interview just on the eve of elections. On ground, you can address only a few thousand people. But when such visuals are spread via TV news, it reaches 20 times more people,” Faraz added.
The role of Aam Admi Party and other opposition parties is also being criticized in various circles. “They are not interested in fighting BJP. Their only goal is to defeat Congress. It is a clever ploy by the RSS to remove Congress from the political scene so that whichever party is in power can be controlled by the Sangh,” says a volunteer.