Congress readies new playbook to defeat BJP — launch an Anna Hazare-like movement

With the credibility of the Congress leadership at an all-time low and the organisation in poor shape, the party is planning to reach out to like-minded civil society groups to challenge the Modi government in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress is obviously inspired by the 2011 India Against Corruption movement which laid the groundwork for the demise of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government which was swept aside by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014. No doubt, Narendra Modi's charisma and popularity were responsible for its downfall but it had started unravelling when Gandhian-activist Anna Hazare sat on a hunger strike at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to demand the early passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Grassroots Movement

The protest resonated with the people who were yearning for a change as they were disillusioned with the Congress-led government which was mired in allegations of corruption. The BJP and its Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, became the obvious beneficiaries of the simmering public anger against the Congress-led dispensation.

Ten years later, as the Congress finds itself on the brink of extinction, it desperately needs an Anna Hazare-like movement to help revive its fortunes. The Congress leadership is in no position to mount an effective challenge to the BJP as its leadership has lost all credibility and the party organisation is far too weak to take on its chief political rival which has expanded its footprint across the country in the seven years it has been in power.