Introduction
Well, finally opposition parties INDIA bloc was able to finalize the PM face from their side. It was Kharge’s name which was proposed by TMC and the AAP party and the rest of the parties could not reject it due to various reasons. The Congress party had felt more pain than Nitish Babu himself as they failed to reject this proposal even though for them the PM face for India was always Rahul Gandhi.
Nitish Kumar is equally dejected and rightly so as he was the one who brought the elephant in the room by collaborating with all the opposition parties. His sole intent was to play 80’s and 90’s politics and become PM of India by defeating the Modi government in the 2024 elections. He managed to do all the hard tasks but the googly put by TMC leaders was something neither Congress nor JDU fathom. So will Kharge be able to put any formidable challenge to Modi in the 2024 general elections? Let us check it hypothetically.
Humble Background | Kharge
Kharge comes from a Dalit family with a humble background. He lost his mother and sister in a fire set off by Razakars, a paramilitary force of Nizams of Hyderabad. He is the picture-perfect face to counter Modi. He answers the bold question of Naamdar v/s Kaamdar as he has climbed the ladder of success from a very grassroots level as compared to other top leaders in his party. He led Congress well in the last state elections in Karnataka and helped them to come back to power.
Dalit Face
Even though Congress is betting on the OBC politics and pushing hard their agenda. The Dalit card is something that can propel their politics to the next level with the Mandal politics pitched by the INDIA bloc. Even though the age-old party claims to be a people’s or poor’s party. The members of the Congress party are all mostly elite English-speaking leaders with zero grassroots-level connection. Kharge can fill the void perfectly.
Overall Acceptance
Kharge has been overall accepted by the other opposition party leaders. He also makes other leaders feel more secure and this is why TMC and AAP pitched for his name as opposition leader. He can be more effective while pitching for the opposition agenda because of his clean and responsible image. We all have seen how Rahul failed time and again to use important issues to unsettle the NDA government.
We cannot trust Nitish Kumar even though he has a clean image without any corruption but where he can land nobody knows. This is because of his flip-flop image. Kharge is a widely accepted face in his party also as compared to other senior leaders. His appointment as the Congress President with sidelining Gehlot and other leaders gave a direct message to other party leaders on his growing stature in the party.
Helped Congress Revive
The Congress party is no doubt in a self-destruction mode with party leaders giving irresponsible comments on various issues hurting public sentiments. Its ideological politics seems to be getting extinguished with party leaders jumping ships and many getting into corruption mode. With leaders like Kharge, we have seen some positive revival with Congress winning in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka state elections.
This is more important as the powerful Congress party will anchor the ship for the INDIA bloc, regional parties can only support it. Kharge has been instrumental in reviving Congress if not fully but to an extent where other political parties especially regional satraps see it as a major contender who can stand against Modi. With its PAN India base, Kharge can use it as a platform to bring the glory back to his party.
Conclusion
We certainly do not know if Kharge will be able to pull back the power seat to Congress or the INDIA bloc but he is the face to bet on. We also do not know if the INDI alliance will stick to its decision on keeping Kharge as its PM face as the Congress party will want Rahul to become prime minister of India if they come back to power. The general elections are 3 months to go, so dost picture abhi baaki hai.