Gorakhpur: At a recent election rally, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a descendant of the Nehru-Gandhi family that dominates the opposition Congress party, took to the stage and asked the crowd to repeat behind her: “I am a woman, I fight. I can.”
The slogan is at the center of the party’s effort to revive its fortunes in Uttar Pradesh, which is set to be held early next year by winning over women voters who have long been marginalized but are beginning to find a voice. Is doing.
The Uttar Pradesh result will provide clues as to whether the Congress, which has dominated Indian politics for decades, can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next general election in 2024.
Modi came to power in 2014 on promises of economic growth and a strong, modern India and won a re-election in 2019. His rise marks the downfall of the 136-year-old Congress, partly because of the leadership turmoil.
Rahul Gandhi was unable to rouse voters and resigned from the post of Congress President after the general election in July 2019. The party is now led by his mother, Sonia Gandhi, as interim president, leading some to believe it is antiquated and heavily dependent on the Gandhi family.
With its secular heritage, the Congress projects itself as an inclusive national party and it will hope to appeal to the women led by Priyanka, who entered politics only in 2019.
A flurry of violence against women has worried voters across India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, which according to government figures faces the highest number of gender crimes in the country, and Priyanka promised a change in women .
“I want to tell women that I will fight for them, Congress party will fight for them,” Priyanka said while cheering in Gorakhpur, the stronghold of state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday.
In Uttar Pradesh, the well-organized BJP has been criticized for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic along with violence against women. It is also facing opposition from farmers against the liberalization of agriculture by Modi.
An unusually large number of women participated in the Gorakhpur rally – about a quarter of the estimated 40,000 people – suggesting that the Congress may have a message. 40-year-old party worker Sunita Mishra, who attended the rally, said, “People, especially women, have started looking at the Congress with the hope that the party will stand with women and be their voice.”
Helping him sign up 50 women as party cadres over the past few days, Mishra said voters had welcomed the Congress’s resolve to field 40% of the state’s 403 assembly constituencies.
The party has also promised electric scooters and smartphones to girl students, free rides in government buses for all women, three free LPG cylinders per family per year and reservation in gender-based jobs.
But the Congress in Uttar Pradesh is suffering from a series of internal problems – reflecting its crisis at the national level – with disillusionment in the rank-and-file and resignations of senior members as Gandhi Vadra over his authority, current and former Let’s try to stamp the officials said in the interview.
Rana Rahul Singh, former Congress candidate from Gorakhpur, who left the party recently, said, “The state leadership is only listening to the sycophants and the number of such people has increased in the party in the last two years.”
“The grassroot workers are being neglected in the Congress.”
Priyanka’s team did not respond to an interview request from Reuters, but party spokeswoman Supriya Shrinate said a reorganization was underway. “Changes are uncomfortable but changes are good. In the long run, these changes are going to work,” Shrinette said.
A recent poll by polling agency CVoter predicted that the BJP would easily win the state elections with over 240 of its 403 seats, with the Congress finishing fourth with only three to seven seats. is likely to.
In the last state election in 2017, which the Congress fought in alliance, it won only seven out of 114 seats, while the BJP won 312.
Praveen Rai of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies think-tank, New Delhi said that the proportion of female voters has steadily increased across India and some states are now casting more women than men.
Regarding the Congress’s focus on women, Rai said, “Whether this translates into more seats is a bit difficult to predict. But I think it’s time for the party to come back and carve out some political space for itself.” The right strategy.”
In Gorakhpur rally, District Congress President Nirmala Paswan said that she has hope from Gandhi Vadra. “Many women are approaching us to join the party. Change is coming and women are going to bring it,” she said.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And Wire.
.