India’s main opposition Congress seeks revival in key provincial polls

By Ahmad Adil

MEERUT, India (AA) - As communal riots were raging in Meerut, a city in India’s largest populated province of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in May 1987, armed police personnel after a search operation bundled some 42 youth from Muslim-dominated Hashimpura locality into a truck.

In 2018, the court established that these youth were taken to the outskirts of the city near an irrigation canal and shot in cold blood.

The incident known as one of India's biggest custodial killings not only jolted the country but also led to the political downfall of the Congress party, which was ruling the province at the time of killings.

"Till date, no Congress government has come to power in the state since the killings. In our area, people blamed the party for the incidents," said Ilyas Ahmad, a local in the Hashmipura area who was among those taken to jail that night.

He said that people still get nightmares and have not forgotten that night when they were herded out by the police personnel.

As the state is in the middle of choosing the provincial assembly, the Congress, which is the principal opposition party at the center is trying hard to revive its fortunes in the country’s largest province, wherefrom it was bundled out in subsequent polls after 1987.

To revive its chances, the party has appointed its most charismatic leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the face of the elections.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ranjan Sharma, the Congress candidate from Meerut city, said the party is putting full efforts to win enough seats to have a role in the next government formation.

"The party is aggressively fighting the elections this time as compared to the last election. There is much focus on women's safety and empowerment and youth. People will give us votes because we are talking about the real and core issues," said Sharma, adding that the party is not "dividing the people based on religion."

- Enticing women voters

Congress has promised job quotas, free bus services, electric scooters, and smartphones for women, who number 70 million in the state.

Ashish Singh Somvanshi, a Congress candidate in Hardoi district, echoes Sharma's views. "The mainstream media may be underestimating the Congress party, but things on the ground are in our favor," he said.

Singh told Anadolu Agency said the elections are no more one-sided or two-sided.

“Right now, it is a triangular fight. People have this realization that how congress workers reached out to them during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

As Anadolu Agency visited several villages in the state, many people, however, said, the efforts may not translate into luring voters to the party’s fold.

"I would prefer to give the vote to Congress in general elections instead this time. I think the Samajwadi party is a better choice for people this time because the present government has failed to address the problems be it, unemployment, farmers issues, etc," said Vijay Singh, a resident of Morbadad town.

- Out of power at the center

The Congress has received a series of electoral setbacks and has been out of power in the state, which sends the maximum number of MPs to the Indian parliament. Since 2014, the party has been out of power at the center as well.

"Any improvement in its performance would contribute towards better chances in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament)," said Sucharita Sengupta, political analyst and a teacher at Jamia Millia Islamia, a central university in New Delhi.

She added that the involvement of Priyanka Vadra at this scale is a shift in the Congress party's efforts.

"It must be read in sync with a broader women-centric narrative that the party is attempting to bring in, as compared to the dominant narrative. All parties seek to maximize seat gains, so would the Congress," she said.