Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Indian National Congress, was disqualified from the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) following his conviction and sentencing to two years in jail by a Surat court in a defamation case over his 2019 remarks on the Modi surname. The court found Gandhi guilty of making defamatory statements against BJP leader and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As per the Representation of the People Act, a convicted person is barred from contesting elections and holding public office for a certain period. Rahul Gandhi was the Member of Parliament from the Wayanad constituency in the southern state of Kerala, which fell vacant following his disqualification. His disqualification triggered protests by the Congress party across the country. However, the protests in his own constituency of Wayanad were reportedly tepid, with many locals not showing much interest in the issue. Congress had organized protests across the nation protesting disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following decision taken by Court. Following these protests has been also organized in Rahul’s own constituency Wayanad, which he won even though he lost in Amethi. But the protests in Rahul’s own constituency is different from what has been witnessed in Delhi. This has not only revealed organisational lacunas of Congress in the state but also the infighting within the Congress.
Over 50 Congressmen protested the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as the Lok Sabha MP recently at Kalpetta in Kerala, behind a garlanded image of Mahatma Gandhi, as part of the party’s daylong nationwide satyagraha. They were seated on chairs set up on a sidewalk in this town, which serves as theadministrative centre for the Wayanad district. Rahul was recently removed from office after being found guilty of defamation and sentenced to two years in prison by a Surat court for his remarks made in 2019 about the Modi surname but the locals seem not to care much about the political event. Few people pause even briefly to listen to the speeches being made bythe Congress activists one after another as they are being delivered at a nearby bus shelter as people board and exit buses. By the time the satyagraha is scheduled to end at 4 pm, there are more vacant chairs at the protest location than there are Congressmen. When Rahul was disqualified few days ago, the Wayanad seat has not felt the fire that the Congress has generated in Delhi, where the entire Opposition has supported the de-facto Congress leader.
The Congress has failed to mobilise the locals in Wayanad over Rahul’s disqualification in this mountainous, agricultural region, despite a few protests being organised here and there. The complaints of the local party unit have remained muted because none of the important state Congress leaders have visited Wayanad till date. On the streets of Kalpetta, in neighbouring villages, or in some areas of the Wayanad constituency in the adjacent Kozhikode district, there are no signs of the Congress promising support for the local MP who was disqualified. A few outdated billboards for Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra may be seen coexisting with DYFI posters advertising its most recent district meeting. What appears to have been lacking in most of the constituency is a clear public show of support for the ailing local MP who was disqualified more than a year before the end of his term. The problem appears to have subsided in the rural areas, where villagers were spotted monitoring social media in relation to the passing of renowned Malayalam comedic performer Innocent. N D Appachan, the ex-MLA and president of the Wayanad District Congress Committee, declares, “We are sticking to a non-violent mode of protest. We have experienced protests in Kalpetta for the past three days. We solely support the Gandhian method of protest, and the party has legal recourse to appeal the Surat court’s ruling. Do not anticipate that we will use force during our protests in Wayanad. The Congress has legal recourse, he stated.
Then there are the reports of clear infighting within Congress itself. The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) member P P Ali and Youth Congress district secretary Sali Rattakkolly, who is also the office secretary of local Congress MLA T Siddique, and their supporters got into a fight during the Congress’s protest Rahul’s disqualification on Kalpetta streets, trading blows in front of TV cameras as they fought for position in the front row of their march. As a result of the open infighting inside the Wayanad Congress, several local leaders were compelled to abstain from the ensuing demonstrations. The state Young Congress had to gather activists from even outside Wayanad for its protests in the Wayanad district, a sign of the party’s organisational difficulties on Rahul’s turf.
Let us also see what the residents of Wayanad have to say about this significant incident which might have political consequences. The locals in Muttil town, where Suresh has been an autorickshaw driver for the past 15 years, claim that Rahul’s disqualification is not a big deal. They believe the appeals courts will rule in Rahul’s favour. Maybe a few members of Congress would join the movement. People are not interested on the ground. Have a look at the stores that are still closed, primarily because of the financial crisis. Individuals do not have access to money. Since the crisis is so severe, our primary focus is finding ways to survive each day. I do not have time to read newspapers or watch TV news, claims C Palani, a dairy farmer from Puthoorvayal in Kalpetta. The chats at the milk collection centre are where I learned the specifics. Rahul had no right to disparage the underprivileged populations. He ought to have used more restraint when criticising others. T P Assainar, a Meppadi resident, claims that Rahul is supported by the majority of the electorate. “The matter has given the idea that he is the only one in the nation who can challenge the BJP. The threat the BJP poses to minorities has the Muslim community very worried. Attacking Rahul indicates that the BJP views him as its top adversary, the politician claims. “During the past four years, Rahul’s popularity in Wayanad has only increased. We anticipated that he would be elusive and migratory in nature. But he tries to socialise with locals whenever he travels to Wayanad. After his disqualification, sympathy would grow in his favour,” according to Assainar. But the enthusiasm of Assainar has been missing from Congress workers or leadership in the constituency.
The only party that would oppose the Congress’s campaign in the constituency is the BJP because the CPI(M), the Congress’ primary competitor in Wayanad and throughout Kerala, has joined forces with Rahul in the disqualification controversy. Yet up till now, the BJP has been silent on the subject. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the constituency was represented by BDJS, a party founded by Vellappally Natesan, a leader of the underprivileged Hindu community, and a BJP ally. According to BJP insiders, the party plans to launch a campaign to draw attention to Rahul’s “insult” of the OBC populations. “The backbone of BDJS is the massive Hindu backward Ezhava community in Wayanad. Considering the Surat court ruling, we thus hope that this campaign would be successful in the district, according to a BJP senior leader.
Even though the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi is based on the verdict by Surat Court, Congress has been trying to turn it in to a ‘united opposition movement’ in hopes of gaining momentum before the 2024 general elections. In the game of perceptions, certainly, the conviction of Rahul Gandhi presents itself as a ‘golden goose’ for the opposition parties, but in pursuit of unrealistic expectations and infighting the Congress might kill the goose before it lay any eggs and the tepid response to Rahul’s conviction in Kerala serves as a prime example for this.
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