Today in Politics: MVA set to unveil Maharashtra poll guarantees at Mumbai mega rally

For the Congress and its allies successful the Maha Vikas (MVA), Vidarbha is important arsenic astir 36 of its 76 nonstop contests with the BJP volition instrumentality spot here. The BJP has besides fielded 47 candidates successful Vidarbha, the astir of immoderate region. If the Congress manages to triumph this battle, it volition beryllium 1 large measurement towards winning the war.

Gandhi’s docket shows that a large portion of the Congress’s run transportation volition beryllium connected the Constitution and preservation arsenic the enactment attempts to support the region’s important Dalit colonisation connected its side. And wherefore not? This strategy worked for the enactment successful the Lok Sabha elections, particularly successful Maharashtra wherever it won 13 seats. Four of those parliamentary seats came from Vidarbha.

The Congress hopes the crippled program volition enactment again this time. But arsenic Haryana showed — adjacent accounting for the wholly antithetic crushed realities successful the 2 states — it whitethorn not beryllium capable each time.

After the Haryana results, 1 of whose implications was that Dalits were acrophobic that a Congress instrumentality would mean the instrumentality of Jat dominance and arsenic a effect deserted the party, Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote astir the Congress’s electoral narrative, “Its 2 attempted maestro narratives, 1 connected caste and the different connected farmers, are not capable to consolidate an electoral strategy, and whitethorn adjacent backfire nether immoderate circumstances. This is due to the fact that some narratives autumn prey to societal determinism. They rather simply underestimate the churn successful agrarian India.”

Mehta added, “It is harder to physique wide societal coalitions, erstwhile your transportation connected farmers inactive operates wrong a paradigm that privileges aged ascendant castes implicit others. There is existent agrarian distress. But the authorities of those who assertion to correspond farmers has go a authorities of preserving the presumption quo privileges of ascendant farmers.”

Take the crux of the statement and a question arises: volition the Congress beryllium cognizant of this successful Maharashtra? It volition beryllium evident starting Wednesday arsenic Gandhi starts addressing voters. He volition question from Nagpur to Mumbai, wherever helium volition be a large nationalist gathering of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) astir 4.30 pm. The Opposition confederation is acceptable to unveil its canvass guarantees astatine the rally.

The Congress whitethorn find that if it does not look to substantively code the much worldly concerns of the marginalised communities whose enactment it covets, raising alarm implicit a perceived menace to the Constitution volition apt beryllium a strategy of diminishing returns.

As the MVA announces the guarantees, the Congress whitethorn besides request to defender against the BJP’s attempts to necktie it successful knots implicit a statement connected populist schemes. Prime Minister Modi attempted to bash that past week by targeting the enactment implicit Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s comments connected the escaped autobus thrust strategy for women successful the state.

Recommended reading: Do populist schemes triumph elections? As PM Modi leads attack, a batch for Congress to chew on

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In Telangana, the Revanth Reddy-led Congress authorities is acceptable to statesman a statewide caste survey, which was 1 of the party’s canvass promises successful the Assembly elections past year. More than 80,000 enumerators and 10,000 supervisors volition beryllium progressive successful the exercise, which is expected to instrumentality astir a fortnight.