The arrival of Priyanka Vadra and the Nehru family in Wayanad is the latest move that underscores the Prime Minister’s remark that the Congress is a parasite party. Rahul’s main contribution to his party over the previous decade has been this parasitic strategy of eating up the votes of regional parties. Another terrible aspect is that, with Priyanka’s entry, dynasty politics, which has long affected constituencies such as Amethi and Rae Bareilly, now extends to Kerala via Wayanad. Even though this happens in Kerala, Rahul, the Nehru family, and the Congress would remain insignificant in the rest of the country. The Congress’s irrelevance has been clear in every election over the previous decade, including those in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir. However, Kerala, via Wayanad, welcomes the dynastic politics that the northern states have rejected. However, the Congress even dared to declare that Keralites are devoted to the Nehru family, predicting that Priyanka would win by a margin of five lakh votes.
If Priyanka’s goal is to serve the people by becoming a member of Parliament, the primary question is whether she could have contested in the Lok Sabha elections held a few months ago. Priyanka did not contest the Lok Sabha elections because she did not trust Rahul’s leadership, instead opting to play drama with her brother and waiting for the Wayanad by-elections. Priyanka must have believed that Rahul would win in Rae Bareilly at the expense of the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav under the parasite strategy. Further indication that Priyanka still has little faith in Rahul is the fact that she has opted to rely on the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which is only represented in northern Kerala, despite having travelled over two thousand km to reach Parliament. Another crucial point is why Priyanka is not interested in contesting in the Nanded constituency in Maharashtra, which is up for election along Wayanad if she continues to believe in Rahul. Priyanka must be apprehensive about the Maha Vikas Aghadi Alliance’s (MVA) chances of victory in Maharashtra. However, the Indian Union Muslim League and its highly organised Muslim vote bank provide the Congress and Priyanka with a guarantee for Wayanad. Rahul, who was hoping to become Prime Minister, had this same assurance in 2019 and 2024 in Wayanad. The Muslim community constitutes 41.3 per cent, the Christian community 12.7 per cent and the rest is Hindu community in Wayanad parliamentary constituency. In short, Priyanka’s entry in Wayanad demonstrates the Congress’s poor situation as a result of the dynastic culture founded by Nehru.
Despite the martyr leaders thrown in front of the media by the Congress after each defeat, it can be concluded that the Nehru family is solely responsible for the Congress’ electoral setbacks. However, if we put aside the undeserved attributes and claims made by the congress and the media about Rahul’s achievements, we will be unable to find a proper address for the victories. Today, the Congress seeks success at the mercy of regional parties and political situations in each state. This is what prompted Priyanka to drive to Wayanad rather than Nanded in Maharashtra. The Congress party has already proved to be a failure in places where it is in a direct fight with the BJP. The truth is that Rahul Gandhi cannot beat the Congress where the party is strong. Therefore, Priyanka and Rahul have to depend on the Muslim League in Wayanad to enter into the parliament. The people of the northern states responded by defeating Rahul, who advocates anarchy and divides the country based on caste and religion. Just before the Haryana elections, Rahul’s anti-Bharat and offensive statements on the US soil demonstrated his immaturity again. As a result, instead of the BJP’s win, the Congress lost for the third time in a row in the recent elections to the Haryana assembly. Moreover, Bharat Jodo Yatra arrived in Kashmir with a massive campaign before the Loksabha polls. The media praised him as a national leader who may succeed Modi. However, in the most recent Jammu and Kashmir elections, the party contested for just 32 of the 90 seats. Rahul did not even have the courage to contest alone. However, the party won a total of six seats, five in Kashmir and one in Jammu, with the backing of the National Conference (NC). In 2014, the party received 17% of the vote, but this time only 12%. The Congress, which was seeking ministerial positions, including that of deputy chief minister, was bound to be disappointed. Similarly, Rahul and his congress in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, where the elections will be place, are presently in a slow phase, unable to even properly allocate the seats.
The Congress Party won 52 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. That is just eight more seats than in 2014. The Congress alone gained 15 seats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, bringing its total to 52. The DMK’s generosity in Tamil Nadu, along with the anti-left sentiment existed in Kerala following the Sabarimala movement, contributed to the party’s triumph. However, in the 2024 elections, the party got 99 seats, although the seats it won on its own were quite few. Except for a few seats in Karnataka, Haryana, and Rajasthan, the Congress was entirely crushed when it competed directly against the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, Delhi, Odisha, and Uttarakhand. The party could bag more seats with the support of Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, the Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra, the DMK in Tamil Nadu, and the Aadmi Party in Punjab. The Congress received no seats in 10 states, including Andhra Pradesh, and three Union Territories, including Delhi. In Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and the northeastern states, the BJP lost seats while competing against regional parties rather than the Congress. Currently, the BJP is the second strongest force in terms of seats in Jammu and Kashmir behind the local party, the National Conference. The fact is that the Congress was really a parasite in these states, depends on regional parties. However, the anti-BJP media and pundits praised the Congress triumph and the rise of Rahul Gandhi.
The defeat in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir must have made Priyanka afraid to contest in the bi-election in Nanded in Maharashtra. But the Congress’ hope is the organised Muslim electorate in Wayanad and the anti-incumbency sentiment created by the misrule of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government in Kerala. However, Priyanka’s candidature in Wayanad is an attempt to find political asylum by covering up the false face of secularism by hiding the reality that people have rejected the Congress in Muslim-majority Kashmir, Hindu Majority Hariyana and Jammu and Christian-majority north-eastern states. It is up to Kerala society to reflect on how Wayanad and Kerala benefit from giving political shelter to the dynasty politics.
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