Keeping up with UP: Where are the Congress workers to translate crowds into votes?

Bihar poll results boost BJP’s confidence for UP elections, while Congress struggles with voter engagement and regional party dynamics intensify

Politically, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are twin states in north India influencing each other’s socio-political culture. How would the Bihar poll results impact Uttar Pradesh (UP)?

A marginal recovery in Bihar would have worked as a major booster for the Congress in UP but the BJP tornado decimated that possibility.

Obviously, the BJP in UP is upbeat as they foresee their third consecutive win in 2027 while the Samajwadi Party (SP) is gearing up for the challenge. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), active of late. It is the Congress, which must be wondering now about the failure of its ‘Vote Chori’ campaign, more than the electoral loss.

The 1990s marked the resurgence of regional parties in both the states albeit with a difference. The SP and BSP formed governments in UP. The Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were at the helm in Bihar. While JD(U) continues to be in government, the RJD is struggling with the ‘Junge Raj’ tag. Power does not add strength to political parties. Also, while the BJP stormed to power, riding the Ram temple wave in UP in the 1990s, in Bihar it has yet to form the government independently.

However, in both the states, the Congress was pushed to the margins in the early 1990s with all its revival strategies failing miserably in the last three decades. A marginal recovery in Bihar would have worked as a major booster for the Congress in UP but the BJP tornado decimated that possibility.

Thus, the same old question must be haunting the Congress leadership: where did the crowds that thronged Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ or the groundswell of support that RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav saw in his rallies disappear, instead of reaching the polling booths.

Undoubtedly, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his team had put up a spirited show, both in Bihar and Delhi, with heaps of documents to support their claim on votes being robbed, but where were the workers? Did they take his battle forward? After all, the generals need their soldiers on the battleground.

Now, the focus will shift to West Bengal and UP. In both the states, the party has neither cadres nor supporters, going by the votes polled in favour of the Congress in successive elections.

While West Bengal is ruled by a non-BJP party, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, whose official machinery will conduct the SIR, UP is governed by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Now, with the Bihar results not only dampening the mood of the Opposition but also reaffirming the oft-repeated public belief that the BJP under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is invincible, the non-BJP parties face a gigantic task.

The SP, which had upset the BJP’s applecart in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, would be its main target. The Congress, despite its dismal health, will also face the heat in the state ruled by the Gandhi family for decades in the past.

After all, the success of the BJP’s “Congress-mukt Bharat” campaign demands complete political annihilation of the Gandhi family as that would pave the way for the party’s disintegration into factions.

The SP has accepted SIR with Akhilesh announcing surveillance by the PDA (Pichara, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) team; The BSP is not bothered about SIR. But what about the Congress? The revision of electoral rolls may have proved to be the game changer in Bihar.

Is Congress prepared?

Not only has the Congress not been putting its house in order, but the party is also ill-equipped to ensure their voters are not excluded from the list in the ongoing SIR.

Ever since the 2024 polls, the Congress leadership has been working on organisational build-up at five levels, from booth to the state. All units were reconstituted, which itself must have been a gigantic task. For instance, there are 1,62,000 booths, about 7000 zones (20-25 booths make one zone), 826 blocks and 134 district units.

The leadership, from state Congress president Ajay Rai to national general secretary in-charge of UP Avinash Pandey, to their leader in the Vidhan Sabha, Aradhana Shukla, have been actively playing their respective roles. The party has ambitious plans to contest the upcoming panchayat polls as well as MLC polls from graduate and teachers’ constituencies independently.

Uttar Pradesh has four active political parties. The BJP obviously has a huge cadre base, which the party leadership keeps on its toes 24 hours for 365 days. Even former ministers and senior leaders are given tasks to fulfil and they are all under the scanner. No one can take their position in the party or the government for granted.

The SP has also a committed cadre. Since the days of its formation in the early 1990s, the late founder president Mulayam Singh Yadav had kept the organisation well-oiled. The BSP has a loyal cadre, who have not deserted their leader Mayawati despite her inaction on many issues.

But the Congress can’t claim to have a committed cadre. No amount of interviews, a process that the Congress had adopted to test their commitment to the party’s beliefs, will help. Generally, workers don’t ride a sinking ship, especially when they have to face a hostile administration.

Now, after the flop show in Bihar, the Congress leadership may have to chalk out another revival plan in UP as they will continue to be haunted by the second question: Who would come to them first, the Muslims or Dalits?

The past

Their experiments, from a lucrative alliance with a regional force, the SP in 2017 to an energetic ‘Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon’ campaign in 2022 failed but brought in some hope in 2024 polls as this time their alliance with the SP did prove beneficial. The Bharat Jodo Yatra had given them some hope. Then came the ‘Vote Chori’ campaign. While the Congress was pinning its hopes on this campaign, the Bihar polls have taken away much of the sheen.

Now, SIR is on.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted post results, “It’s a fight to protect the constitution and democracy.” The workers have to take this fight forward but where are they? A lesson they can take from their leader Rahul Gandhi is to keep their morale high despite defeats and in adverse political situations.