Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s contention that “Hindutva-lite” won’t solve Congress’s Hindi heartland problems reflects the views of an important school of thinking within the party. However, it remains to be seen whether there can be meeting ground between the likes of Tharoor representing Thiruvananthapuram in the far South and Congress’s north Indian leaders. Already, on the issue of Article 370 the support to the government from many Hindi heartland politicians of the Congress reveals how a divergence in party positions is sharpening even along a geographic axis.
Before the Lok Sabha elections in which Congress was again blanked out in north India the party had notched wins in three Hindi heartland states and ran BJP close in Gujarat. In Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, Congress leaders visited temples and promised various gau seva measures. It is unclear how much anti-incumbency against BJP and how much soft Hindutva helped Congress do better in those elections.
Yet secularism is not a lost cause. Congress can still make a fight of it by correcting old mistakes. For one, it can come out in favour of Uniform Civil Code instead of worrying incessantly about backlash from conservative Muslim clergy. Secondly, it needs to highlight how only a secular India can make progress in the socio-economic domain — a point easier to make with the ongoing economic slump. All is not lost for Congress in the Hindi heartland. The socialist parties that once poached on Congress votes are losing ground faster than the grand old party. However, the younger Congress leaders who consider the north their stomping ground — like Priyanka Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and RS Surjewala — will have to work harder to expand both their personal appeal and the Congress organisation.
