India’s Congress will struggle to build on key march

Significance

Key party leader Rahul Gandhi spearheaded the initiative, aimed at countering what Congress describes as the “divisive” politics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In October, Mallikarjun Kharge succeeded Sonia Gandhi, Rahul’s mother, as Congress president after winning the party’s first competitive presidential election since 2000.

Impacts

• Lessons from the march and the boost it delivered to Congress morale should help enhance the party’s grassroots outreach.
• Rahul Gandhi may cut a more confident figure when pushing back against the BJP’s efforts to deride him as an unfit leader.
• Congress will work harder to defend the constitutional rights of socially disadvantaged groups.