Gujarat Assembly polls 2022 | A tale of two elections: Congress shifts to silent campaign strategy

Congress focussing on inflation, corruption and local governance issues in muted door-to-door campaign, avoiding polarising Hindu-Muslim narratives, in stark contrast with its 2017 strategy

The grand temple of Somnath forms the perfect setting to contrast the Congress party’s 2022 strategy for the Gujarat Assembly polls with its markedly different campaign in the previous Assembly election.

During the 2017 campaign, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Somnath temple triggered a controversy after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that he had refused to identify himself as a Hindu. This, in turn, had prompted Randeep Surjewala, who was then heading the party’s communication department, to say that Mr. Gandhi was a janaeu dhari [sacred thread-wearing] Brahmin.

“It’s precisely to avoid such unnecessary controversies, the Congress has resorted to a silent campaign,” says Ravi Khakkhat, a local journalist in the port town of Veraval, barely five kms from the Somnath temple.

On Tuesday, the last day of campaigning for the 89 seats that go to polls in the first phase on December 1, Somnath-Veraval witnessed a show of strength by the sitting Congress legislator, Bimal Chudasama, who took out a kilometre-long roadshow.

What was the one issue over which he is seeking re-election? “ Monghvari!” The Gujarati word for price rise or inflation, he said, as his motorcade went past Tower Chowk area of the town.

“The biggest issues for the people today are mehangai or inflation, corruption and unemployment. And we are concentrating only on these issues even though the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] and the Home Minister [Amit Shah] are trying their best to polarise on Hindu-Muslim lines. But these issues are not getting traction and won’t work,” Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Jagdish Thakor told The Hindu.

“We are going door to door and pointing out the misgovernance of the BJP. Be it during the COVID pandemic or natural calamities like the cyclone that affected farmers, governance was missing. And now, the cost of living is unbearable. People relate to these issues,” says Mr. Thakor.