New Delhi: As Rahul Gandhi completed one year as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha last month, the Congress party on Wednesday recalled the eventful year and also the major milestones that it achieved under the leadership of Gandhi scion.
Rahul’s brief one-year tenure as the LoP, so far, has been marked by a couple of achievements, which include ‘pressuring’ the Centre to announce nationwide caste census, withdrawing lateral entry notification and also galvanising the national discourse around the ‘Save the Constitution’ pitch.
The Rae Bareli MP took charge as the LoP in adverse circumstances, yet many Congressmen feel that he successfully steered the ‘weakened’ party and earned it the ‘respect and influence’ that it deserved as the main Opposition party.
Notably, the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha remained deprived of any Leader of Opposition because none of the parties achieved the basic benchmark — 1/10th of the House, a pre-requisite to claim the LoP status. Since 2014, no Opposition party has won 10 per cent of the 543 seats required to claim the LoP. It was only in the 2024 elections that the Congress won 99 seats — its best showing in a decade.
Rahul assumed the LoP role in June 2024 and led a diverse Opposition group against the Modi government. The INDIA bloc, which fought the LS 2024 elections together, fragmented into factions after polls, but this did little to weaken LoP’s resolve as he went on the offensive and questioned the Centre, inside and outside the Parliament.
In the past year, the Congress MP has championed the voice of the people in Parliament and even stole the show with aggressive and combative posturing. His maiden speech as LoP — ‘Daro mat, darao mat’ caught the imagination of all while his comparison of Manusmriti and Constitution put the treasury benches on the backfoot. In a forceful speech, the parliamentarian waved copies of two sacred books and accused the ruling dispensation of favouring the religious scripture, the one that it claims promotes caste discrimination.
Notably, his call for safeguarding the Constitution from the Centre’s ‘dictatorial’ approach also bore fruit in the 2024 elections as he, along with INDIA bloc members, was successful to a large extent in conveying the message that the country’s institutions are under ‘serious’ threat.
Rahul, in his Parliamentary speeches — a total of 16 in the past year, repeatedly took shots at the government by claiming that its budget and policies favoured the billionaires and alienated the poor and marginalised.
Some other notable ‘achievements’ of Rahul as LoP include Jan Sansad — a one-of-a-kind initiative, which enabled various groups and communities to take their issues directly to Parliament, the country’s highest legislative body.
The Congress leader put forward the idea that the Parliament should serve as the forum for discussing public issues, and also followed it by meeting various delegations inside the premises.
He invited and met the ‘Anndatas’ (farmers) in the middle of a Parliament session, as they were reportedly denied a meeting with the Delhi government. He heard and discussed the challenges faced by them, including farm loans, debt and concerns over Minimum Support Price (MSP).
He also met a delegation of the OBC Employees Federation, where they shared their issues regarding opportunities and representation in government jobs. In the past year, Rahul has aggressively pushed for equitable representation of communities, a stand reinforcing its ‘jitni abadi, utna haq’ pre-poll slogan.
The announcement of the caste census by the Centre, which triggered an intense war of words between the BJP and Congress, even left the political observers baffled, as many expressed surprise over the ruling party ‘giving in’ latter’s demands. BJP claimed that it was in the larger interest of social justice, while Congress claimed it to be vindication of its long-standing demand.
Besides his constitutional role as the LoP, Rahul Gandhi has also been instrumental in galvanising public opinion and shaping discourse on people’s issues.
Though Mallikarjun Kharge remains at the helm of the Congress party, there is a popular perception within the party that its reinvigorated and revitalised form comes from Rahul’s agile and energetic leadership. His call for a caste census and ‘Save Constitution’ pitch has struck a strong chord with the public for quite some time, a sentiment that also showed up in his public interactions as well as rallies and gatherings.
According to the Congress party, the Rae Bareli MP has visited 16 states in the past year, traversing through the length and breadth of the country to raise the people’s issues.
He addressed more than 60 public rallies and gatherings pan-India and held more than 115 interactive sessions with the people to get a first-hand account of their problems.
The Congress lawmaker also held 18 press conferences in the past year, questioning the Centre on multiple issues and holding it accountable on various fronts.
(IANS)
