Congress president Sonia Gandhi is once again trying to unify the Opposition in an effort to project a strong presidential candidate. However, there can be no escaping a larger agenda here — of a coming together to take on the BJP, or rather, Narendra Modi, in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The BJP is on a high with the Prime Minister’s popularity as a committed crusader (against anything, from black money to terrorism) soaring after demonetisation. In addition, a shift away from ‘development’ to Hindutva as a poll plank worked for the party in Uttar Pradesh, as conceded by party leader Subramanian Swamy.

It’s not yet a lost cause for the Opposition. It can project an economic agenda based on welfarism and an alternative model of development that focuses on rural India and the informal sector. If the UPA lost its way in its second term, it was, besides the coal and 2G scams, also due to cutbacks in its own welfare initiatives such as MGNREGA. It paid a price for the ideological rift between the National Advisory Council (NAC) and Messrs Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and P Chidambaram.

Meanwhile, the Modi government has failed to deliver on the promise of jobs and inclusive development. Agriculture is in a mess. Rather than personally criticise the Prime Minister (which has never paid off) or be trapped into responding to an agenda or campaign created by the BJP, the Opposition should hammer away at a development model that places farmers, Dalits and adivasis at the centre. Why not seek to replicate the welfare successes of Tamil Nadu and Kerala nationwide?

Sonia Gandhi, as the architect of the erstwhile NAC, is well placed to set the ball rolling. However, the Congress must step back and allow regional parties more space. It’s a matter of collective survival now.

Senior Deputy Editor

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