A new congress is emerging; a new churn is happening in the grand old party. I know many will not agree with me, but I see a New Congress rising from the dust of history. This New Congress has clarity of vision and a roadmap for the future. Rahul Gandhi is its undisputed leader. And those who, like respected historian Ram Chandra Guha, can’t see this change in the party are either too enamoured of Modi-led BJP or too blind in their bias not to see the writing on the wall.

There is no doubt that the Congress under Rahul Gandhi was seen as lost in an ideological wilderness for close to 8 years since 2014, but once Rahul Gandhi decided to walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, the clouds of confusion gave way to clarity and directness. Like Mao’s Long March, the Bharat Jodo Yatra will prove to be a major milestone in Rahul’s political career. Like Mao, Rahul established his leadership by the time the Bharat Jodo march ended; Rahul also emerged from the shadow of the past and ideological confusion once the Bharat Jodo was over. The BJP, which had called him Pappu, stopped calling him that. But this was just the beginning. Many layers were added by the 2024 parliamentary elections. These layers were constitutionalism and social justice via the ‘Save the Constitution Campaign’ and the demand for a ‘caste census’. If ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was an indication of the Congress’s commitment to secularism, then ‘Save the Constitution Campaign’ was a promise for its fight for Dalit emancipation. ‘Caste census’ was a declaration by the Congress........

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