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By:

Rajendra Pandharpure

15 April 2025 at 7:55:54 pm

Congress Shakes Off Its Lethargy

Rahul Gandhi’s student outreach is giving the Congress a boost in western Maharashtra but converting street energy into electoral momentum will be the harder task. Pune: For a party that has spent much of the past dozen years looking politically exhausted, the Congress is finally showing signs of life. It appears that Rahul Gandhi’s Chhatron Ki Goonj (“Voice of Students”) campaign, which brought him to Pune has provided Maharashtra Congress workers with a much-needed sense of political...

Congress Shakes Off Its Lethargy

Rahul Gandhi’s student outreach is giving the Congress a boost in western Maharashtra but converting street energy into electoral momentum will be the harder task. Pune: For a party that has spent much of the past dozen years looking politically exhausted, the Congress is finally showing signs of life. It appears that Rahul Gandhi’s Chhatron Ki Goonj (“Voice of Students”) campaign, which brought him to Pune has provided Maharashtra Congress workers with a much-needed sense of political purpose. The Congress’s student wing had already been demanding an inquiry into the NEET examination controversy and the resignation of the Union education minister. After the lathi-charge on students on July 20, the party shifted into a more combative mode with Gandhi attempting to turn the episode into a broader political campaign. He staged a sit-in outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence and was removed by police. He subsequently appeared at press conferences alongside students injured during the protests and recently accompanied students wounded by pellet guns while filing an FIR with the Delhi Police. Politics of Confrontation By placing students at the centre of his campaign, Gandhi is seeking to reposition himself as a political interlocutor for younger Indians. The response at the Chhatron Ki Goonj gathering in Prayagraj suggested that the message had found an audience. Pune was the next stop. The August 22 gathering brought the campaign to western Maharashtra, a region where the Congress has traditionally had a substantial political footprint but where its organisational machinery has lost much of its old vitality. The event offered Gandhi an opportunity to reconnect with students and young voters while simultaneously energising a state unit that has often appeared trapped between organisational inertia and the dominance of its allies. The significance of the Pune event therefore extends beyond the size of the crowd. For much of the Congress’s recent history, that belief has been in short supply. A high-energy campaign centred on students, examinations, jobs and institutional accountability gives the party a simpler proposition to sell. There is also a wider political calculation. Western Maharashtra remains one of the most politically competitive regions in the state, shaped by the fortunes of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party factions and the BJP. The Congress cannot afford to surrender the region to its rivals if it wants to rebuild itself in Maharashtra. Nor can it rely indefinitely on alliances to compensate for weak grassroots mobilisation. Gandhi’s intervention may thus be less about an immediate electoral breakthrough than about rebuilding political muscle. Student politics provides a useful entry point because grievances over examinations, recruitment and employment cut across caste and party affiliations. They also offer the Congress an issue on which it can attack the government without being trapped in the familiar ideological contests of Indian politics. But a crowd at a political event can only demonstrate mood; it cannot by itself produce votes. The real test for the Congress will be whether the energy generated by Chhatron Ki Goonj survives after the microphones are switched off. Can student mobilisation be converted into campus networks, local campaigns and eventually a durable cadre? Can the Maharashtra unit turn Mr Gandhi’s visibility into sustained activity in constituencies where the party has been eclipsed? Those are harder questions. The Congress’s challenge is to ensure that the goonj does not fade once the rally is over.

US Vice President JD Vance, his family arrive in Delhi

  • PTI
  • Apr 21, 2025
  • 2 min read


NEW DELHI: US Vice President J D Vance arrived here on Monday on a four-day visit to India against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement between the two strategic partners to address a variety of issues, including tariff and market access.


Vance is accompanied by his Indian-origin wife Usha Chilukuri and their three children Ewan, Vivek, Mirabel and a delegation of senior US government officials.


The US Vice President and the Second Lady were received at the Palam air base by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.


The American leader was also accorded a ceremonial welcome on his arrival.

In the evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a dinner for the Vances after holding wide-ranging talks with the US Vice President.


External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Indian ambassador to US Vinay Mohan Kwatra are expected to be part of the Indian team to be led by PM Modi at the talks.


The focus of the meeting is likely to be on early finalisation of the proposed bilateral trade pact as well as ways to boost overall trajectory of ties between the two countries.


Besides Delhi, Vance and his family will travel to Jaipur and Agra.

Vance's first visit to India comes weeks after US President Donald Trump imposed and then paused a sweeping tariff regime against around 60 countries, including India.


New Delhi and Washington are now holding negotiations to seal a bilateral trade agreement that is expected to address a variety of issues, including tariff and market access.


Vance and his family are scheduled to leave for Jaipur on Monday night.

In Delhi, the US Vice President and his family are staying at the ITC Maurya Sheraton hotel.


On April 22, the Vances will visit a number of historical sites in Jaipur, including the Amer Fort, also known as Amber Fort. The fort is a UNESCO world heritage site.


In the afternoon, the US Vice President is scheduled to address a gathering at the Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur.


Vance is expected to delved into broader aspects of India-US relations under the Donald Trump administration during his speech that is expected to be attended by diplomats, foreign policy experts, Indian government officials and academia.


The US Vice President and his family will travel to Agra on the morning of April 23, people familiar with the matter said.


In Agra, they will visit the Taj Mahal and Shilpgram which is an open air emporium showcasing various Indian artefacts, they said.


After concluding their visit to Agra, the Vances will return to Jaipur on the second half of April 23.


The US Vice President and his family will depart for the US from Jaipur on April 24, according to the people cited above.

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