Relegated to margins in UP, Congress works to sustain the momentum of Hathras protests

In a state where its influence has been relegated to the margins, Congress is now trying to maintain a sustained momentum to the protests against the alleged rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, with some party leaders of the opinion that the party's stance could revive its fortunes in the state, Hindustan Times has reported.

Senior Congress leaders, including Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, compared the visit by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Hathras to former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's visit to Belchi in Bihar in 1977. Indira Gandhi had reached Belchi, where 10 Dalits had been massacred, by train, jeep, tractor and elephant.

The Belchi visit, according to reports, helped Congress storm to power three years later in the 1980 Assembly elections. Similar to that, the Gandhi siblings, while on their way to Hathras, had been detained and reportedly manhandled, for which the UP Police had to apologise. 

The challenge, however, for the Grand Old Party now is to maintain the momentum it has managed to leverage until the Assembly elections in 2022. Party leaders have said that the incident has to be highlighted aggressively, particularly in the forthcoming elections in Bihar and other states, where by-polls are scheduled.