Gandhi’s comments are also being seen by some party functionaries not only in the context of the government-Opposition standoff but also in the backdrop of Cockroach Janta Party launching its second round of protests (amid Congress protests against SIR and CEC) over the same planks after its earlier protests stole the show on the paper-leak issue.
While driving home his point for the tactical repositioning of the protest methods to generate ripple effects, especially on social media, Gandhi, at the October 5 meeting of AICC and PCC functionaries, convened to plan the upcoming party campaigns/protests, also cited a model that he asserted was spot on in getting the shock impact right – the way a group of Youth Congress activists staged a “shirtless protest” at an AI summit at Bharat Mandapam last February, some participants told ET.
“The only thing people discussed that day was the way Youth Congress staged that protest and nothing about the deliberations at the AI conference,” a party functionary quoted Gandhi having told the meeting.
When the meeting discussed the MPs’ march in New Delhi and Congress holding block-level demos and village-level outreach programmes, sources said Gandhi felt that while all those programmes were fine, they were run-of-the-mill and he stressed the need to think of out-of-the-box protests ideas with surprise angles. Taking a cue, many participants eagerly agreed with Gandhi, with some saying how his dharna near the prime minister’s residence last July had “tremendous surprise impact” and some others pointing out how Rahul, Priyanka and some others doing a sit-in at Parliament Street police station in August had “gone viral”.
Congress circles also point out that Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ students’ outreach, started after CJP cast its spell on Gen Z and being conducted through some event management professionals, focuses on creating “surprise elements” by including ramp-like stage, Gandhi’s deliberate pacing on it while speaking, organisers welcoming him with confetti shower and a finale with selfie sessions, all designed as a way to “connect with the Gen Z instincts” and “sway” them.
Armed with this insight into their leader’s thinking and after watching Rahul climb up a barricade, Priyanka scale a gate, their sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan on Tuesday and at Janpath-Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, many Congress leaders are now anticipating more ‘surprise actions’, something that could also make party functionaries duty-bound to put up matching shows.
