'Tiger zinda hai': Jairam Ramesh rejects BJP's claims of 2024 being done deal

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has rejected the BJP’s claims that the 2024 poll results are a foregone conclusion, saying “Tiger zinda hai” and that the opposition bloc will repeat the history of 2004 when the saffron party was unseated from power despite its ‘shining India’ campaign.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has rejected the BJP's claims that the 2024 poll results are a foregone conclusion, saying "Tiger zinda hai" and that the opposition bloc will repeat the history of 2004 when the saffron party was unseated from power despite its 'shining India' campaign.

In an interview with PTI, Mr. Ramesh asserted that only a strong Congress can ensure a strong Opposition and the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' is an effort to strengthen the grand old party.

On how the poll preparations will be handled by the party while also managing its east to west yatra, Mr. Ramesh said a party organisation is in place and Rahul Gandhi would be part of the campaign despite his preoccupation with the yatra.

"The yatra will end by the time polls start. I expect the elections to start somewhere, maybe in first week of April by which time the yatra would have been over. Meetings can always be held on Zoom. I don't see it as a problem," he said, dismissing concerns that poll preparations may be hampered due to Mr. Gandhi's over 6,700 km Manipur to Mumbai yatra.

When asked about the BJP's narrative that 2024 poll results were a foregone conclusion and what would he tell them, Mr. Ramesh, while borrowing from a popular Hindi film title, quipped, "Tiger zinda hai, that is my constant refrain" Several BJP leaders have asserted that a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is certain in 2024 and the party has set a target of over 400 plus seats.

On whether he believes that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) can spring a surprise in the 2024 general elections, Ramesh said, "All I can say is that in 2003, we lost Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, people wrote the Congress off, but in 2004, the Congress formed the government. India was shining at that time." "History will repeat itself," he told PTI on January 13 evening.

People will be moved more by 'anyay kaal' (period of injustice) of the last 10 years than the dream of 'amrit kaal', Mr. Ramesh said.