You don’t need to agree with Congress to raise your voice

There are moments in the life of a country when people can no longer afford to remain silent about what is happening around them. I believe India is going through one such moment, and there are encouraging signs that more people are beginning to recognise it.

Across the country, people who do not belong to Congress, people who have never supported us, and even some who have strongly disagreed with us are raising questions about our elections, institutions and democratic freedoms. Independent journalists, activists, lawyers and digital creators are speaking to their audiences, often in ways that political parties cannot. Many ordinary citizens are also beginning to question things they may have ignored or taken for granted earlier.

As someone who has spent years working for Congress, I find this encouraging because the defence of our democracy was never meant to be the responsibility of one political party alone.

For years, we have been raising concerns about the weakening of institutions, the fairness of elections and the shrinking space for dissent. Rahul Gandhi has travelled thousands of kilometres through the Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, meeting people and raising many of these issues. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has repeatedly spoken about threats to our constitutional institutions. Across the country, thousands of Congress workers have protested, faced police action, court cases and political pressure, often without anyone outside their towns or districts knowing their names.

Those of us who have been part of this struggle know what it has taken to keep raising these questions. We remember how often our concerns were dismissed, how easily serious issues were reduced to party politics, and how difficult it sometimes became to make people listen. That experience is part of our political journey, and the contribution of those who stood firm through those years deserves recognition.

But we were not raising these questions simply to prove that we were right. We raised them because we believed something important was happening to our country and wanted more Indians to recognise it. If people who once disagreed with us are now beginning to share some of these concerns, it means the conversation is reaching beyond our own political circles.

Our freedom movement offers an important lesson here.

When Mahatma Gandhi began the Dandi March in 1930, only 78 satyagrahis accompanied him from Sabarmati Ashram. But by the time he reached the coast and broke the salt law, the movement had inspired people across the country. Thousands who had never met Gandhi or attended a Congress meeting began making salt, boycotting British goods and taking part in civil disobedience.

In August 1942, when Congress launched the Quit India Movement, the British arrested almost the entire top leadership within hours. They expected the movement to collapse without its leaders, but ordinary Indians carried it forward. Students left their classrooms, workers went on strike, and people in towns and villages organised resistance in whatever ways they could.

Many who joined the freedom struggle in the 1930s and 1940s had not participated in the movements of the 1920s. They came forward when they recognised their own responsibility towards the country. Some were associated with Congress, while many others were not. What mattered was that the struggle had grown beyond any single organisation and had become a cause that millions considered their own.

Congress did not become smaller when the freedom movement became larger. India became stronger.

I believe there is an important lesson in that history for our present circumstances. People will recognise a problem at different times, and they will respond to it in different ways. Someone may agree with Congress on electoral integrity but disagree with us on economic policy. Someone may support Rahul Gandhi on a particular issue and criticise him on another. Others may have supported the present government in the past but now find themselves uncomfortable with some of its actions.

None of them needs to agree with Congress on everything to raise their voice for democratic rights and constitutional values. The freedom to disagree is, after all, one of the very things we are trying to protect.

And participation does not always require joining a political party or attending a protest. A student questioning an unfair decision, a lawyer challenging an unconstitutional action, a journalist reporting despite pressure, or a voter checking the electoral rolls and helping neighbours do the same is also exercising democratic responsibility. These actions may appear small individually, but when thousands of people begin taking such responsibility, they can make a real difference.

Congress will continue to raise these issues in Parliament, on the streets, before the courts and among the people. That responsibility comes from our history, our beliefs and our commitment to the Constitution. At the same time, we recognise that the future of Indian democracy cannot depend on the efforts of Congress or any other political party alone.

We need many more independent voices, many more citizens willing to question those in power, and many more people who refuse to look away when something is wrong. Some will agree with us, others will disagree, and some may even change their positions over time. That is natural in a democracy where people are free to think for themselves.

Those who have carried this struggle for years and those who are joining it today have their own contributions to make. There is room for both, and there is room for millions more.

India’s freedom struggle grew because ordinary people stopped seeing independence as someone else’s responsibility. Our democracy deserves that same sense of ownership today, with people from every walk of life doing whatever they can, peacefully and within the Constitution, to protect the rights and freedoms we share.

The more people who find the courage to speak, the less lonely that courage becomes. We must keep widening this circle until millions of Indians feel that defending democracy is their own responsibility, and until, finally, fear changes sides.

The writer is an AICC secretary