Kanhaiya Kumar, whose rousing call for “azadi” on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in March 2016 had catapulted him to the forefront of the ideological struggle in the country, joined the Congress on Tuesday with the assertion that it is the only party equipped to lead that struggle.

“India today needs the valour of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, the equality of Babasaheb Ambedkar and the unity of Mahatma Gandhi,” Kanhaiya said, addressing a news conference at the party headquarters along with fellow youth leader Jignesh Mevani.

“The Congress is the party that will take forward Gandhi’s legacy, Sarojini Naidu’s ideals, and follow the path of Ambedkar, Nehru, Ashfaqullah Khan, Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and Maulana Azad. When we talk of equality, it is not limited to some individuals, it is the history of being an Indian and if there is any party that encompasses this within itself, it is the Congress,” he said.

The entry of Kanhaiya, seen as the country’s most promising young politician, and firebrand activist Jignesh is a powerful political message that underlines the Congress’s credentials as the most formidable force that can stop the Sangh parivar juggernaut.

Both Kanhaiya and Jignesh, who is an Independent MLA and a Dalit rights activist, have risen from the grassroots by the dint of their talent and sustained struggle against the State’s might.

Out of 545 seats in the Lok Sabha, in 200 there is no party against the BJP other than the Congress, Kanhaiya said, adding that if the big ship drowns, so will the smaller boats. The Congress has to survive for the country to survive and for the aspirations of the youths to survive, he said.

“Many of my friends have not correctly figured out the nature of the battle in their political imagination. They are still obsessed with protecting their political ‘showrooms’. When a mall is on fire, you don’t try to save individual shops,” he said, calling for the breaking down of narrow political walls in the bigger ideological battle.

While he said this in response to a question about his decision to move from the Left to the Congress, it was a message for the wider Opposition.

“The Congress is the oldest and most democratic party,” Kanhaiya said, daring the media to question him about dynasty, which no one did.

The Indian identity, that of Buddha, Kabir and Nanak, and of the courage to question power in every era, is under threat, he said. Referring to the “dance on a corpse” in Assam, Kanhaiya stressed the urgency of saving the idea of India, the India of Gandhi’s, Ambedkar’s and Bhagat Singh’s dreams.

Shouldn’t every organisation in the country have portraits of these three leaders, Kanhaiya asked.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Kanhaiya Kumar, MLA Jignesh Mewani and others at AICC HQ in New Delhi PTI

The Indian ethos was such that if there was a death in a village, the whole village would not eat. Now, after lakhs of Indians died of Covid, there was a celebration for the Prime Minister’s birthday, he added.

“Who your friends are will get automatically decided once you choose your enemy. The people who are in power now are vitiating India’s intellectual tradition, its culture, core values, its history, its present and its future,” he said.

Although his decision to join the Congress has created heartburn within the CPI and Left circles, Kanhaiya expressed his gratitude to the party he was “born” in. “They taught me, trained me, gave me the fighting spirit,” he said, but stressed that this was a time to shed differences and fight for the country and the Congress as the biggest Opposition party was leading the battle.

“Everyone should come together because the country belongs to all of us.”

Kanhaiya thanked the citizens who are fighting the ideological battle with friends and family in WhatsApp groups and at dinner tables.

This is a time of urgency, he said, and called upon the youths not to sit on the fence wondering which way to go but to fight with all they had.

“I was a member of the AISF (All-India Students’ Federation) till yesterday,” Kanhaiya said. “The inaugural session of the AISF in 1936 was addressed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” he added, stressing that all youths fighting for India’s freedom had come together irrespective of their ideologies. “We are back to the pre-1947 situation.”

An orator who combines historical perspective with clarity of thought and wit, Kanhaiya offered glimpses of this at the news conference. He thanked the media for at least questioning the Opposition so that people would remember that the job of the media was to ask questions. He also promised to answer every question “because I am not the Prime Minister”.

Jignesh, who has not joined the party formally because he is an Independent MLA, declared that he was aligned with the Congress family and ideology and would fight the next election in Gujarat on a Congress ticket.

“The entire nation has been witness to the havoc that originated in Gujarat. India never faced such a crisis; the Constitution is under attack, the idea of India is being demolished. There is a conspiracy to spread the poison of hate to break the society.

“When I introspect what should be my foremost responsibility under these circumstances, the answer I get is to do whatever I can to save the Constitution. And where should I stand in this critical battle? With the party that led the freedom struggle,” he said.

Although Rahul Gandhi was not present at the news conference, the former Congress president accompanied Kanhaiya, Jignesh and Gujarat working president Hardik Patel to garland the statue of Bhagat Singh in Delhi’s Shaheed Park on his birth anniversary. A large crowd was mobilised. No other leader in recent memory has been welcomed into the party with a special event like this.

“In the empire of lies, it is truth that brings revolution. New and old comrades will have to together participate in this satyagraha,” Rahul tweeted in Hindi, posting a photograph from the Shaheed Park event.