The Congress, which took out a “save-the-cow” march in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, has asked its state units to organise “Tiranga Yatras” across the country on the occasion of its foundation day on December 28, finally waking up to the challenge posed by the RSS-BJP’s perceived monopoly on these symbols of nationalism.

The Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had instructed the state leadership to take out a “Gai Bachao-Kisan Bachao Yatra (Save the cow, save the farmer)” in the wake of reports of the deaths of a large number of cows in government shelters in the state. The issue was linked to the farmers apparently for greater legitimacy as the agitation against the new farm laws has caught the national attention.

The march was stopped by police and over 100 Congress leaders and workers, including state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union minister Pradeep Jain, were taken into custody.

While the Congress’s emphasis on cows raised eyebrows in certain secular circles, particularly on social media, and triggered allegations of being a BJP copycat, the Opposition party’s general secretary in charge of organisation, K.C. Venugopal, wrote to the state units to take out Tiranga Yatras on the party’s foundation day.

He went a step farther, asking leaders, office-bearers and workers to take selfies with the Tricolour and post the pictures on social media as part of the campaign run by the Congress’s central unit on its foundation day.

The BJP has been taking out Tiranga Yatras across the country for the past few years. Congress leaders, however, fiercely contest the charge that the party was following the footsteps of the Sangh parivar, dismissing the debate as ill-informed and motivated.

The Congress leaders insist that the BJP had exploited these symbols to further its majoritarian agenda and used it as tools of divisive politics and it would be foolish to let them go unchallenged.

There seems to be a realisation among Congress leaders that the secular parties have vacated the space that has now been occupied by the Sangh parivar that has projected itself as nationalistic despite the fact that its politics is antithetical to the constitutional scheme and its track record during the freedom movement had been questionable.

The BJP leadership has not only been successful in capturing the so-called nationalist space but also in painting its rivals and critics as “anti-national”.

Congress general secretary Tariq Anwar said: “Why should there be questions about Congress leaders taking selfies with the national flag and the campaign to protect the cow? Congress leaders have always been seen with the Tiranga, that is the defining image of the freedom movement. It is the RSS that opposed the Tricolour and even refused to hoist it at its headquarters. The Congress doesn’t need sermons on nationalism from anybody; we led the freedom movement and after that nationalism meant nation-building. And cows need to be protected but cow protection can’t be a tool of divisive politics.”

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh told The Telegraph: “What is nationalism? Is it persecution of religious minorities? Is it lynching innocent people in the name of cow and Ram? Is it using national symbols to divide the society, to terrorise opponents and critics? Can wanton violations of the constitutional scheme be called nationalism? It is unfortunate that the RSS-BJP’s formulations on nationalism and patriotism have not been scrutinised seriously by the mainstream media.”

Vallabh added: “The BJP’s pseudo-nationalism rests on falsehood. If (former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister) Mehbooba Mufti forms the government with them, she is a nationalist. If the alliance breaks, she becomes anti-national. This fraudulent debate has been accepted by a section of the media.

“Our nationalism has been enunciated by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other stalwarts of the freedom struggle. Our nationalism is farmers getting the right price for their crop, women getting respect and security, youths getting employment. Our nationalism is protection of rights and freedom of all citizens.”

Nehru had forcefully articulated this position both before and after Independence, saying: “Who is Bharat Mata? The mountains and the rivers of India, and the forests and the broad fields, which gave us food, water, were all dear to us, but what counted ultimately were the people of India… who were spread out all over this vast land. Bharat Mata was essentially these millions of people and victory to her meant victory of these people.”