The Congress dissenters who held their first public rally in Jammu on Saturday are prepared for a long haul, planning an ambitious outreach programme over the coming months in different parts of the country.

While these leaders under the guidance of veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, known as G-23, have so far portrayed themselves as true Congress soldiers working to strengthen the party, history is replete with examples of internal tussles beginning with similar objectives and arguments. There is no denying the fact that this is a strong pressure group wrestling for space and say within the party and their dislike for Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is barely concealed.

Though only five leaders were present at Saturday’s rally, Azad himself clarified that he discouraged several others who wanted to come. “There would have been unnecessary speculation about what is happening in Jammu and hence I asked them to come for other meetings,” he said, describing their endeavour as a new “struggle based on Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy”.

The content and tenor of the discourse made it clear that they were not happy with the state of affairs in the party even as nobody spoke against Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi directly. While Kapil Sibal said they had assembled here because Congress was weakening, Anand Sharma declared they were the true Congress. Sharma said, “We have risen from student movement; we have not given the right to anybody to tell us whether we are Congressmen or not. We know what is Congress and we will rebuild the Congress.”

This parallel stream, when Rahul Gandhi was leading the party’s campaign in election-bound Tamil Nadu, may climax in a split in the party if no compromise is struck within the next two months. That the initiative doesn’t fizzle out as a flash-in-the-pan effect is ensured by this group which is planning to contact leaders of regional parties across the country, sending out a clear message against the presumption that Rahul was still the supreme leader of the Congress.

One leader of the G-23 told The Telegraph after the rally, “This is the start of the process of Congress revival. We stand united and we have to do it together. We are not excluding anyone. And we have to realise that this battle, originating in Jammu, is against Nagpur, not 10, Janpath.”

Every leader speaking at the rally took care to speak against the BJP and stress the value system espoused by Gandhi. Raj Babbar went to the extent of saying, “People call us G-23. We are Gandhi-23.”

Manish Tewari also said, “The foundational values of Indian republic are being challenged. We have to protect India from these forces.”

Azad too said, “Only the Congress can take everybody together — people of all castes, all religions, all regions.”

Interestingly, all these leaders wore saffron headgear, probably sending out a message against bellicose secular fundamentalism that avoids majoritarian symbols.

While the decision of Sonia-Rahul not to retain Azad in the Rajya Sabha and instead nominate K.C. Venugopal from Rajasthan has doubtless been a bone of contention, Azad threw hints of his displeasure too. He said, “I have retired from Parliament, not from politics. And this is not the first time I have retired from Parliament. Hum idhar se doobate hain, udhar se niklte hain (I sink somewhere, spring up at another place). There is no need to get disheartened.”

The rebellion is real and the top leadership will commit a grave mistake by ignoring it. This group, which is basically unhappy with Rahul’s style of leadership and choice of people, would still prefer to remain in the Congress if a sense of accommodation is displayed.

“If Rahul Gandhi wants to tell us only Randeep Surjewala, K.C. Venugopal and Rajiv Satav are Congress and we are enemies, we can’t digest this. It is up to him to decide whether he wants to destroy the Congress in the process of rebuilding it,” one leader who sympathises with this group explained.