Rahul Gandhi Starts INC Campaign in Panjab

November

2026

Indian National Congress (INC) leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament), Rahul Gandhi initiated the party’s campaign for the 2027 Panjab Assembly election by addressing an Insaaf (Justice) Rally on 4 Nov. The rally at Phaguwal village, Sangrur district—which is rival Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home turf—was also a show of strength of the INC which has been plagued by factionalism in past months. At the rally, INC national president Mallikarjun Kharge said, 'Across the country, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) are hollowing out our constitutional values, institutional integrity, and federal character. They are fueling caste, gender, and religion-based atrocities...Whether it is the Modi government at the Center (union government) or the government in Panjab, these are governments of unfulfilled promises. Therefore, we have come here to appeal to you to give strength by making Congress victorious.' In his speech, Gandhi focused on the worsening law and order, growing gangsterism, and the illegal drug trade. He said, 'What happened to Moosewala (Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu) has become a fashion in Panjab today. The mindset that shot Moosewala in front of everyone, fearlessly, is spreading through every nook and corner of Panjab today. Whoever has talent, whoever has skill, like Moosewala, whoever wants to move forward on their own talent, wants to work for Panjab, wants to work for the country, is threatened, scared, and shot in front of everyone.' He said, 'Drugs are the biggest issue in Panjab, be it chitta (an opioid), synthetic drugs, or medical drugs. The AAP came to power and you trusted them. What was their promise? They will eradicate drugs. But I want to ask you—where have they eradicated drugs from?' Unlike earlier INC CM Captain Amarinder Singh, who saw drugs as essentially a law-and-order issue and had, in Dec 2016, promised to 'break the back of the drugs syndicate', or the AAP government's 'War on Drugs', Gandhi focused his speech on economic and social betterment to combat drugs. He said that only through employment generation in small and medium industries, and by protecting farmers’ interests, can Panjab eradicate gangsters and drugs. Meanwhile, an Election Commission of India finding shows the INC's receipts from donations above USD 2.1K have plunged nearly 75% to USD 14M in 2025-26, the steepest annual fall in such contributions in a decade (earlier coverage).