New Delhi | Ruling out boycotting the 2029 general election, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh used a cricketing analogy to take a swipe at the Election Commission and said "we are playing versus the other team and the umpire", who is part of the rival side.

In an exclusive interview with PTI Videos, the Congress general secretary asserted that the opposition has to keep fighting and keep raising people's issues.

Asked how the 2029 pitch looks for the opposition and how it will overcome the "umpiring issues" it has been raising, Ramesh said, "Normally in a cricket match, two teams play with each other. Here we are playing versus the other team and the umpire.

The umpire is part of the opposing team. What can you do? Both the main umpire and the square leg umpire are part of the opposing team." "Yes, it's a difficult situation. We have to fight the election.

Boycotting the elections is not on the agenda. I don't think anybody is going to boycott the elections. We have to fight these elections. We have to continue to expose (the government)... go to the courts to the extent that sometimes the courts help, sometimes the courts are not bold enough to help. Let me put it that way.

"It's going to be a long struggle... there are no instant mantras for success. We have to keep fighting. We have to keep raising these issues and I'm beginning to see people raising questions," he said.

Large sections of society who embraced this regime 12 years ago for whatever reason -- opportunistic reason, ideological reason, frustration -- are now beginning to question it, the Congress leader said.

There is humour, there is satire, there is wit opposed to the current regime, Ramesh said, adding that it is a sure sign that people are no longer afraid.

"I think there was an atmosphere of fear. There was an atmosphere of intimidation, but people are now beginning to speak out and problems of the economy are coming to the fore," Ramesh said.

Therefore, people are beginning to ask tough questions of the government and that's the only thing that "we can bank on", he said, adding that "otherwise we have to keep doing what we have to do".

Ramesh also questioned the government's intentions on carrying out a delimitation exercise that was part of the Constitution amendment bill that was defeated in the last Parliament session.

"You have seen the 'jugalbandi' between the government and the Election Commission. The way the EC works, everyone knows that it does what the home minister (Amit Shah) says. Will you get the delimitation done by the EC, which has a big blot on it in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh?" Ramesh said.

His remarks come days after he pushed for making the right to vote a fundamental right, arguing that such a move would provide stronger safeguards against voter suppression and arbitrary disqualifications that have occurred in different states in "astronomical numbers" under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

Ramesh had said the "blatantly partisan functioning" of the EC, which he alleged was "working at the behest" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, had been "brutally exposed".

He had said it was now time to elevate the right to vote as a fundamental right, giving it the highest level of judicial review and protection.

During his interview with PTI Videos, Ramesh also recalled how the Congress turned the tide in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls when it was facing several challenges.

"In 2004, nobody expected the Congress to win. India was shining, and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a formidable and charismatic political leader. Yet, against all odds, the Congress pulled off a miracle," he said.

"We emerged as the single largest party with 145 seats, leading to the formation of the UPA government. For the next 10 years, Dr Manmohan Singh served as prime minister," Ramesh said.

He also hailed Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi for steering the party in difficult times.

"It was Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji who became Congress president in April 1998 and held the party together during a challenging period," he said.

At one point, the Congress had 15 chief ministers and a series of chief ministers' conclaves were held in places like Guwahati and Delhi, Ramesh said.

"These conclaves became important platforms for policy discussions, where the ideas that later shaped the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Forest Rights Act emerged," he said.

From 1999 to 2004, Sonia Gandhi served as leader of the opposition and played a central role in bringing opposition parties together, he said.

"It was her efforts, more than anyone else's, that helped forge the alliance that became the UPA on the evening of May 16, 2004," Ramesh said.