Having suffered one reverse after another, the Congress is a pale shadow of its former self. The party is in urgent need of revamp and revival. The question is: Can Rahul Gandhi, who has led the party to debacles, do the needfulIJ
The BJP is jubilant after its spectacular success in Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls this week. Coming as it does on the heels of the recent impressive lok Sabha victory, the BJP can claim that the momentum as well as the ‘Modi magic’ is intact. The Congress, on the other hand, stands demoralised further after its humiliating defeat in both the States. There is already discussion and debate about the future of the 128-year-old party as it continues to shrink. Doomsayers call it a geriatric party while others feel that the Congress has to overcome a leadership crisis and come back with fresh resurgence, for, after all, in politics there are always ups and down.
Yet, it would be unwise to under-estimate the seriousness of the political challenges that confront the Congress. After independence, the Congress had tremendous goodwill. Moreover, the Congress was seen as an umbrella party, which had all shades of opinions — which were allowed to flourish. Above all, the Congress was able to share power with the workers. But, today, the power is concentrated in the hands of a few. A small coterie around 10 Janpath rules the party, to the dismay of old-time workers.
Since independence, barring a few years in between, the Congress has been ruling at the Centre and in most of the States. It can no longer take this position for granted.
Its appeal to the Dalits and the Muslims has been eroded by the rise of other political parties in both north and south India. Its standing as a national party has been challenged by the BJP. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is ruling now in the entire belt consisting of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Goa and Andhra Pradesh. Still, the Congress has a presence in every village even today. It has a pan-national appeal and is known for its secularism and unity and integrity of the country. But the party is not able to encash on these advantages.
It is clear that the party has lost connection with the common man and also its commitment to the people. It seems to be living in a make-believe world where reality has no value. Second, those who join the party mostly do so for their selfish reasons and for furthering their own future. One of the main reasons of the Congress’s defeat is the weak organisation and leadership. On both fronts, it was completely outsmarted by BJP-RSS and Mr Narendra Modi respectively.
Third, the regional and caste-based parties have grown because the Congress was unable to meet the aspirations of the people. The Congress has no option now than to join them rather then going down further. The fourth is that the BJP has emerged as an alternative and as the dominant party in the country in the past six months.
Some Congress-watchers feel that where the party erred all along was in treating political power as the end rather than the means. The challenge for the Congress now is to take the party closer to the people, to remain relevant to a generation that is full of aspirations, and to recast the party as a tool of social change rather than political power. For this, the Congress leadership, including its vice president Rahul Gandhi, has to demonstrate commitment. And, bringing in Priyanka Vadra is no answer to the problem.
The BJP has established its dominance in its areas of strength, and a growing presence in regions where it had not existed until now. The Congress on its part is now without a strong base anywhere, having been wiped out in its earlier stronghold of Andhra Pradesh, bested in Karnataka, routed in Maharashtra, sidelined in West Bengal, and marginalised in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
The Congress faces a structural dilemma on several fronts — organisational weakness, ideological stagnation and shrinking social support. Once, it was a democratic party with a formidable organisation that ran an effective political machine, distributing patronage in exchange for electoral support. From the 1970s onwards, the party in most States degenerated severely. From then on, no attention was given to the re-organisation and regeneration of the Congress. But, between 2004 and 2014, the Congress not only won two national elections, but also won 21 Assembly elections.
The Grand Old Party now needs new ideas, a new idiom, and a new icon. First of all, it needs to be re-invented, suited to the needs of the voters. The principal threat comes from a lack of vision and the party’s inability to encourage viable and popular leaders to rise from within. The second is the dynasty, which, at one level acts as a unifying force but also works as a stumbling block. The Congress must debate whether the dynasty has outlived its usefulness.