Seniors are against ‘demonising’ Modi or drawing comparisons but want the party to fight the government cogently on issues
It would perhaps be easy enough to conclude that some senior Congressmen leading the “stop demonising Modi” chorus have been coopted by prevalent nationalist thinking and are in a rebellious mood as the party goes adrift every day. Some would say the simmering down of the attack could perhaps be influenced by the severity of government probes against fellow Congressman P Chidambaram. But what senior leaders like Bhupinder Hooda, who has refused to critique the abrogation of Article 370, or Jairam Ramesh said of appreciating the governance of the Modi regime when it did right, is perhaps indicative of what could repair the Congress. If one looks back at the party’s heady days of winning crucial heartland polls last December and the slide within months in the Lok Sabha polls this summer, then one could find the answers. For the Assemblies, the Congress campaign relied strongly on regional CM faces, an issue-based counter and practical alternatives to the existing governance. In contrast, the party’s national election campaign played into the personality cult war that Team Modi had set up with “Modi versus Who,” and the Congress atrociously relying on a catchy but self-defeating tag of “Chowkidaar Chor Hai.” Given the Congress’ own burden of corruption, it was no doubt easier for Modi to rightfully project himself as a vigilante of the nation’s interests and turn the nomenclature on its head. Undoubtedly, the negative campaign against Modi only ended up lionising him. Many senior leaders had then murmured privately that the party was just not cut out for a presidential style contest and needed a different sales pitch. It could have countered “sabka vishwas” with its own broad-based alliance of varied interests and regional aspirations, one which it failed at. And by the time it unfurled NYAY as its vision document and policy statement, it had missed the bus. It completely misread the nationalist surge after Balakot and would now want to bury the Rafale allegations with the ghosts of history.
While the Young Turks have set their terms of engagement, refusing to criticise the Government’s Kashmir policy for the sake of it and wanting to strengthen their network in States where Assembly polls are due, some saner seniors have claimed the “nationalist” tag of the INC. They are urging the leadership to develop a template on issues that have been mishandled by the Modi regime rather than just being a petulant noise-maker. Jairam Ramesh, although considered a close inner circle member, at least knows that true loyalty is not about acquiescence but about showing the mirror to the leadership so that it undertakes a much-needed course correction. He was pragmatic enough to admit that Modi’s “economics of governance” and the Ujjwala Scheme to provide cooking gas connections to BPL households did generate a groundswell that no rhetoric could check. In fact, continued attacks would only make the Congress look like a vituperative irritant and not the serious national party it is. Besides, focussing on Modi would automatically draw attention away from the gravity of issues and the Prime Minister, too, would be happy with that. What the Congress must realise is that a responsible Opposition means that its criticism is worth respecting and paid heed to instead of becoming the subject of an internet joke fest. If such musings do inspire a change of thinking, then maybe the party will actually look towards working on issues and develop an alternate matrix of governance. The Congress supreme leader can be powerful not by entitlement any longer, certainly not by individual charisma but by drawing on organisational strength and giving hope to the rank and file. In short, giving Congressmen a workable narrative.