Rest of India is mourning the loss of alternative space, while the supporters of the BJP, the winning party, are reveling in joy taking the results of assembly election in five states as a good omen for 2024 Lok Sabha election. The loss of alternative space is not sudden and from last few elections, people patiently waited that they would also get their views articulated and represented. But Congress failed to save that space.
The defeat, nay decimation of the Indian National Congress is neither the matter of a legacy family nor of the loyalists. Political parties winning or losing elections is just a normal occurrence. But this time around it is a matter of concern. The alternative that was available for that segment of Indian population which does not subscribe to the ideology and way of governance of the BJP is concerned because it finds itself debunked and dejected.
The Congress lost Punjab to the AAP and could not wrest any of the four other states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur — from the BJP in the recent assembly elections in five states.
The Congress Working Committee called a meeting on March 14 to brood over the reasons for its debacle. After an approximately 5 hours of brainstorming, it was decided by the Congress Working Committee that the members retained their faith in the leadership of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. It was also decided to convene a Chintan Shivir soon to decide about corrective measures to improve. In a casual manner the speakers in the CWC also agreed that they failed to highlight the failures of the BJP with public.
But did the CWC members really intend to express any shock that their failure has given a great jolt to the followers of the ideology of the Congress Party? Did they realize that their failure or success matters for the Indian people, democracy and role of opposition in future?
It was visible that the CWC meeting seemed to be a competition among Sonia and Rahul loyalists to assert their choice of leaders rather than countenancing the bitter facts which have led to decline and decay in the great organization, institution and political party called the Indian National Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik were the the only three leaders from the Group of 23 leaders who participated. But their voice was lost amid loyalists’ noise.
Notwithstanding promise of a free and frank discussion the whole focus shifted to the loyalists’ assertion as to who ought to be the leader. The G-23 was not adequately represented and rather than brainstorming on the reasons, it was a session for showing faith in leadership. It may be necessary and important at the moment of crisis. Every time a setback occurs, the CWC comes with big promises, but it fails because it turns out to be a competition to prove loyalty to the legacy family.
Even respecting and putting the legacy family at the core is not wrong. Every political party has its own mechanism of coalescing. What is wrong is lack of seriousness to removing the rote and rust that is eroding the party. Strange as it may appear, it is long since the Congress party anything sort of free and frank discussion took place in the Congress Party on the factors which have been undermining its performance and appeal to the people.
BJP did not win elections because of its decisively superior leadership or ideology or even meeting the expectations of the people, but successfully managing the event called election through canvassing, propaganda and populist policies. It succeeded in undermining the opposition leadership in the name of “parivarvaad” despite the fact that the party itself fielded a large number of “princelings.” The party brought people on its party agenda, “Rashtravaad” in particular; while Congress failed to highlight the people’s issues like mismanagement of the BJP government during the first and second waves of the Covid-19 and create employment for burgeoning youth.
It is not that Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi is any inferior as propagated through media management. Today political leaders across the parties lack statesmanship. If they are not better; they are not inferior either. Today credentials are made and destroyed through management of the media, which is essentially funded by corporate houses for profit. Today leadership is not judged by their vision and intellectual capabilities or honesty of the purpose, but by their acumen to cobble a winning equation even by facilitating en masse defection bereft of any allegiance to ideology or values. But if Congress has failed even while leaders like Priyanka Gandhi tried hard to bring the electoral discourse on important issues including unemployment, criminal-political nexus, women security and gender representation in the power structure, it is not to say that she was wrong. It needs to be realized that election strategy need be tailored to outperform the strategy of the rival party, i.e. acumen for real politics. And it is here that the Congress Party has lost points.
Congress is failing seriously in making an effective organization with national presence and network of leaders and workers as well as at district and panchayat levels. The party also failed in utilization of talents within the party. The young and upcoming leaders are not engaged and recognized as much as the old stalwarts and loyalists. The party is also lacking in skills for attracting the disgruntled elements of a rival party and breaking it or collaborating with other political parties with similar agenda and ideology. As Congress Party is losing elections in many states, its membership base is getting eroded. The more opposition is able to keep it away from power, the more it would fail to mobilize funds through donations. These things matter to run propaganda machinery, very essential these days to highlight the failures and counter the falsehood of the rival political parties and leaders.
Congress party has fast turned into a headquarter-based political party where leaders at the central level only matter. The party has stopped finding and nurturing regional and local leaders. It has also stopped giving opportunity, recognition and roles to its new leaders. A party cannot spread not spread its politics with the leaders sitting at the headquarters. The legacy family and loyalists have limitations.
It is a crying question why other young leaders than those from legacy families are underutilized? Is that because of the fear that these leaders would outshine them? In fact if it happens, it will be in the interest of the people, country and the party. It is still possible to eep the coalescing factor, the legacy family at the centre. But the young and new leaders must be given increased role and incentivized with trust to play bigger roles. One swallow does not make a summer.
From the meeting it seemed that the Congress Party not only lacks in courage but also intention to reinvent itself and talk about the real problems it is facing. While the participants in Congress Working Group meetings did ensure to express their faith in Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra, they never really dared to give the deserved attention to the party’s organizational weaknesses, leadership crisis, lack of merit and talent based allocation of responsibilities and progression within the party bodies, conflict between the younger generation and elder politicians and loss of connect with the common man. The professional cannot replace full time politicians.
How long congress would wait for anti-incumbency to happen in its favour? Why not a pro-active and assertive politics? Why a party with most modern and progressive ideology is performing poorly on election turf? What Congress is doing to revive its district and village level party bodies? How Congress party is trying to spread its ideology of secularism, brotherhood and unity amid divisive, emotional and populist politics? What the party is doing for mobilization of funds, propaganda and advertisement on social media and on real ground? Why the party failed to bring out the failures of the ruling party to the people? Why a top down headquarter based approach has persisted? Why party is afraid of a democratic structure? Why it is not adopting a bottom up approach by allowing talents to rise from below and giving them a well deserved opportunity? Is party a fiefdom or institution? Who is that stopping change, transformation, democratization and growth of the party and at what cost? These questions need to be answered.
The problem of Congress is neither an ideological crisis nor the lack of leadership. The main weakness of the party lies in the way the party is being organized and the way it functions. And also the way it harnesses its talents for leading the party. Legacy does not seem to help much. Right leadership would do. Keeping away other capable leaders from the race of leadership so as to keep it reserved for either the legacy family or loyalists, delimits party’s public outreach and performance. When a party fails to unleash and utilize its own talented cadres for fear of legacy family members losing the control on leadership, it is not only undemocratic but also counterproductive. The connection of Congress leaders with people, especially in rural areas, has been lost.
Party is in the urgent need to change and evolve.