FRAGRANCE OF IDEAS
Ever since 2014, the oldest political party of India -the Congress, has been experiencing the worst electoral results of its history. Unmindful of its defeats after defeats, the Congress seems more interested in blame-games and finding fault with the system that it created with its own hands when it was in power at the Centre and also in the states for a long period of six decades. It has lost not only the elections consistently, but has also lost its willingness and capability to accept the defeats and make the required introspection and the consequent reform thereto. It is amply clear now that the rout of Congress is not only deep-rooted but is also organic and absolute.
Among the states that are considered as the major contributors to the formation of the Lok Sabha due to their huge number of seats are UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. In all these states, the Congress has reached its nadir so far. Once the Congress loses the status of number one in any state, it becomes almost impossible for it to get itself revived. All these five states are a testimony of this fact where Congress is either out of power for the last several decades or is not able to form the government on its own for a long time. In addition to this, Congress, though being a primary political force in the states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, is not in a position to guide the political agenda by itself any more. This speaks for itself about the pathetic position of the Congress at a national level.
Vote percentage received by the Congress is not reflective in the conversion of the percentage into the number of seats. In case the situation is allowed to further drift out of the hands of the Congress leadership, Congress men and women would find it more and more difficult to stay in the party. They will with the passage of time realize that they have no future in the Congress; and the ideological thrust and message of the party is also losing relevance at a fast rate. The political agenda, terminology, focus and target of the party -all seem to be boring for the people and the workers of the party. They no longer see any kind of reform in any of these areas in the party.
Over-emphasis by the political parties and particularly by the Congress on the so-called secularism, Ganga-Jamuna Tehzeeb, left-liberalism, socialism of various hues and caste-based political cries have lost their sheen and attraction for the new generations of the country. All these inorganic motivations seem old-fashioned, artificial and uninspiring for the onward march of common Indians in the world. Congress has been isolated even in the Indi-Alliance amalgam and nobody in the alliance is ready to accept its leadership at any level. Then the UPA is dead and the Indi-Alliance has replaced it two years ago, without any sort of tangible outcome or long-run planning and programme except their uncalled-for and called-for opposition to the PM Narendra Modi. Congress as on today stands reduced to the status of a representative of the three-member family feudal politics of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty than the representative of the people at large.
Last Lok Sabha election results in June 2024 proved as a camouflage of the actual drifting away position of the Congress. The Congress leaders and their workers kept on patting themselves over the results and tried to exhibit getting 99 seats in a house of 243 as a great upheaval in Indian politics. It maintained that the mood of the nation was changing and strategized its priorities accordingly. However, the results of state-elections in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi brought up a completely different picture contrary to the planning, expectations, promises and hopes of the Congress. These results further sealed the fate of the Congress in these states at least for the next five years. However, the leadership of the Congress is hardly conscious of its gradual and perpetual downfall.
The top leader of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, on his recent visit to the state of Gujarat while addressing his own party workers exploded a bombshell by saying that the BJP has penetrated the Congress in Gujarat. He further said that there was a need to identify this sort of “weed” in the party in order to throw that out. This was not taken cordially by the state leaders and workers present in the meeting. Then he also said that there were major reforms needed in the party without explaining as to who will be doing these reforms and when..!
As if this was not sufficient, Congress continued/continues to face debacles in many micro-level elections in the country besides the parliamentary and state elections. In all major by-elections held in various states for the last eight months, Congress has been the worst sufferer regardless of alliances and its adjustments with friendly parties. Now, in all local bodies’ elections, it showed unexpected and dismal performances conveying the current mood of the people on the ground towards the party. Unfortunately for Congress and the other opposition parties, these elections were mainly held by ballot-papers and not by the EVMs. Therefore, their excuses in relation to the EVMs have also lost any logic if there was anyone left.
In states like Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Haryana where these elections were held recently, the Congress was swept away by its political foes, especially the BJP. It stood nowhere even as a competitor in these elections. The biggest test for the Congress and its allies will be now in the state of Maharashtra where the local bodies await the declaration of the fresh elections. There are huge stakes for all political parties in Maharashtra in context of the local bodies’ elections in the state particularly after the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections held during the last eight months time period. Congress which was number one party in the state three decades ago is standing at number 5 or 6 at present. The municipal elections this year are an acidic test for the vanishing party in Maharashtra.
People in general take Congress party as the custodian of feudal dynastic politics, large-scale corruption, minority appeasement, mal-administration and bad governance in the country. Besides this, it has been accused of defense unpreparedness and scams, losing war with China, compromising national interests on the negotiating table after winning wars against Pakistan, bringing into public domain the sympathy factor for terror and extremist elements in the society and encouraging illegal immigration from Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Congress leaders expressed publicly as to how they were pressurized and guided to introduce the myth of “Hindu-terrorism” by the Congress top leaders during the period 2004-2014 when it was in power. This has brought the impression about the party extremely down among the people and the weak and inapt leadership in the party further added to this perception among the people.
Over the last several decades, Congress has lost its capability to involve itself in struggles aimed at to espouse the common cause of the public. It has by and large invested in only short-cut methods to exist than to revive the party organization and strength; and build the party from the ground zero level. Revival of the party is dependent upon introspection, review, infusing new blood in the party, AICC sessions at regular intervals, party democracy at every level and willingness to fight for the people’s aspirations. The fact of the matter is that the Congress is not ready to do any of the above said exercise and its top leadership also seems mentally clueless and physically tired. Therefore, there is hardly any hope in this regard.
The top leadership of the party is also under the scanner of the investigating agencies and the legal processes in connection with the criminal and other cases pending against them in the courts. In some cases a number of top leaders are already on bail for the last several years. The moment the government of the day decides to take swift action in this regard, the Congress and its leadership both will be in deep trouble. Karma plays its role and everyone has his or her time to reap the harvest of one’s deeds. The time for Congress is not far away, and in such a situation, the Congress can only bank upon its luck and the decision-making exercise of the party in power.
It is not yet over for the party, state elections that are due in Bihar, West Bengal and UP will be a tough walk for it in case it decides to go alone or enter into some kind of alliance with the other parties. As it has lost its bargaining power to a large extent in these states, nothing tangible for the party is in sight at present. In order to remain in power somehow, it will go for alliances. But to lift the party from a virtual paralysis, it requires going alone and building the party afresh. The party needs great decision-making and the top leadership is faced with the rough and tough test of its history. Would the Congress come up to the level is for the time to decide….!
(The author is a senior BJP & KP leader, Human Rights defender, author & columnist and can be reached at: [email protected])
