Kalyani Shankar
The Congress is going through an existential crisis even as the party chief Rahul Gandhi has been authorised to restructure the organisation at all levels last week. Indeed the party needs such ruthless surgery. Gandhi has offered to resign taking 100 per cent responsibility for the defeat in 2019 polls, but the apex body the Congress Working Committee has asked Rahul to stay on.
No doubt that the Congress has won 52 seats barely improving its 2014 tally of 44 and the buck stops with Rahul as the party chief. It is the media, which is demanding Rahul’s ouster but the question is, can getting rid of Rahul be the only problem the Congress is facing now? The problem lies elsewhere. The Congress is facing a combination of problems including a leadership crisis. The last time it happened was when there was erosion under the leadership of Sitaram Kesri in 1998. Sonia Gandhi stepped in and arrested the erosion. Now, lack of a thriving organisation, proper vision for the future and failure to project itself as a credible alternative to the BJP and disconnect with the voters are the real problems. The Congress also could not lead the opposition to challenge Modi.
Perhaps the failure of Rahul is that he did not choose the right people for the right job as he collected around himself non-political people who had no electoral understanding or experience. He seemed a confused leader, as he could not spell out the present Congress ideology or its message. Its NYAY scheme was announced too late and it so it could not percolate down. He did not have any electoral strategy to match the BJP’s excellent campaign. Rafale and ‘ChowkidarChorHai’ slogans were not enough. Moreover, there were only two star campaigners – Rahul and Priynaka – as the senior leaders were not utilised in the campaign. Even bringing Priyanka into politics was also too late. Also the party did not build second rung leaders. How could a party win elections when it did not have booth level workers or foot soldiers that could carry the message of the party to the people?
The Congress may not dump the Gandhi family, as it has no other leader on whom the party will repose trust. The party will not allow Rahul Gandhi to quit even if he persists and will go through the same drama after Sonia Gandhi resigned in 1999 when leaders like Sharad Pawar questioned her foreign origin. When Sitaram Kesri was removed in 1998 Sonia Gandhi was ready and waiting. Today, most senior leaders in the Congress are too old while most junior leaders have lost the recent Lok Sabha polls. So who could steer the party when its morale is so low? As a temporary reprieve, it will try to find a buffer between Rahul and the party and might go for a working president to share Rahul’s work. This has been its formula all along when the leadership comes under attack.
There is no doubt that the Congress should reinvent itself if it wants to survive. Perhaps it can take a leaf out of the former U. K Prime Minister Tony Blair. He coined the word New Labour in October 1994 conference speech as part of the slogan “New Labour, New Britain” before the party came to power. The new Congress should take into account the changing situation in the country and what lakhs of new voters and aspirational youth want instead of harping on its past glory.
The Congress has re invented itself earlier also. India Gandhi showed them the way in 1969 when the party split and again in 1977 when she launched the Congress (I). Rajiv Gandhi spoke of the power brokers in the 1985 AICC session and tried to change the party. P.V. NarasimhaRao’s Congress moved towards the right-wing with reforms while Sonia Gandhi brought it back to left-wing welfare politics. Rahul’s failure is that he was not able to sell his political or economic vision to the public.
There is still time to implement the much-needed face-lift, which could be decided after a Pachmarhi or Shimla kind of brainstorming session. The new strategy should include infusion of dynamic second rung leaders and strong state level leaders. It must be a blend of experience and youth. The party-public connect should be re-established.
Even at this stage, all is not lost as Congress is in power in half a dozen states and hopes to win some more in the upcoming Assembly elections in the next five years. If it decides to change itself ruthlessly with the only one aim of electoral gains it should begin now. The Congress needs look at the present crisis, as an opportunity to change itself to the modern day needs. Change is the only constant thing and the party should realise this. (IPA)
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