Despite Punjab win, Congress remains cut off from masses

IT WAS A REPEAT PERFORMANCE FOR THE 46YEAROLD CONGRESS LEADER IN UP; OF THE 71 RALLIES HE ADDRESSED IN FIVE STATES, 54 WERE IN UP ALONE

NEW DELHI: The Congress could take solace in its Punjab victory but its decline continued in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most politically and electorally important states in India.

The other bad news for the grand old party came from Manipur and Uttarakhand, two states where it hoped to retain power.

These elections were a litmus test for Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who had led the party in all five states with party chief Sonia Gandhi skipping the campaign.

It was a repeat performance for the 46-year-old Congress leader in UP. Of the 71 rallies he addressed in five states, 54 were in UP alone. In the 2012 elections, Rahul addressed 211 public meetings across UP in 48 days.

But the Congress ended up with a paltry 28 of the 403 seats.

This time, the 131-year-old party is struggling to cross the double digit mark — that too in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP). The two parties joined hands to keep the BJP at bay, but ended up being swept away by a BJP wave on the back of PM Narendra Modi’s popularity.

Experts said the Congress’s comeback at the national level will largely depend on its revival in the states and the party needs to decentralise some of its powers to enable the growth of strong regional leaders.

“Let leaders from states emerge and take initiatives. We can see something happening in Rajasthan where Sachin Pilot has taken the lead. Same should happen in Madhya Pradesh and other states,” said Sanjay Kumar of the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).

“There is a need for Congress leaders to connect with the people. That is missing. They have to do mass politics and hit the streets,” said Kumar.

“See what Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing. You see him among the people on yoga day and teachers on teacher’s day. Every single occasion, he has demonstrated that connect successfully,” Kumar said.

Congress leaders agreed that the need of the hour is fundamental restructuring of the organisation. “These have to be hard, tough decisions about strategy,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

Gandhi has to put the Congress on the revival track before the 2019 parliamentary elections in which he is expected to be a key challenger to Modi.

But experts differed. “Whatever expectation people had of Rahul Gandhi emerging as a challenger or alternative to Modi has eroded further. His image has taken a dip,” Kumar said.