ALL AT SEA
Plumbing electoral depths, the Congress yet again faces a do-ordie choice. If it can put in an honest effort to reform itself, it can still be a uniting force for the Opposition
IIn the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress won just 52 seats—eight more than in 2014— and failed to breach the three-digit mark in the 545-member house for a second consecutive time. Of these 52 seats, 15 came from Kerala, a state that sends just 20 MPs to the Lok Sabha. It was the party’s best performance across all states and came three years after it was crushed in the assembly election in Kerala. With former Congress president and de facto leader Rahul Gandhi representing the state from Wayanad, there was anticipation that the party will dethrone the incumbent LDF (Left Democratic Front) government in the next assembly poll.
However, when the results of the 2021 assembly poll in Kerala was announced, the Congress had won just 21 seats in the 140-member house. The performance was worse than in 2016, when the Congress-led UDF (United Democratic Front) government faced anti-incumbency. What made the rout even more bitter was that Kerala was one of the two states—the other being Tamil Nadu—where Rahul had run an extensive campaign. In his earnest attempt to woo voters in the state, Rahul drew flak for comparing north and south India at a public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram: “For the first 15 years, I was an MP in the north; I had got used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues, and not just superficially, but going into detail.”
These words will now return to haunt the Gandhi scion whose ability to lead the Congress has been in question since the steady decline in the party’s electoral fortunes from 2014. In the 39 assembly elections in the past seven years, the party has won only five on its own. In the current round, besides the Kerala debacle, the party was voted out of power in Puducherry and failed to put up any significant fight in Assam and West Bengal. In West Bengal, in fact, it did not win a single seat, taking the tally of state assemblies where the Congress has no representation to six after Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Tripura, Nagaland and Sikkim. That the party will be returning to power in Tamil Nadu, as a junior ally of the DMK, is the only minor consolation.
That the Congress leadership, particularly the Gandhi family, face an uphill task in reviving the party’s fortunes is an understatement. Murmurs within the party demanding accountability on Rahul’s part are getting louder. Though Sonia Gandhi has been functioning as interim party presi
dent, it’s an open secret that Rahul’s approval is required for most crucial party decisions.
The Congress is slated to choose the next president in June, as promised to the group of 23 leaders, who had written to Sonia Gandhi in August last year demanding an organisational overhaul of the party and an accountable leadership. “The CWC has taken the decision and the election to the post of president is certain to happen in June, even if we need to do a virtual poll,” says a close Rahul aide who is also a CWC member. While the knives are out, the dissenting group has decided to keep silent for the moment because of the health crisis the country is going through. “If we raise our voice, people will see us as opportunist. So we will wait till June and see what the CWC does,” says an original member of the Group of 23. However, there is excitement among them as there is a realistic chance of Rahul deciding against standing for presidential election.
Even as the Congress itself fights an existential battle, several Congress leaders believe the current mood in the country provides it an opportunity to emerge as a viable alternative, more so because of its pan-India presence. “We may have lost, but we will learn from the defeat, keep morale high and continue to fight for the cause of the people,” says Jitendra Singh, CWC member and Assam Congress in-charge. The brutal resurgence of the pandemic and the Union government’s lacklustre response to the plight of the people, who find themselves fighting not just the disease but also the crippling lack of hospital beds and oxygen have created a sense of deep anguish among Indians across the country. The victory of parties opposed to the BJP in the southern states and particularly the humiliating defeat in West Bengal, where the saffron party unleashed all its might, have further dented the image of Prime Minister Modi’s invincibility. “The calamity has exposed that the BJP under Modi is all propaganda and little action. The Congress has a bound duty to provide an alternative roadmap in the nation’s interest and we are committed towards doing that,” says Randeep Singh Surjewala, member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and communication in-charge of the party.
SO, WHO LEADS THE CONGRESS?
There has been a visible attempt in that direction with all three members of the Gandhi family—Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi—mounting a scathing attack on Narendra Modi both on social and traditional media. Rahul, in fact, has been the most vocal and most visible Congress leader in his criticism of the Narendra Modi government as it battles multiple fronts—the raging Covid pandemic, a devastated economy and Chinese aggression.
Unfortunately, his actions have not translated into mobilising the Congress workforce into a battle-ready electoral machinery. Instead, the ambiguity over the central leadership has left Congress workers confused over the future course of action. Rahul’s close aides have been demanding his return as party president, but he himself has been adamant on not coming back yet. With Sonia Gandhi also unwilling to continue as interim chief, Gandhi family loyalists have been projecting Priyanka as an alternative. Sources, however, told india today that both Sonia and Rahul have vetoed the idea. More importantly, Priyanka, who is in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, will face a big test of leadership when the state goes to election next year. Though she had mega plans for revitalising the party in India’s politically most significant state, the pandemic has put brakes on them. An adverse result may put her leadership into question too. “That’s perhaps why the family wants to instal a stopgap president so that Rahul can return when the wind blows in the Congress’s favour,” says a CWC member. Veteran Congress leaders, however, fear that such an experiment may cause the party to implode at a time it needs to put its own house in order before taking the fight to the enemy camp. Therein lies the Congress’s challenge. ■