Why Congress should change now?
During Kerala Literature Festival in January this year, I asked Kapil Sibal a question about the strategy of Congress to win 2024 elections considering their back to back failures in Lok Sabha elections, he replied laughingly that he can give a lecture of this.
Since then Congress lost Delhi elections without winning a single seat, lost a state they governed to BJP. Now they are at the cusp of losing Rajasthan due to differences within the party. They still haven’t decided whether Sonia Gandhi should continue as interim president considering her term ends next month. Despite calls within the party for elections to Congress Working Committee, the leadership is yet to make a decision. CWC hasn’t held elections for over 20 years. This is a party that criticizes BJP for not adhering to the principles of democracy. Sanjay Jha was removed as the national spokesperson for voicing his opinion of the indecision within the party, Shashi Tharoor has often made such remarks against the grand old party without getting any support.
Losing Sachin Pilot will dent Congress badly in Rajasthan, he was attributed for connecting party workers at the grass-root levels in winning the assembly elections. An FIR filed has prompted the recent skirmish between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, this also shows the inability of the Congress leadership to keep their two generations of leaders together, it was evident in Madhya Pradesh and now it has spread to Rajasthan.
What can Congress do?
Congress should immediately hold elections to CWC considering they have 10,000 AICC and PCC delegates, this also goes with the recommendation of many leaders within the party. The most vocal being Sandeep Dikshit who was supported by Shashi Tharoor. Rahul Gandhi has no interest in becoming the President, he is also a reluctant politician, he must continue the discussions he has been holding with various stakeholders. He still commands media attention than any other Congress leaders. It doesn’t matter whether the media considers his questions baseless or important. Any publicity is good publicity and his questions regarding the transparency of PM Cares matter. If you have observed social media over the last two months, even the best of BJP supporters (not trolls) haven’t condemned Rahul Gandhi for asking such questions. This is a major shift and Congress should capitalize on the ground they are gaining at least in social media. Congress cannot afford to lose another leader as they lost Mamata, Pawar, and Jagan, all three of them have governments in power and strong regional presence. If not for the split Congress would be governing the states now.
What if Congress doesn’t act?
Despite the rising numbers of Covid-19 patients and unemployment numbers, BJP still has the resources to fight any elections, they were the first party to hold virtual rallies in many states. The pandemic also ceded all the ground students covered during the anti-CAA movement. BJP governments have gone on to arrest many student activists involved in anti-CAA protests, many eminent intellectuals are in jail for voicing against the regime. BJP hasn’t slowed, they are spreading faster than the virus. The recent omission of important chapters on citizenship, democracy and wildlife from the CBSE syllabus shows the extent of the spread.
This will eventually lead to a single-party rule at the national level considering no other opposition parties have the presence as Congress has. The next few months would be crucial and if Congress continues their laid back attitude, they will not only lose talent from their party but a country they built from scratch.