Daily Times

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the signatories to the dissenters’ letter, has said that Congress will continue to sit in the opposition for the next 50 years, if it did not conduct elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and other key organizational posts within the party.

He pitched for organising elections to the various party posts while raising the fact that the party did not hold elections for the past several decades. “For the last many decades, we have no elected bodies in the party. Maybe we should have pushed for it 10-15 years ago. Now we are losing elections after elections, and if we have to come back, we need to strengthen our party by holding elections.”

Such a statement from a senior leader of one of the oldest political parties of India is indeed grave and worth contemplation because the party is in terminal decline. All it needs is a little push and it’ll collapse like a pack of cards. With its origin in 1885, Indian National Congress holds the reputation of fighting for the Indian freedom against British, which made this party invincible in India, at least till late 1980s, during this time INC enjoyed absolute majority, but considering the prevailing political scenario of India, it appears that heydays of 135-year-old party are over. INC is dying, surely but slowly. The process might take decades and new forces might slowly replace it. This slow process might keep the BJP in power for a very long time, just like the Congress enjoyed single-party rule until 1989.

INC has lost its shine and failed to attract young voters, like the Indian left parties, which are no more relevant to the Indian youth. Not much research is needed to find out the declining fate of the party that is still reluctant to shun its dynastic top. Many arm-chaired advisors (sycophants) of the party, who have been dedicated to the dynastic trio of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are making all efforts to convince everyone that INC would vanish if Gandhi is not at the helm of affairs.

It has been seen that the legitimacy of the Congress at the helm of affairs in an emerging democracy stemmed from its success in the anti-colonial movement against the British forces and its accomplishment to rise above a movement into a political party. In the national elections in 1952, 1957 and 1962, it won nearly three-fourths of the seats in Parliament displaying its dominance in extraordinary ways. Congress ruled every state until 1967. Such ‘one-party dominance’ by the Congress was largely premised on a broad set of goals for industrialization and development of the nation. The only disruption to the Congress’ single party rule until 1989 was the post-Emergency election.

Many Modi critics hoped he would perform so poorly that voters would similarly boot him out even though the opposition has been as weak and fragmented as it was against Indira Gandhi. But Narendra Modi is too wise for that. He also knows what happened in 1977, the election that first gave mainstream legitimacy to Hindutva forces and propelled the Jana Sangh (predecessor of the BJP) to the limelight. A repeat of a 1977-like situation is, thus, highly unlikely.

A revival of the Congress party is also improbable because it is unlikely that Rahul Gandhi will become a politician smarter than Modi and mesmerize the masses. It is equally unlikely that he will abdicate the throne of Congress party president for someone more competent. Even if he does, and the Congress gets another Sitaram Kesari, it would start withering away like it did under Sitaram Kesari. It might win a state or three in the next five years but come 2024 and it would again be destroyed by Narendra Modi.

INC neither appears to have the capacity to fight nor carries enough confidence to counter the rising influence of Narendra Modi. The INC has been badly moulded by the dynamic and aggressive Modi in the past two consecutive parliamentary elections. Party even lost the leader of the opposition status in the parliament house of 545 members.

Congress continues to be run by arm-chaired advisors (sycophants) sitting in Delhi, enjoying everything, including political clout. They have no dearth of wealth and power that satisfies their super-ego and sense of self-righteousness. They have lost the sense of sacrifice and hard work that current politics requires to fight the wave of Narendra Modi and his Hindutva ideology.

The INC leadership is confused and demoralized without any ideology what so ever it is. Can a political party survive in such a vast, wide, and large political arena as large as India is? In today’s India it is not possible to exist without an ideology to counter the Hindutva onslaught, which has squeezed every political party in India whether local, regional, or national.

Looking at the sorry state of opposition parties in India, who believe in democratic, secular, and pro-poor values, it appears these parties have grown old and tired, lacking energy and enthusiasm to counter BJP. India’s oldest party, INC is being plagued with sycophants, who have been persistent with their policies to appease Gandhi Parivar for the sake of easy money and political clout, which is evident from the fact that despite facing two consecutive defeats in the past two elections of 2014 and 2019, the Congress party is not ready to accept that Rahul Gandhi is undeserving and no more effective in resurrecting Congress. Though, Congress tried to enact political rhetoric by broadcasting Hindu avatar of Rahul Gandhi, who has non-Hindu lineage, by wearing jeneu or janju (a sacred thread worn by upper caste Hindus as a mark of initiation in Hindu religion) and with bare chest conducted Puja in temples (the party got those pics published in newspaper all-over India), which he had hardly ever done before. Thus, trying to show his faith in Hinduism and look like BJP leadership.

The only interruption to the Congress’ single party rule until 1989 was the post-Emergency election.  Indira Gandhi, acting as an absolute dictator imposed an emergency in 1975, ceasing basic rights of the citizens. Meanwhile, the party, which had been winning elections with the vivid support of minorities like Muslims and Sikhs, distanced itself from the Congress following the massacre of Sikhs in 1984, after assassination Indira Gandhi due to her aggression at Golden Temple in Punjab.

The Congress ruled Jammu and Kashmir couple of times but carried only lip service with the problems and issues of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Due to wrong policies of those at helm of affairs in Congress, Dalits left Congress and shifted their loyalties to the Modi-led-BJP. Now Congress is without any promising leader or ideology, neither they look to be pro-minority, pro-people, pro-poor ideology. Indira Gandhi who introduced soft Hindutva by first introducing Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale on the Punjab political scene and then killing him inside the Golden Temple to appease the Hindus. She has been flirting with soft Hindutva and introduced communalism into India and had been winning elections by igniting the psyche of poor by slogans such as ‘Garibi hattao’ (remove poverty) and made middle classes by removing privy purses and by bank nationalization etc.

It was PM Rajiv Gandhi who laid the Silla Nivas (foundation stone) of Ram Temple in Ajodhya and then Home Minister Buta Singh opened the Ram Janam Bhumi doors for the Hindus. Thus, congress tried to ride two ideologies, but it (the congress) never knew that they are not as smart as BJP run by RSS in playing with the Hindutva ideology.

The moot question is how congress can run a national political party with dithering and wavering ideology of the sort. With what ideology and narrative, Congress leadership is attempting to challenge a strong leader like Narendra Modi, dripped deep into the fascist Hindutva ideology.

Uncertainty over leadership has weakened the Congress and demoralized its workers, the controversial letter written by 23 leaders to party president Sonia Gandhi on August 7 warned the high command of erosion in its support base with the desertion of functionaries across states.

Instead of taking the suggestions of the senior leaders to improve the image of the party as a democratic institution, they were snubbed in the highest decision-making body- Congress Working Committee Meeting (CWC).

Since nothing came out of the CWC that discussed the suggestions of the letter, Sonia Gandhi was asked to continue as head of the party. Which person could be sold to the masses as a better alternative to Narendra Modi for the task of making 1.3 billion Indians prosperous and secure? That is the answer opposition forces should seek to find. It’s definitely not Rahul Gandhi. It could be anyone, and not necessarily someone who’s already in politics and not necessarily from the Gandhi family.

The writer is a senior journalist and Indo-Pak peace activist