New Delhi: “Mujhe aashcharya nahi hua (I was not surprised),” said senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi after the party’s rout in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Another senior leader, Mani Shankar Aiyar, added: “Since the party has done so badly, there was something wrong with the way we conducted and conceived the election campaign.”
Dwivedi and Aiyar were not alone — several leaders, many on the condition of anonymity, have questioned the senior Congress leadership which led it to a second successive general election debacle.
Rahul Gandhi’s team the problem
There were some who questioned the party’s intense focus on the Rafale deal and ‘chowkidar chor hai’, stating it should have concentrated on issues like unemployment and farmer distress. A number of leaders have also questioned Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s team, saying it is completely disconnect with the ground reality. However, they stopped short of blaming Gandhi alone for the party’s disastrous performance.
“People were talking about undercurrent, but it seems the undercurrent went in favour of the BJP. Rahul Gandhi worked very hard, but the decisions that were taken by the party have hurt the it,” a senior Congress leader said on the condition of anonymity.
“Rahul Gandhi’s team is still the NGO-type, jhola waali team, and has no connect with the ground reality. This has to be taken seriously and the party needs to reflect.”
Another leader said: “The Congress is a national party with independent candidates all left to fend for themselves. We have to understand that there were delays right from our publicity campaign to even forging alliances.
“The people who advise the Congress president are to be blamed for this major loss. Also, the party has to stop seeing everything from the secular prism. People have moved away from all this.”
Also read: My 12 reasons why Modi-Shah’s BJP got the better of Congress & everyone else
Mani’s analysis
Aiyar suggested that there wasn’t a paucity of options before the Congress ahead of the polls.
“I think we should have had a complete narrative about what the objective was, and I think the objective should have been to defeat the BJP rather than bring in somebody else. One suggestion was made by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee — that there should be one opposition candidate against the BJP — but that didn’t happen,” he said.
“I have been hearing a lot about chemistry having overtaken arithmetic, but because we didn’t actually, build up a nationwide mahagathbandhan, the arithmetic itself was wrong.”
Asked if Gandhi should take moral responsibility, and if there should be a change of guard, Aiyar said: “I am sure he will take moral responsibility. He is an intelligent guy and it is his responsibility to make changes in personality and policy, which would enable us to put up a stiff fight against the fascist forces in 2024.”
On being pressed about a change of guard, Aiyar said: “As far as I know, there is no one in the party who wants to see that change.”
He added that the Congress should “engage and debate rather than resort to demonstration”.
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Yawn. Deja vu….standard operating procedure of Congis. Net result = Rahul Gandhi — who thought that by daily posting insolent tweets and using gutter language he would “destroy” and “dismantle” Modi’s image — ended a pathetic loser himself.
At end of the campaign he declared: I have destroyed and dismantled Modi’s image. Huh
PM Modi has to thank Rahul Gandhi and his moronic team and likes of CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA….
You guys scored 8 more. than last time. What more can one ask for.
Aiyar , Sidhu are the main reasons and using religious cards thinking they can divide and get votes.
There will be the usual drama tomorrow. RG will own moral responsibility, tender his resignation, the sycophants will shed tears and he will withdraw. see you in 2024.
I’m agasht as why coverage is given to this joker Aiyar. he has been horribly wrong on many things, is an elist. It were his jibes Chaiwala, Neech that cost Congress a lot. Yet, here he is giving suggestion to improve Congress’s performance. He should just shut up!
I thinkMr.Iyer also contributed to the debacle by going to Pakistan and seeking their help to remove Mr.Mody.
The law of lese majeste is enforced more rigidly in the Congress party than in Thailand. So whatever the length of the mythical knives, a Gandhi – or Vadra – will stay at the head of the party unless, in an act of altruism, he abdicates. That mistakes were made during the campaign is beyond doubt. The approach to alliance formation and sending a message that the party had the sagacity to anchor a stable coalition, even if it did not get the PM’s post, was wrong. As Naveenbabu prophesied recently, He has to struggle a little more.
His own abusive foot in mouth disease, his hobnobbing with Pakis, to try and remove Modi, has found no mention in this rather silly article. Apart from the fact that he too is a jhola waala and turncoat from inner coterie to kicked out coterie!
I would recommend Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh be made INC President now and remove all dynasty form INC to cleanse Congress from such leech elements.Congress should be a Nationalist Patriotic Party from a Pakistan Supporter Muslim Christian party.It has alienated Hindus from party.Those who are in Congress are like Leech to suck its blood. Voters are having deep ooted hatred for Congress all over Country.It has own in TN only for DMK .In Kerala it won by a Muslim vote.In Punjab it won as BJP has been allied with SAD who kept 11 seats of himself and given 2 setas to BJP which was own by BJP but SAD lost its 9 seats.So obviously Captain has been right choice as INC President now.
If you want to find faults, you can, with everything and everyone. You can find faults with God too, and the way He conducts His business.
The opposition campaign was going well and very aggressively until Pulwama happened. Narendra Modi was well and truly cornered on the issue of Rafale, and he still will be caught with his hand in the cookie jar if the judiciary functions bravely without caving in to temptations or arm twisting by the new government.
After Pulwama, the BJP continued as if nothing had happened, from the very first moment, as if they knew about Pulwama, and the opposition was shell-shocked obviously because they didn’t know it was coming. THAT WAS WHERE THE TIDE TURNED. The entire opposition should have made Pulwama the BIG issue, just as Modi made Balakot a big issue. There should have been aggressive campaigns, through posters, processions in streets, “Bharat Bund” shutting of shops and transport etc, with only one shouting slogan : WHY PULWAMA HAPPENED??? It should have been brought out vociferously to every voter even in distant villages that Satya Pal Malik, an old BJP faithful was in charge of J&K. What was he doing? What was the standard procedure for transporting and ensuring security of 2500 Soldiers. A full enquiry should have been insisted upon to see if any BJP “sympathizer” was involved in the conspiracy directly or indirectly, as they say, by acts of “omission or commission”.
Rahul Gandhi deserves blame for his dictatorial way of working. Where were Anand Sharma, P. Chidambaram, and other good speakers in the campaigns? Why was Rahul Gandhi giving every speech all over the country? Etc etc.
Rahul Gandhi should have got rid of Mani Shankar and other secus who were sinking his ship.
Right strategy for Congress would have been to insist Rahul as PM as pre-condition of alliance. Congress can wait out as Rahul is young. This unnecessary urgency of removing Modi was serving interest of secus & regional parties, not Congress’s interest. So He should have summarily kicked out those who wanted unconditional alliance.
No point dissecting an elections where EVM exchange took place. First fix that and when we have a free and fair elections, then do analysis and dissection.
You dissect your brain first. EVERY SINGLE VVPAT slip matched with the symbol that was pressed.