Six years after it lost power in Delhi, the Congress is again at the crossroads.
The continuing energy of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine has made the older party largely a reactive force. It is unable to seize the initiative in the political arena despite the shock administered to the economy by the Covid-19 crisis. Farmers who may have welcomed a decent Minimum Support Prices for 14 kharif crops (mainly paddy, wheat, channa and mustard) soon found it undercut by three weeks of rise in diesel prices by 12 rupees a litre. The Narendra Modi government did step in with free rations, but this alone cannot possibly alleviate misery without addressing the shortfall in jobs. Add to this, the Chinese riposte to India has raised fresh concerns after decades of quiet on the northern border.
In such times, a premier Opposition party ought to have been on its feet. It is commonplace to argue that the Modi government has at its disposal an armory to corner key opposition figures—the investigating agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, income tax sleuths, and even Governors of its choice in the Raj Bhavans of Opposition ruled states. With a brute majority and a near total control over the Rajya Sabha, the institutional checks and balances that could hold the Modi government accountable vis-à-vis the states have vanished. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government can outspend its opponents.
This is not the first time the Congress is out of power. However, the party has never been this weak, especially going by its performance in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections where it could just manage to win 44 and 52 seats. It has also seen serious decline in southern India that had emerged as the bastion in the Lok Sabha election of 1977 and 1989, albeit to a lesser extent.
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What Congress can learn from its past
In the past, the Congress has indeed seen difficult times. What can it learn from its past that can address the current crisis? Few can now recall the gloom of March 1977 when Indira Gandhi had lost her election from the family pocket borough of Rae Bareli. But considering the fighter she was, by May that year, Indira Gandhi was back visiting the Dalit families in Belchhi, Bihar where their kin had been killed by caste Hindu landed elements. Contrast this with the absence of such direct initiative by the party’s top leadership in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna where a Dalit couple reportedly consumed pesticide while resisting an anti-encroachment drive by the state government. Rahul Gandhi did raise the issue but so far Guna has not been on his itinerary.
Indira Gandhi also had this rare ability to listen: most evident in the wake of the Congress split of 1969. The idea of bank nationalisation had long been in Congress’ manifesto but was advocated most strongly mainly by ex-socialists like Chandra Shekhar. By implementing their demand, she took the wind out of the sails of her opponents within and beyond her own party. The very idea of ‘Garibi Hatao’ was radical: no leader in India’s history, not even during the freedom movement had made such a pledge.
Congress’ remaking, especially after the split of 1969, also enabled it to remain flexible and change with the times. Thus, the 1971 Bangladesh war saw the party take away the nationalist card from its opponents such as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
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The present challenges
Today, the focus of the Opposition on the cultural critique of Hindu nationalism is unavoidable. There are epochal changes underway or accomplished by the ruling dispensation that need a counter with strong defense of plural and federalist values. Yet, to do so, any opponent needs to articulate not a substitute but an alternative.
To reclaim its space, the Congress has no option but to listen to the aspirational voices of precisely those sections of society that feel excluded. More than a mere cultural assertion, the party needs an economic programme that can rally and unify elements of a rainbow coalition.
The rise and assertion of the Mandal and Dalit led parties in north India after 1989 did much to undercut the Congress. Although briefly, the party was also able to tactically align with such political parties and contain the rise Hindu nationalism. But, after Modi’s arrival at the center stage in 2013, that phase too is past, and all those regional forces face the threat of erosion.
The ability of the Congress’s leadership to listen was evident in the state assembly polls in Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in 2018. Promise of loan waivers and better support prices for farm products, and a strong opposition against high GST rates on farm machinery and fertilisers did yield electoral dividends for the Congress. But the party erred in ignoring the corrective policy measures taken by the Modi government soon after the election results. It needed to craft a wider narrative on the economy and not just harp on the farm issues and poverty.
Unlike the pre-2011 period, India is no more in the driver’s seat in terms of investment or job creation. How would an Opposition party take up the baton in an age of reform? To do so, it has to address the largest occupational groups: the cultivators, the self-employed, small businesses and wage workers. The call for greater public investment is well taken but the Opposition also needs to suggest ways in which to prime the pump.
A strong Opposition is an index of the health of the polity. In the past, many leaders, especially those of the Nehru-Gandhi family, were able to deliver. It was the ability to move with and stay ahead of the times that was the key to their success.
We may well be at the end of that long era or even past it, and there is a vacuum in India’s polity. What happens next? Only time will tell.
Mahesh Rangarajan teaches History and Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. Views are personal.
The main problem with Congress is within the party and not the BJP. It has no leaders, only dynasts who are nominated. It has no inner-party democracy. AICC and CWC members are hand-picked cronies. No one is elected. It has lost touch with the Indian people and India’s reality. It is obsessed with Modi and thinks that by making false allegations it will regain its old glory. It should first listen to the ‘aspirational voices’ of the party members. Most answers will come from them.
In contrast, Modi has democratically overcome all inner-party oppositions from heavyweights like Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi. He has got re-elected with a larger mandate in 2019. He hasn’t lost any election since 2002. He as a Gujju won Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in UP twice. In contrast, Congress’s prime ministerial candidate himself lost the safest seat Amethi to another outsider.
Team Modi ( not Modi-Shah duo as labelled by this writer) is hardworking, proactive, visible and transparent. They are delivering on all fronts. The economy is better than most major economies of the world. No doubt it is suffering due to global slowdown that began before the pandemic and has worsened now.
Law enforcing agencies, CBI, ED Income Tax department all have to do their duties. The corruption mess and scams left behind by the UPA have to be sorted. Cases like the National Herald Air India and Aircel-Maxis need to be investigated and guilty brought to justice. Kalmadi, Gandhgis, Vadra, Chidambrams Tharoor need to be investigated. In fact, there are complaints that this government is too slow in bring these alleged crims to justice. People are getting impatient.
It must be pointed out here that this ‘Modi-Shah duo’ has passed all the Agni parikshah of SITs, CBI, ED, High Courts and the Supreme Court in all the charges from 2002 post-Godhara train burning riots to the charges of masterminding fake encounters where terrorists got killed. After coming to power all complaints made to the HCs and the SC on Rafale, Justice Loya, Ram Mandir, etc have been discarded by the judiciary. In fact, the Congress netas need to go through similar Agni pariksha starting from 1984 genocide of the Sikhs. Not a single neta except Sajjan Kumar has been convicted. Some netas who had Sikh blood on their hands were made ministers and chief ministers!
The worst thing about Congress under the Gandhis is that it has become anti-national. Their neta’s statements and actions are more loved by Pakistan, China and the separatists. To ‘reclaim’ any space it has lost it must reclaim its old nationalist badge.
Finally, most political space it has lost is to other regional parties and not to the BJP. It has lost its vote banks of minorities, Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs to other parties. These sections of the society don’t trust the party that is on the same page as Pakistan and doubts the actions of our armed forces.
An example: Alka Lamba of the Congress party recently lost the Chandni Chowk Delhi Assembly election seat to AAP. She polled mere 5% votes and lost her security deposit!
One thing is certain, in this age of social media and real-time availability of news hoodwinking of the public is not easy. All are well informed. And no one cares about those who call themselves ‘intellectuals’
Basically Panditji you are telling the writer very politely that he is barking up the wrong tree! The problem is not ‘Modi-Shah’ duo or ED CBI or IT raids hounding the Gandhi family. The problem you have rightly pointed out is that Sonia’s Congress has become anti-national. No nation can tolerate anti-national politicians and media persons.
Janta these days is well-informed. It can see through all the agenda-driven articles in any language Lies get exposed almost immediately. The noise on Rafale made by Congress during the 2019 elections backfired. “Chowkidar Chor Hai” jibe made lakhs of people calling themselves Chowkidars. And “Smriti Who?” defeated the Congress President in his home turf Amethi!
Congress doesn’t have to learn from the distant past of Indira Gandhi. It has to learn from its recent blunders. The blunders are repeated almost daily because the party refuses to learn from these. By attacking Modi daily and by making chummy writers write in some internet journals Congress can’t regain any of its lost space.
The writer is wasting his time.
A lot of words while ignoring the elephant in the room – the nehru family. If the Congress party can shed the nehru family, it will automatically become a party that responds to the aspirations of the people and be on its path regaining the lost ground. But nobody wants to talk about that. I would even argue that BJP would like the Nehru family at the helm of the Congress party as an insurance policy against its own failings.
Exactly
old bad tasting spoilt wine in a new bottle……….
The writer teaches at Ashoka University. Same place where other Modi haters PB Mehta and Amartya Sen wer associated. Ao even without reading the article it can be safely concluded that the author will criticise Modi and try to hang on to congress coattail. Mahesh Rangaran should know that in today’s times of SM people are much more well informed and anyone doing propaganda for congress can easily be called out. First and foremost is that today congress has lazy and incompetent top management team. And secondly the top family is too corrupt to be trusted by Indian’s. So as Yogendra Yadav said in his articles a few months back….”the congress should die” . Perhaps prophetic words from a man who was a part of Sonia’s inner circle NAC.
The Congress really has nothing left to offer and the Indian public knows that. It is a hollow & decrepit shell and its laughable “leaders” like Rahul G, Sonia G and Priyanka G are symbolic of everything that ails this failed party i.e corruption, incompetence & nepotism. Why is anyone surprised that Prime Minister Modi is respected by a very large proportion of Indians? They know that he is genuine and what he stands for – “India first, no compromise”.