Kaliabor/Titabor: Ever since its slide began in the second term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the Congress has found itself facing one root problem at the national level — the absence of a strong, focused and clearly defined leadership.
The story, however, has been different in states. From Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to Punjab and even Haryana, strong regional leaders have held the party in good stead.
In Assam though, where assembly polls begin Saturday, the party is facing the same problem that it does nationally — the lack of a clear and completely in-control leadership.
With the passing away of former Assam chief minister and veteran leader Tarun Gogoi, the Congress, already at a low point in the state, has found itself rudderless and without someone who has a combination of being a mass leader, an experienced politician and an organisation person.
As a result, the party is fighting this election without a CM face. Meanwhile, Kaliabor MP Gaurav Gogoi, state party president Ripun Bora, former leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia and Lok Sabha MP from Nagaon Pradyut Bordoloi are all attempting to lead the party and are vying to be the main face.
A look at the party’s campaign makes this abundantly clear — there are no big hoardings or banners except in pockets and no names being projected conspicuously in the party’s publicity material. No clear leader has meant the messaging of the party has been getting diluted and lost in all the election noise.
Instead, the Congress is banking on anti-incumbency against the ruling BJP as well as the alliance it has stitched together to come to its rescue, more than fetching votes for itself.
“We know we don’t have a strong and defined leadership, or one single face we can project, and that is a disadvantage. But there are some things working in our favour — like the anti-incumbency factor as well as our alliance with the AIUDF. We are hoping they are enough to keep us afloat,” a Congress leader told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity.
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The Tarun Gogoi gap
For most of the time India has been independent, Congress has ruled Assam, except when the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) sprung into the scene in the 1980s. Then, when the BJP stormed to power in 2016, it not only ended 15 continuous years of Congress rule in the state, but also succeeded in eroding its rival’s base substantially and relegating it to becoming a has-been.
This makes this election even more critical to the Congress. It has to put up a decent show and go above the embarrassing 26 of the 126 assembly seats it won in 2016 if it wants to remain politically relevant in the state and prevent its base from being eroded further.
Tarun Gogoi was a hugely popular leader and even in elections that the Congress lost, Gogoi remained loved. Since his passing away, the void has been too huge for the Congress to fill.
“Projecting a face means projecting someone’s individual ambitions. We are not in this election for our own individual ambitions. Assam is at a very crucial point economically and culturally. In this election, who is the chief minister is not the important question, but what is the future direction of Assam is the more important question,” Gaurav Gogoi, among Congress’ most visible faces in Assam, told ThePrint.
Gogoi also noted that Assam was in a similar situation 20 years ago but a Congress government came and turned the state around. “History will be repeated in 2021,” he added.
Congress leaders, though, admit there is a problem.
“See, you need to go to the voter with something attractive. And a popular face is the best thing for that. We, unfortunately, don’t have a face. It is much easier to ask for votes in somebody’s name,” said another Congress leader in Assam, also on the condition of anonymity.
Party leaders say the problem also lies in the fact that the Congress did not try to groom and project a fresh face while Gogoi was alive to ensure a smooth handover.
“Tarun Gogoi was our tallest leader and after him, there was literally nobody. Himanta Biswa Sarma is the big man, but we lost him because of reasons that the national leadership should ideally have been able to manage. And Tarun Gogoi did not really groom anybody. Even if he was keeping the throne for his son, Gaurav should have taken this more seriously from much before and started being as focused and as hardworking as he is being now,” said the first leader quoted above.
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There is no leader, say voters
Voters have found the confusion in leadership glaring, and point to how it doesn’t inspire much confidence in the Congress.
“The Congress has no leader at all. Someone says it is Ripun Bora, someone else says Gaurav Gogoi. But the truth is that none of them have the stature or goodwill that a CM face should,” said Kanhai Das from Kaliabor.
The confusion is made worse because it is a double whammy for the Congress — no leader to use as USP at the state level, and none to use from the top national leadership either. Unlike the BJP, which makes up for the absence of local leaders in states where it has none by pushing the Modi factor, the Congress has no such option. Rahul Gandhi has hardly emerged as the fallback the Congress needs.
“After Tarun Gogoi, the Congress has nobody left. Not one leader who can match up. This is going to be a big problem for the party not just in this election, but in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls too,” said Hemanta Talukdar of Nalbari.
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
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