Mistakes Made by Congress Party at Both Centre and Kerala and the Common Solution for the Same

Indian National Congress Party or popularly called as Congress Party is the principal Opposition party in the country. It currently has close to 52 MPs in the House of 543 and leads the United Progressive Alliance in the country.

Disclaimer- This is not an Anti Congress post, but where we discuss some mistakes made by the party which it can correct and improve to become a better party for the future. Here is an important precurser to the article.

For the past Seventy Years, Indian Politics revolved around the single Political Party- Indian National Congress. Only a few years back that the centre is now with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is the current ruling party. From a party that ruled the country on all three levels of the government to a party having less than 1/10th seats of the Lok Sabha and hardly three states under its rule, the party is now dying. We look into the downfall of the Party and also look into solutions by comparing the nationwide situation to that of Kerala.

INC is the Grand Old Party (GOP of India). It believes in Nehruvian Secularism, Equality, Socialism, and post-1991, Neo-Liberalism. It tries to place itself in the Centre while some may argue that its a party of the left which is not entirely true.

Party Structure and organisation

The topmost and the strongest organ of the party is the Congress Working Committee (CWC) headed by the President of the Party. Then there is the AI Congress Committee (AICC) which consist of delegates from various states. Similarly, at the state level, there is Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). For each district, there is District Congress Committee (DCC), Block President, Panchayat President and so on.

Coming to controlling the Party and policy-making process there is Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) at the Central Level and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) at the State Level.

Understanding the problem

What do you think is the reason for the downward slide? A party that was at its peak ten years back is now in its worst in history. The party has kept on losing elections after elections since 2013. In 2014 it had the worst Lok Sabha tally in history. It lost the biggest prize it had for years, the state of United Andhra Pradesh. After its bifurcation, AP went to TDP and Telangana to TRS. Congress saw total decimation. It lost power in multiple states thereon.

The main relief for Congress was improving tally in Gujarat and winning three states of 2018 ie. Chattisgarh, MP and Rajasthan. In 2019, it was decimated again in Lok Sabha, it lost the majority of the seats that saw the direct contest between BJP and Congress. The only relief was Kerala, TN and Punjab. Congress lost its stronghold of Northeast.

Another big challenge was the defection of party leaders ever since 2014. A recent study shows that over 400 MLAs shifted parties are from Congress and BJP was the single big beneficiary. Also, Congress did not just lose MLAs but also power in several legislatures and big states. Leaders who fled Congress in the past few years include- SM Krishna, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Hemantha Bishwas Sharma, Tom Vadakkan, PC Chako, Shankersinh Vaghela, Narayana Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jithin Prasada, Ravi Kishan, Ibobi Singh, etc.

Popular states which saw massive defections include Gujarat, Delhi, UP, Karnataka, Assam and MP.

Coming to Kerala, we can see Congress-led UDF lose two consecutive LSG and State elections. The only relief is from Lok Sabha. The UDF is now under a crisis, with the worst performance by the Congress Party itself. Ahead of state elections, we could see massive ruckus, infighting and street fights between the leaders.

We hereby closely look at the causes and reasoning for downfall.

Lack of Ideology and Identity Crisis

Congress party is now facing a massive identity crisis. What does the Congress party of 2020 stand for? What is its ideology? These questions arent addressed properly. Merely impersonating BJP's few policies or even not being effective in communicating to the people. The Congress founding leaders of Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhiji have formally been adopted by the BJP and now is the face of BJP's fight. So, the party has lost its idols or icons. Now the present party is left upon Nehru and his ideals. While other past PMs like PV Narasimha Rao and Dr Manmohan Singh failed to receive the required recognition from the party.

Being an RW party is not compatible with Congress. It needs to preserve its ideals, centrist ideology, secularism instead of turning itself into a Soft Hindu, Pro-rich party which BJP is standing for. Also, when it comes to the opposition we can see regional parties fighting BJP better than the Congress.

In Kerala, we can see BJP replace UDF as a party of the right. It has taken away the upper caste Hindu votes of Congress. Also, coming to UDF's left economics, which is already the main weapon of LDF. So UDF in Kerala is under the same problem where it has nothing to offer.

Lack of Cadre

Unlike BJP or the Left Front, Congress is not a cadre party. It wins elections through its popularity, the face of leaders and public perception. BJP or Left have strong ground support and public mobilisation directly taken care of by the party. The cadre itself is its single big strength.

Congress without a cadre is not able to mobilise public support especially in recent years, utilise public support or even get involved in public issues. Thus there has been a significant grassroots disconnect. The party and its members are defecting easily for power shows that Congress members are not ideologically committed and also that they have nothing to offer people.

Leadership Crisis

Currently, the party has no President. It should be only such a party in the world without a full-time President. Its interim President is Sonia Gandhi who took it up after Rahul Gandhi resigned in 2019 post-elections. Since Independence we can the majority of the Presidents have been from the Nehru-Gandhi family. There is large resentment against the party not just from the public but also from within the party. Even in states, we can party-appointed leaders by the high command culture. A lot of state leaders have also left the party since the party has failed them and leaders are no more committed to it.

TINA Effect

'There is No Alternative' is the new political slogan. People now want to see who is their PM or CM rather than Ideology or Party in power. Despite being a parliamentary democracy we can see how we are becoming Presidential. The majority of the CMs in this country are strongman leaders. Right from Punjab to Kerala. Congress is the biggest victim of that phenomenon.

Gandhi family is on the top and no charismatic leader has been able to get recognition within the party, the party doesn't announce any CM candidate, and there is a tight fight within the party to become top leaders. As we have discussed before, the family has become dynastic and no person in the new generation associates anything with the same. Unless there is a leader either at the state or central level, fighting a person like Modi or Pinaryi Vijayan is going to be extremely hard.

Issue of Secularism

Before Independence, Congress used to stand for soft-Hindutva. It was post Independence it became a bit more Secular and later on fully disconnected from Hindutva. This came at a big cost to the party as such. Those upper caste votes it had from orthodox people went to BJP. Congress is no more able to fight BJP with Secularism because the average BJP voter doesn't like Secularism. At the same time, Congress has failed minorities and vulnerable groups by using them as vote banks.

It has failed to take a stance when it had a chance. When the TTT bill was passed, Congress acted no different, when 370 was passed it couldn't fight the BJP, when Sabarimala came, it stood for religion and when Ram Mandi came, it stood with the verdict. This hypocritical stance not only cost the Majority but also Minority votes. In 2019, Rahul Gandhi was trying hard to prove himself as a Brahmin by visiting temples. BJP was successful in breaking the mask of secularism.

In the Kerala elections, there was massive Minority resentment against Congress. LDF swept the majority of the constituencies having a fair share of the minority population thus leading to its loss. Right-wing parties like AIMIM is eating into the vote share of Congress in many Northern states.

Lack of allied support

Since the 1990s, India hasn't seen a Congress Govt with a full majority. It has always been in a coalition. It has always included smaller like-minded regional players. Now we can see due to poor performance by Congress, other parties are not giving enough space for it. Also, we can how allies are losing just because Congress is not giving a tough fight. Even in the recent Opposition meet called by Sharad Pawar, we can see that Congress was not formally invited to it.

New President Dilemma

For years there hasn't been an election for the post of Congress President. That post has been held by the Gandhi family for years. It is a fact that they have kept the party united but still, an authoritarian and dynastic control has been there in the leadership for years. There has been some speculation for years regarding the elections which were to be held after Rahul Gandhi stepped down also indicative of the fact that there will be a Non-Gandhi President. Till now there has been no elections and no full-time President. Also, we can see that Sonia Gandhi is still continuing as interim President. Unless there is a full-time President and a strong core committee. G23, a group of dissenting Congress leaders had to face massive backlash for their request for changing the leadership.

No agenda or alternate policy

Congress party is doing something which is easiest to do at the moment ie. criticise the Modi Govt. Twitter handles are filled with a lot of content, hashtags etc. Everything is well and good. But the question is why should people choose you? you were given more chances than any other party, you were in power for 60+ years, what is your reformed policy, how are you the problem solver? what is your agenda? what will you do differently than the government has done?

A popular joke flooded the social media handles saying that the Government got a second term for good governance and the Opposition a second term for being a good opposing force. So people are seeing you as an opposing force but not as a contender to the chair. Today, the agenda is set by the government and that's where the opposition itself fails.

These are the questions that the common man feels and he will keep the voting government in power, whether it's BJP at the centre or LDF in Kerala. Ramesh Chennithala gave hundreds of PCs throughout the previous term but it didn't see the effect because it failed to create the required resonance. UDF never provided a credible alternate policy. UDF had almost the same set of social schemes and ideas to implement. Understand that mere Sabarimala is not enough to get votes. UDF also chose wrong words and wrong ideas to communicate. It is also to be understood that Twitter is used in India only by the elites.

Despite having a pan-India presence it has lost public appeal.

The party that ruled the majority of the states a few years back is now decimated. It has neither been able to cling on to power even in one state. Its pan-India presence is not helping it in any way. Its victory in Punjab and Rajasthan can only be attributed to local leaders namely Capt. Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot. It is not able to support any regional party to help itself cross the victory margin. Congress is not able to live up to people's expectations and aspirations. Even the party leaders and the ground workers have lost their need and energy,

Not able to Understand opponents/its core Voter base

What is that one thing which Congress party across the country is unclear about? The answer is who exactly are its voters. We can find that in most elections, the party gets a minimum of 20% of the total votes, which is much more than regional parties. The popularity of the party is still there. The problem is that the votes are not being consolidated, there is no voter base or vote bank as we know.

The strength of BJP and the Left is now Youth. While Congress votes come only from traditional Congress families. It hasn't added any core voters in recent years.

Earlier the upper caste Hindu, the middle class and minorities made up the voter base. Now, Congress is left only with minorities. Middle Class fled it during the years of corruption and inflation while Hindu upper-caste went to BJP since the 1990s. BJP has been mocked as the Hindutva party when it has the vote bank of the Congress Party of the past. So there is a gap, the party has done nothing to bring them back. Middle Class doesn't have faith anymore. Mocking BJP and its voter base will not be beneficial in the longer run. Only starting to understand their concerns and working towards that will. The same is the situation in Kerala when it has failed to take into account the concern of both the Majority and the Minority.

Groups and Infighting

Congress party is not a single unit. It has loyalists, factions, groups etc. This makes the structure fractured, unlike other parties. In Kerala it is really worse, the A and I groups are head on head. They rarely coordinate with others. Even during the DCC presidential elections, we can see massive infighting in the party based on groups. This is hindering the party's chances in everything. In Punjab we can see the fight between Amarinder Singh and Sidhu; In Rajasthan, it's Gehlot vs Pilot and a lot more.

Personal Attacks and losing ground support

Congress being in opposition party at both centre and Kerala state, tried to attack the government fair and square. Amidst that came up personal allegations, personal attacks and a lot more. Especially we can see PM and CM were regularly attacked, both in Press conferences and also on Social Media. This has really upset those voters who wished for constructive criticism and not personal attacks. The opposition stopped too low and started to attack everything. This made voters feel disenfranchised and finally switch to other parties.

Watch the Video by ThePrint on the future of the Congress party and upcoming Electoral challenges

Solutions

Congress can only change if it realises that there is a problem and also that there is a need for change. It hasn't changed much since 2013. It needs to change in all aspects. It needs to leave behind the obsession with Independence and pre-Emergency, that is not what the youth want. They want jobs, a better lifestyle, freedom, opportunities and a lot more.

The first thing that Congress needs to do is to find a capable President. The second would be to strengthen the organisation and bring up a cadre. Third, the cadre should work on the ground, mobilise support, work with people. Fourth, find the right set of issues and build a strong voter base. There is suffering from the pandemic, rising fuel prices, students issues and a lot more. Fifth, improve social media strategy. Sixth, be a credible opposition fighting to be the next ruling power. Seventh, set the agenda and let people's voices be out. Eighth, stop personal attacks and work alongside the people in their problems. Ninth, stop groupism and unite. Tenth and the last, find the right allies, unite opposition parties and work on the victory.

BJP uses more widely spread tools like Whatsapp not only for campaigning but also propaganda, personalised messages, region-wise messages and a lot more. Use of flex, hoardings, posters, and everything both BJP and LDF are way ahead in Communication. Even their web and social media campaigns are way superior.

Conclusion

Opposition is as important as the government. Having a proper choice for the people is essential for a functioning democracy otherwise we are an elected autocracy. The Congress party needs to work a lot to win in the upcoming states as well in the 2024 elections.

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