The Indian National Congress has always lurched to the left and used “socialism” and “secularism” as reliable weapons against an assertive Opposition and a public worried about governance, corruption and such like. So, it is not surprising that party President Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary and heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi pulled out some old rhetoric about fighting communalism and the inequality between “two Indias” to divert attention away from growing public concern about corruption and lack of good governance. All the talk about fighting inflation also rings hollow when the Congress party has been in power for six years. It is, after all, a Congress-led coalition that runs the government! The opportunity provided by this week’s All-India Congress Committee (AICC) session to re-energise the party and instill some discipline in it was wasted. None of the speeches made were either inspiring or thought-provoking. Apart from chanting the usual mantras about fighting communalism, terrorism, extremism and inflation, and the usual rhetoric about what the party and government have done for the aam aadmi, there was no focus at all on emerging challenges and opportunities before the country. As the representative of the younger generation and the party’s hope for the future, Rahul Gandhi failed to strike any new notes apart from repeating old rhetoric about “India vs Bharat”. The fact remains that at the end of the first year of its second consecutive term in office, the Congress party appears directionless and lacking in new ideas. The only new idea in Ms Gandhi’s lexicon seems to be environmentalism. Here too, the party has been unable to strike a balance between a commitment to eco-friendly development and employment-generating industrialisation, often running with the hare and hunting with the hounds!
Why is the Congress party sounding so jaded and looking so confused? Part of the problem is that the party has been unable to create a new forward-looking platform after its very successful 2004 manifesto based on “inclusive growth” and “fighting communalism”. Second, the party has been unable to find answers to the challenges it faces at the state level all across the country. Barring Kerala, where the Congress party is on a comeback trail, it finds itself lagging behind most other parties in almost all other states, and even in states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where the party has done well electorally, the party is besieged with factionalism, corruption and regionalism. It is unable to find a decent leader to serve as chief minister of Maharashtra and unable to find a way out of the Telangana imbroglio in Andhra Pradesh. Clearly, the Congress party is in desperate need of some real brainstorming, some new thinking and organisational rejuvenation. Both are easier said than done in a party where creative thinking is rarely encouraged and the organisation is skeletal.
