The Indian National Congress, the oldest party of India, has moved its party headquarters to a new building next to Connaught place in the capital New Delhi. After its split in 1969 and later in 1977, the party has been operating in sprawling bungalows of Lutyens Delhi. The function to open the building of the party secretariat saw a controversy over leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi’s speech against RSS Chief Mohan Bhagawat’s statement about India’s new found freedom after the opening of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya last year. The party moved to new headquarters with not so much to cheer about its own political fortunes which saw a rise in Lok Sabha elections getting plummeted with defeat in three assembly elections in States, of Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi.
With the defeat of Indian National Congress and its allied India block parties in elections in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi, the oldest party of India and its allies appeared to be in a flex. The defeat has enthused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the centre, which had lost its majority in Lok Sabha elections as a single party. The opposition India block is almost in shambles, with two main parties Trinamool Congress of West Bengal and Aam Admi party (AAP)of Delhi and North India distancing itself from India block. There is intense blame game between AAP and Congress as to who is responsible for the defeat of each party in Delhi and earlier in Haryana. It was clear from voting patterns that if these two parties were fighting the elections together, they would have emerged winners in their respective strongholds. That has led to many a liberal opinion blaming the Congress party for not putting the house of India block in order.
With elections to crucial State of Bihar scheduled later this year and West Bengal, Kerala and Assam going to poll early next year, the party is in a fix to put its house in order and also capture the India block alliances to win in these elections. At least in Kerala and Assam goes has a fighting chance to regain power as shown by the percentage of votes in Lok Sabha elections. Both the States show a clear shift of voters’ preference in the two States. In Bihar and West Bengal, India block partners, Lok Janata Party and Trinamool Congress are in majority as far as political influence and seats and assembly are concerned and Congress needs to play a second fiddle in the elections. While LJP is favorably inclined to Congress, the Trinamool is on its own and pushed Congress to an opposition front with the Left parties of the State.
Even though Congress is the dominant party, in Kerala and Assam, its needs to put its house in order in both States and also handle the leadership issues deftly to steer the party to power. IN Kerala, with anti-incumbency strong against the Left Democratic front government headed by CPIM, in Assam the ruling BJP has already moved its giant election machinery with a high profile meet of investments and also culture with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Clearly the ruling BJP is undertaking everything in its arsenal to ward off anti-incumbency. Congress is yet to identify a strong leadership face to take on the former Congressmen turned BJP leader Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma.
In Kerala, the Congress appears to be caught in a leadership tussle locally as there are at least four claimants for Chief Minister ship, seeing the bright chances for the Congress led United Democratic front. The opposition leader Satheeshan, former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Thiruvananthapuram MP, Dr Shashi Thaoor and the AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal are the names being discussed for the post. Dr Tharoor has already claimed that he has the maximum support of floating votes in Kerala, apart from that of Congress people and he fits the bill perfectly to lead the State. While others are claiming their long years of party work and loyalty to Central leadership to make their claim. Though there are serious social and political setbacks for the ruling Left Democratic front in Kerala during the last 9 years, the government and CPIM are showcasing the development work like new roads and Vizhinjam port to fight anti –incumbency. It is fact that the LDF has no other leader of stature as of now to replace the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijyan.
Whatever be the outcome of the elections in these States, a victory for Congress in Kerala and Assam is a must if it needs to reclaim the strong opposition face, which it gained after Lok Sabha by doubling its seats in Parliament. The India block alliance’s future also depends on the victory of the Congress, as there are murmurs within the block after the defeat in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls. While Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has decided to fight it out alone so far, it needs to be seen what will be the alliance like in Bihar for Congress.
Both in Assam and Kerala Congress need a victory badly, to prevent its political base from eroding. It has been out of power in both the States for almost 10 years and Congress faces a similar fate of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar if the situation continues.
Congress which ruled most of the States 30 years ago is now reduced to being rulers of three States, of Himachal, Telegana and Karnataka and is in alliance in Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand. It does not have a proper presence in the Hindi heartland to counter the ruling BJP so far. The loss of government in Rajasthan in the last State assembly elections has wiped out Congress from Hindi heartland. IN UP it is a junior partner with Samajawadi party and they can only hope to make their presence in three states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, where there are challengers to ruling BJP.
Congress, to be an effective opposition, needs to put its house in order and work in tandem with its India block parties if they are serious about taking on the BJP, which is emerging stronger after each setback. BJP has developed mighty election machinery which works round the clock to ensure its win, but Congress is plagued by its age-old practices of electioneering. If the party is serious about being an effective opposition to the BJP, and its innovative election tactics, Congress needs a relook at its election machinery. An ineffective discredited and politically weak opposition leads to autocratic ruling governments and also reduces democracy to a farce. It is up to the parties concerned including the Congress to decide whether they need to rise to the occasion and play a crucial role in India being a welfare democracy.
