It’s really hard to remember when was the last time the Congress party clogged the roads in central Delhi. Notwithstanding the recent past, the senior leaders – MPs, sitting chief ministers, and party workers, all hit the roads in the national capital since early this week. All the leaders rallied behind Rahul Gandhi as he faced the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioning in the National Herald money laundering case.
Several scuffles broke out between Congress leaders and police forces in the street. Many top leaders including Randeep Surjewala, KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram, Deepinder Singh Hooda, and others were detained – some were taken to nearby stations while some were transported to the outskirts.
In the last few years, especially after the 2014 polls, this is undoubtedly one of the major mobilisations by the principal Opposition party. Not against the recent global turmoil over the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson's controversial remark, not against bypassing due process and ‘Bulldozing’ of the homes of accused in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and elsewhere, but it was against the witch-hunt of its tallest leader – as claimed by the Congress.
At a time when India's oldest political experiment faces its greatest existential challenge, its matriarch Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi are accused of being involved in money laundering.
The party that has ruled India for most part of the 75 years since Independence, has been in its shell. However, the resurfacing of the charges has brought back the energy that it needs to revive itself if it channelises properly for a larger goal.
What Does the Party Need?
The show of strength over Rahul Gandhi's ED saga is one aspect of what the party needs to revive itself. It is essential for any political party to galvanise around perceived witch-hunts of their leaders, but mass appeal comes with galvanising over issues that directly affect the masses.
The party’s obsession with dynasty sums up what is wrong with it and why it needs transformational changes.
It chooses not to hit the streets when inflation is at all-time high, and the Rupee is at all-time low. The party chose to remain in a nutshell when the country saw periodical hikes in prices of petrol and diesel.
The party’s strategy, if it is one, to remain silent on key issues has cost it a lot electorally and puts its future at stake.
Failure as Opposition
The use of institutions by the ruling party is not very new and has been a part of both the BJP and the Indian National Congress (INC) regimes. With the existing government, the pattern of using ED the government around elections has been more evident in the last few years.
During the recent Maharashtra and West Bengal elections, both Sharad Pawar and Abhishek Banerjee were called for questioning by the ED. Delhi’s health minister Satyendra Jain is among a few facing central agency in the recent past.
In the midst of all this, the Congress missed the biggest opportunity to reach out to all non-BJP parties to gather support – who have witnessed similar actions from central agencies in recent times.
Instead, the party focussed the movement around INC workers and Rahul Gandhi. The grand old party again missed the time to capitalise on the issue to regain its support base.
Agniveer Protesters Have Mass Appeal
Veteran political scientist Suhas Palshikar in his latest piece talked about three platforms of protest mobilisation. One among them is mobilisation around citizens’ adversities.
The recent spontaneous protest around the country against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme is marked by citizens' adversities – more pervasive issues concerning masses.
At least 16 Indian states witnessed violent protests against the scheme despite the fact that the protesters had no face or political force.
Although both the INC protest and the Agnipath protest took place during the same period, their methods of mobilising were quite different.
Contrary to the Congress, which has failed to mobilise both its cadre and public at large, one protest was motivated by personal sentiment and adversities of youths. For this reason, Congress protests have remained confined to the party's leaders and frontals and have never gained a wide following among the masses till date.
The Times Ahead for INC
Even after successively failing as Opposition, being a national party, people disgruntled with the current regime largely believe that the Congress is the only hope that can fight against the BJP in 2024. But it needs transformational changes right from here to bring the house in order before 2024.
Congress needs to fix its leadership crisis – it has been almost three years that the party is facing polls after polls without a permanent chairperson.
Can the Congress follow the BJP way in terms of leadership – the saffron party after winning massive elections has set its duo, Modi and Shah, at the backend with JP Nadda at the forefront to lead. Will the Congress appoint a non-Gandhi face as the party president while their top leaders – Sonia and Rahul Gandhi – remain in the shadows?
Not just the leadership crisis, but the party’s fixlist is long and strengthening its cadre across the country should be among its top concerns. The party that has lost its mass appeal over years. Will it continue rallying behind its old guards for all the major roles and responsibilities?
Or, will it adopt new methods and routes to induce new faces to generate mass appeal? Probably, the party must have answers to all these questions to take on BJP in 2024.
Recently the party tried to fix its much awaited communication problem by relieving Randeep Surjewala from his duty as communication head of the party after years of ‘service’. Surjewala has been replaced by former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh.
How this change of duties will help building narratives would be an interesting trajectory to trace. It would be more interesting to see how the Congress and Gandhis can execute the mammoth revival plan from now onwards.
(Amrit Pandey is a political researcher and former student of election campaign and democracy from University of London and Talha Rashid is an Independent Political researcher in Delhi. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)