Editorial: Congress needs radical overhaul

Band-aid doesn’t help when the problem requires surgery. This prescription applies to the Congress as well. What the grand old party needs now is neither the token gestures, fake resignation dramas nor an empty pep talk from its beleaguered leadership but a radical overhaul of the organisation to stem the rot. The drubbing in the […]

Band-aid doesn’t help when the problem requires surgery. This prescription applies to the Congress as well. What the grand old party needs now is neither the token gestures, fake resignation dramas nor an empty pep talk from its beleaguered leadership but a radical overhaul of the organisation to stem the rot. The drubbing in the recent round of Assembly elections was yet another proof, if it all it was needed, of the existential crisis that the party is facing. One electoral defeat after the other has laid bare the inherent deficiencies in the party’s organisational structure and its dwindling ability to fight the elections. The leadership vacuum at the top was left unattended and the issues and concerns raised by the party seniors were sought to be brushed under the carpet. Surrounded by a small and diminishing coterie of sycophants, the party’s first family has remained immune to the ground realities, rejected repeated calls for internal reforms and refused to overhaul the party machinery to bring in a transparent and democratic system of organisational elections. It is this refusal to allow new leadership to emerge and new ideas to flourish that has cost the party dearly in the electoral battles. The rout in Uttar Pradesh, once seen as the invincible citadel of the Congress, was particularly humiliating with the party’s tally being reduced to just two seats in the 403-member Assembly. This was despite Priyanka Gandhi running an energetic campaign after being made in charge of the State.

Even after the back-to-back defeat in the general elections, the party failed to undertake the promised organisational revamp. It is yet to act on the Ashok Chavan committee report that analysed the reasons for the Congress defeat in Kerala and West Bengal last year. The committee, which was also tasked with recommending reforms, submitted its report in July last year but it was never discussed or even shared with the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body. It is clear that the electorate does not see the Congress as a party of governance anymore and the party’s first family can no longer escape the blame. When the NDA captured power at the Centre in 2014, the Congress was in power in nine States. Now, with the loss of Punjab, the number is down to two — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. If the party has to survive and reinvent itself to take on the BJP juggernaut, it needs to address the leadership issue. Rahul Gandhi, who stepped down as Congress president after the party”s second straight national election defeat in 2019, does not hold any official post in the party but continues to call the shots. Decisions taken by him and his sister Priyanka Gandhi in States like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are being blamed for the party’s poll disaster.

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