Congress: A Leadership Crisis But Noticeable Ideological Shift

STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS

Congress: A Leadership Crisis But Noticeable Ideological Shift

There is a strong view developing among analysts including Sanjaya Baru (political commentator and policy analyst) “that Rahul Gandhi is trying to mimic his grandmother (late Indira Gandhi) by seeking to split the party once again, attacking the old guard and tilting Left.” According to a senior Congressman Rahul Gandhi’s strategy is to rid the party of the “deadwood” like Amarinder Singh and the so-called Group of 23, and revitalise it with “fresh blood”, preferably young and Left-leaning, like Kanhaiya Kumar who was inducted into the party last week.

Addressing a student gathering at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi over a decade ago, Rahul Gandhi revealed his political game thus: “What is the option for me? I can either propagate the system or change it. I am not the one to propagate it so I am trying to change it.” By positioning himself as an agent of change rather than of continuity, Baru writes “Mr Gandhi had hoped to distance himself from the negative baggage of the Manmohan Singh government. However, by taking on the position of party vice-president he happily accepted his ‘proprietorial’ inheritance as future party president and Prime Minister. It is this strategy of playing both dissenter and inheritor that is now under final testing and most political pundits believe that it’s a game whose time is long over.”

Many within the Congress believe that rather than splitting the party, what the Congress leadership should undertake is a reunification of the party, bringing together all the ex-Congress persons from across the country. “However, any such unification strategy will have to clarify the roles of the Nehru-Gandhi family.”  There is an unwillingness to do so and that has already cost the party dear with the exit of several party members.

“Moreover, ex-Congress persons who have set up their own platforms, like Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and so on will no longer be willing to play second fiddle to the younger Nehru-Gandhis.” For the Congress therefore, to get opposition parties under one platform in the upcoming assembly elections and later, parliamentary elections, is a tall order.

While Sonia Gandhi demonstrated the ability to relate to a wide range of politicians in 2004, Baru states “Rahul Gandhi has singularly failed in this respect. He does not seem to have the emotional quotient required. A healthy and vibrant democracy needs a vibrant and active political opposition. The Congress, under its present leadership, has not been able to play that part. It needs new thinking and a new leadership.”

Former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh, appropriately  said that the Congress was in a “pathetic condition”  and that led him to resign.

 

The Congress at crossroads: signs of ideological changes

It is therefore, not without reason that  the judgment by contemporary writers of Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is almost uniformly harsh and unforgiving. It is common to contrast the strength of the formal organisation and leadership of the ruling BJP with the deterioration and decay of the Congress party, especially the central leadership’s failure to reverse this downslide. The contrast between the Congress and the BJP is stark, not in terms of decision-making which is centralised in both cases, but in terms of overall political management. This is the view expressed by Zoya Hasan (Professor Emerita at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her forthcoming book is titled Ideology and Organisation in Indian Politics: Growing Polarisation and the Decline of the Congress Party 2009-19).

“The Congress party faces three major challenges — it has to elect a leader capable of keeping the party united, reconstruct its organisational structure across the States, and project and propagate a clear alternative ideological narrative to the BJP.

“Even though there is no perceptible effort to rebuild the organisation and institute formal leadership at various levels, there is a noticeable effort to revive the party through ideological changes pushed by Mr. Gandhi. Ideologically, he wants to take the Congress in a left-of-centre direction. Despite reservations within the party and outside to his unremitting critique of the Prime Minister, Mr. Gandhi has readily advanced ideological criticism of the Hindu right at every juncture. Additionally, he has pointedly attacked cronyism, which according to him has favoured a few corporate entities. He has also taken up the welfare and economic concerns of the poor.

“The recent decision to induct two feisty critics of Hindutva, Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani, into the party’s fold is an indication of this shift. This shift follows from Mr. Gandhi’s widely reported statement in July to workers of his party’s social media department (in an online event), ‘There are many people who are not scared, but are outside the Congress. All these people are ours. Bring them in,’ he had said, adding, ‘And those scared within our party should be shunted out. They are RSS people and they should go, let them enjoy. We do not want them, they are not needed. We want fearless people. This is our ideology. This is my basic message to you’.”

 

Attempt to regain tradition social base

The current strategic shift, according Hasan  “indicates an attempt to regain ideological coherence and reconfigure the traditional social base of the party…….The party no longer enjoys Dalit support, competing for their vote with regional parties and the BJP; it has lost the support of upper castes who prefer to vote for the BJP; it has no support from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) except in some States such as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh thanks to State leaders; and the Muslim vote has drifted to regional parties or whoever can offer an alternative to the BJP.

“The appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit, to replace Captain Amarinder Singh, a Jat Sikh, as Punjab’s Chief Minister or supporting OBC Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel over his rival T.S. Singh Deo in Chhattisgarh is an attempt to reconstruct its social base. It signals a message to the non-upper castes that they can hope to wield power through the Congress, which traditionally has had the upper castes dominate its leadership structure.

“This demonstrates once again the power of ideology as an instrument of political mobilisation. But appointment of people with appropriate credentials is not enough. The Congress has to spell out and narrativise the ideological change such as it is……”


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