The Indian National Congress is in the midst of electing its new party President. Initial news reports suggested that by September 20 the grand old party would have in place a chief. However, reports on August 25 suggested that the process could be delayed by a few weeks. The chief, whenever they are elected, will bring down the curtains on an ad-hoc arrangement in place since Rahul Gandhi walked away from the post in 2019.
Indications from within the party do show that uncertainty prevails as to who will lead the organisation from now on as the country prepares for the next round of general elections by May 2024.
There is reasonable presumption that the party is unable to convince Rahul Gandhi to pick up the gauntlet once again, and the leadership is left scurrying to ferret for a person who could do the honours of leading the formation under the looming shadow of the Gandhi family.
For the past 25 years, there was no question of any party leader entertaining the thought of throwing their hat in the ring. Since 1998, Sonia Gandhi remained the undisputed leader, and in 2017 she relinquished office and handed over the baton to her son Rahul Gandhi. Yet, two years later, he threw in the towel and desperate pleading by the countless party workers, notwithstanding, Rahul Gandhi is unwilling to revisit the decision.
For now, Rahul Gandhi is focused on his most-ambitious Bharat Jodo campaign, scheduled to get underway on September 7, and walk through a designated route over the next few months with a mission to unite the country. The plan was cleared at the Udaipur session of the party in May.
These party elections do not kindle any great excitement as the exercise did earlier. The last time the Congress witnessed a contest for the top party post was in 1997 when Sitaram Kesri ran for office with Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot challenging the then septuagenarian anointed as the Congress President by outgoing PV Narasimha Rao. Kesri won without breaking a sweat.
Irrespective of who is chosen to lead or whatever arrangement the party arrives at, the office faces huge challenges on several fronts — within and from outside.
Among the internal tasks is to have conceptual clarity on the party and its ideology battling as it does to determine its position on soft Hindutva amid a strong perception of being a party that speaks largely for minorities. Can it trudge on the path laid out by the Udaipur AICC convention? The declaration among other things identified ‘Indian Nationalism’ as the core character of the party in contrast to the brand of nationalism of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that is centred on power.
There is no gainsaying that the Congress current state is moribund. Two successive debacles in the Lok Sabha elections and several setbacks in states’ have left severe dents on the armour plate of this huge ship, which remains in a state of drift.
There is an immediate need to inject life into the organisation by building a network of dedicated bands of workers working to take forward the party ideals. The Udaipur document offers a roadmap, and it is for the new chief to open up the blueprint, and ensure the party embarks on the course in earnest.
In doing so, the new Congress chief will have to strive to arrive at a working relationship with the party’s regional leaders whose presence makes it strong, especially in states where it remains the principal challenger to the BJP.
With elections becoming expensive every year, one of the most important tasks before the new chief will be to build a sizable war chest.
On the external front, the new Congress chief will have to work on a strategy to maintain the party’s position as one of the two important poles in national politics. Unlike the BJP which does not need to rest its political oars on allies, the Congress will need ‘like-minded’ parties to sail along.
With a pan-India presence, the Congress holds inherent strength to bounce back and challenge the BJP by offering an alternative vision for the country and policies, which while promising to cruise on the path of swift economic growth, reaffirms its commitment to uphold constitutional values.
Finally, the new Congress President will have to offer a strong political narrative that has the potential to counter the strategy of the BJP crafted under a leadership that rides on the immense popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The task ahead of the summer of 2024 is certainly daunting.
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