Sanjay Jha Asks: Congress, are you listening

Sushmita Dev joined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of party leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien. (Image: TMC media)

Ask anyone in the human resource (HR) department in the corporate world, and they will tell you that employee engagement remains top priority, whatever the latest management jargon that might have replaced it. Attrition rates are high where the work culture is silo-driven and teamwork is absent, internal communication is given low priority, and where people are not galvanised to work for a shared vision.

In short, people are not heard by their bosses or the senior leadership, as it is usually a top-down, single-sided messaging that is the chosen working style. In such circumstances, it is inevitable that at some point ennui and languidness sets in, and a demotivated individual seeks greener pastures.

In a talent-starved economy, there is always a competitive offer available for those who make the cut. The resignation of Sushmita Dev, the firebrand president of the Mahila Congress, the women’s wing of the Indian National Congress, must be seen in this context. She has joined Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC). Frankly, I am not surprised.

I have known Sushmita for a long time; she was a former National Spokesperson colleague of mine. She possesses chutzpah and a lionhearted attitude aplenty, and that archetypal never-say-die spirit. As a former Lok Sabha candidate from Assam — one of the most complex states in terms of electoral dynamics — she had her task cut out. She may have lost at the EVM, but that did not dissipate her drive.

The reason why she quit the Congress, where her father (late) Santosh Mohan Dev was a Cabinet minister at the Centre, is largely because no one really cared to understand what she wanted to do. No one had time to listen — it’s as simple as that!

Political organisations are no different from their business counterparts in many ways, and yet actually they are a trickier conundrum. They are an extraordinarily diverse bunch, everyone wants the fastest vertical ride on the escalator, living 24x7 under the public spotlight can be exhausting, and there are compelling distractions, from media, a smorgasbord of events, and cut-throat competition.

Unlike the disciplined parameters of corporate performance that demands stringent public disclosures for India Inc., politics can be disorganised, opaque and nerve-wracking because of the myriad issues that one deals with. That’s why leadership assumes tremendous significance, especially when one is in the Opposition.

For one, the ruling dispensation poaches good people by offering generous allurements. Second, as a challenger party, it is imperative that the flock is kept together, driven by an ideological commitment (akin to a corporate’s vision/mission preamble) and have a clear personal roadmap. The Congress, unfortunately, has ignored the perceptible debilitation of its once impressive organisational heft. The political consequences can be ruinous.

Since the second consecutive defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress does not have a permanent President (Sonia Gandhi has held an interim role for two long years). It is unfathomable torpor. It is akin to Apple without Tim Cook after Steve Jobs’ untimely death for three years. Happening? That is why some of the young Turks such as Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada, who not too long ago were Congress’ future assets, deserted the party for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

I remember working for ANZ Grindlays Bank plc several years ago, and we had become the favourite poaching ground for other foreign banks when they saw us hit a rough patch. The Congress today faces a similar predicament. The BJP, the Shiv Sena, the TMC, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), etc. are finding exceptional value in the Congress stock. The Congress on its part is not even having conversations with its own. It is a counter-intuitive lapse.

The Congress needs to get into a huddle like sportspersons do before a football or cricket match, and build team cohesiveness. The hunger to win is conspicuous by its absence. I know many Congress people are disillusioned with its electoral fortunes of late. But politicians are usually thick-skinned and can weather turbulent storms. Winning and losing is part of the political process.

But like the stock-markets, politicians dislike uncertainty. They are discombobulated by a senseless drift. It is this aimless wandering around by the Congress that has got many riled. Including the famous G-23. For instance, veteran leader and Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal has not had a meeting with the Congress top brass since 2019!

Sushmita Dev’s unfortunate departure from the Congress is symptomatic of a larger malaise; the absence of listening within the party. I am sure cabals and caucuses are heard, but knowing the pulse of your common workforce is key to the Congress rejuvenation. The grand old party can perhaps take note of a popular corporate aphorism: culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Sanjay Jha is an author and former National Spokesperson of the Congress. Twitter: @JhaSanjay. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.