Neera Chandhoke 
Will the Congress never learn from its repeated electoral defeats? This is the question that hovers on the political horizon and on the mind of every Indian who cares about the party. The grand old party, which led India to Independence, that perfected the art of compromise with political rivals and allies, a party that skilfully negotiated between competing ambitions of regional satraps, and a party that held the electorate in thrall for several decades, is today wracked by lack of coherence, nonexistence of ideology, intolerance for dissent, inability to manage regional satraps, and lack of meaningful leadership that can devise political strategy, give to the party a distinct ideology, and manage to involve cadres and leaders with society, between and at election time.
No wonder it keeps getting defeated.
More importantly the party has handed over our country to a group of egoistic, bigoted, unimaginative and revengeful group of politicians who are really not bothered about the body politic. If they were they would not concentrate on dividing societies and hounding minorities, suppressing dissent and jailing cartoonists. They would look at bigger and better things; how to create an inclusive, decent and democratic society. Their narrow mindedness and ignorance is embarrassing.
Reading the morning newspaper has become a tortuous ritual, the mind shrivels, the imagination boggles, and our notion of politics as a transformative project takes a hard knock morning after morning when we read the bilge that is dished out in the name of politics.
And what of the Congress? It continues on its path of self-destruction with nary a thought to organisation, or the issue of ideology that will attract people to the party. It is difficult to recollect that at one point this party had wrought a revolution, right now it is a party of hangers on, with a few clustered around Rahul Gandhi, unable to think of anyone that can rework the party except the Gandhi family. I personally think Rahul Gandhi is a worthwhile and a very likeable person. But let us face it, he is not an organisation man, he does not have the killer instinct to create a party that will be able to replace the far-right.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
And that the right-wing has created a mess is undeniable. When Prime Minister Georgia Meloni of Italy addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in the United States via video link, she said “When Bill Clinton and Tony Blair created the global leftist network in the 90s, they were called statesmen…When PM Meloni, President Donald Trump, Argentina President Javeri Milei and PM Modi talk they are called a ‘threat to democracy.” Bit of envy and bitterness there, it seems.
Who would not like to be called a statesman? But statesmen bring people together as Jawaharlal Nehru did, politicians of the far right divide their own people in the name of hyper-nationalism. Interestingly Meloni exposed the self-serving project of the right-wing when she spoke of defending freedom, loving the nation, preserving businesses and citizens from Green Leftist insanity, defending family life, and standing for common sense. But people vote for us she proclaimed triumphantly.
Of course the right wins votes, because as in India, it speaks the language of rabid nationalism, and manufactures differences that position fellow citizens as ‘us against them’. Thus it carves out a vote bank. This ultra-nationalism has sparked off ugly divisions in society. Business finances this ignoble project leading to allegations of oligarchy as in India. Unlike the Left, no right winger speaks of social welfare, of being sensitive to the pain of others even if they live in countries far away, or justice for all citizens irrespective of race, or religion, or ethnic affiliation. As far as family life is concerned, any feminist would tell right-wingers that families can be the site of violence.
The Left is imaginative and caring (we are not speaking of specific Left parties but of the ideology that motivates them). The Left dreams of a future where no child goes to school without shoes, no one goes to bed hungry, and where we do not see young men immerse their elbows deep in rubbish bins, scrounging for scraps they can sell the recycler, and only then buy themselves a cup of tea. A ‘Hindu’ or a ‘new’ India has nothing to offer them. The Left cares for them and for the welfare of all irrespective of their religion and their ethnic affiliation.
Today with the domination of the Right, we need to be rescued from oligarchs, from rank materialism where only money speaks, and from hate speech. And this brings us back to the Congress party. It is time the Congress outlines and details its ideological stand on issues that bedevil the country, from unemployment, to reviving the economy, to social wellbeing, to the environment, to education that today is in shambles, to what position the state should take when dealing with different religious groups, and the importance of keeping peace with our neighbours.
The Congress that used to be well known for its strategy and its politics, is today known for unimaginative strategies. Bihar elections are round the corner. Bihar is a major state, and though the state is known for caste politics, there are other agendas as well. Education and employment are two of these agendas. The educational system is a disaster in the state, as is the job situation. It is time that the Congress party deals with these and other larger issues.
Whether we like it or not the BJP is the only political party in India that has grasped the importance of working among constituencies throughout the year and not only during elections, of building up not only a cadre but a like-minded set of organisations as a backup, and that believes in a line of command. Many of us do not care for its ideology; the party has damaged the body politic by its politics of hate, systematically undercut democratic institutions, and subverted the constitution through processes of legal autocratisation, but we have to take the organisation of the BJP seriously. Other parties are one-man parties. The Congress has deteriorated into a durbar headed by now three members of the Gandhi family. The optics are frankly not good.
The BJP’s massive win in the Maharashtra elections should give all parties cause to reflect on the strategy deployed by the party. Haryana was a major surprise. Every indication was that the Congress would win, and it would have if the party leaders had disciplined regional satraps. In Maharashtra, column after column in newspapers devoted themselves to the significance of women’s vote for the party. It is true that the BJP’s scheme Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana promised to put Rs 2500 in the bank account of women. This followed the Madhya Pradesh model of Ladli Behna Yojana and was implemented after the drubbing the ruling alliance got in the general elections. We however cannot ignore that the party has systematically reached out to women voters and indoctrinated them. Today these women do not fight patriarchy, they look for a shivling under each mosque.
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And what of the Congress? All that the Congress does is what every party does, promise to give out money to voters. The handing out of money creates three problems.
One, people’s attention is diverted from lack of employment opportunities.
Two, it becomes a substitute for programmes such as educational and health care which are shared goods and which are the product of social and economic rights.
And three, buying votes before elections amounts to rank corruption.
Where is the freedom of choice when your vote has already been bought.
The party needs to bring up younger leaders who have experience in building up the party in states such as Rajasthan or building up constituencies as in Punjab. I do not need to take names; it is well known who they are. Let them take over the party, stop making meetings of the AICC look like gatherings at a football match, and create a clear chain of command and responsibility. For that Rahul and other members of the Gandhi clan will have to step aside, and let younger dynamic people take hard decisions. India owes a lot to the Gandhi clan, but today’s politics is different, it demands a different sort of strategy, it demands the ‘killer instinct’, speaking purely metaphorically.
Above all the Congress has to keep its cadres occupied between elections, keep in touch with social issues, for example see to it that every child gets meaningful education and is trained to do the job she wants to. There are a host of problems that need to be attended to, caste discrimination and safety of women and other vulnerable groups. Congress cadres must have an effective presence in society, they must fight the battle against vicious ideas on the ground. It is only an ideologically coherent party that earns the loyalty of its members, people must know what is it they are joining a party for, not because they want something out of someone. Only ideology knits members of a party together. The BJP has a clear ideology. The Congress has to chart out an alternative so that we are not further thrown to the wolves.
Neera Chandhoke was professor of political science at Delhi University.