Confident Congress

It is not surprising to see how surefooted the Congress party is today andespecially by comparison to the ruling coalition at the Centre....

It is not surprising to see how surefooted the Congress party is today andespecially by comparison to the ruling coalition at the Centre. It isclear-eyed and coherent about its aims and the means of achieving them, andinternal dissension over these matters has been kept to the minimum. ThisCongress looks more focussed and more united. The heady victories in theNovember polls no doubt account for the new air of confidence in theCongress organisation.

But there is more to it than the reversal of fortunes so soon after thehumiliations of 1996 and 1998. Its recent successes are being seen by manyof its leaders as proof of the correctness of political strategies adoptedat the Pachmarhi session. Digvijay Singh, Sheila Dixit and Ashok Gehlotclaim to be beneficiaries of that party line and are urging the high commandto stick with it.

The doubters are going to have a hard time countering their logic. Everyother week brings signs of the upswing in Congress8217; fortunes. Witness therecent gains in the zilla parishad elections in Maharashtra. The AICCsession therefore has turned out to be an opportunity for Sonia Gandhi toreconfirm Pachmarhi strategies and silence her critics. The major thrust ofher speech positioned the Congress even more firmly as the party of therelatively powerless.

Separate and specific recognition is given to the concerns of theeconomically and socially underpriviledged groups, the poor, women, dalitsand adivasis, minorities and OBCs. This is getting back to the basics. Butthe Congress goes further to mobilise its traditional constituencies byreserving party posts for women and socially backward groups. The proportionof reserved posts suggests that it is not going to be the mere tokenism andpaternalism of the Congress of the past. There are suggestions moreover inSonia Gandhi8217;s speech that the right social origins or gender are not enoughand that the party needs talent and experience as well.

Getting back in 8220;touch with the people8221; is in some ways the easy partespecially in the current political and economic environment. The BJP8217;sconfused and downright incompetent performance makes almost any othernational party come up smelling like roses. Having done well so far is onlya good beginning for the new Congress. Many of the ingredients of asuccessful election strategy are being put in place. Secularism andpluralism are being affirmed strongly. Its social credentials areimproving.

A broad-based system of decision-making within the party is taking shapeand, although far from perfect, appears to be functioning fairly sm-oothly.Political restraint, meaning its willingness to stay in the opposition andnot precipitate a crisis at the Centre, is doing its image good. What ismissing is clarity on meeting its socio-economic aims. The gap betweeneconomic reform which it supports, albeit not consistently or loudly, andits social concerns needs to be bridged. Expectations are being raised allround. The Congress must work out how it is going to satisfy all of them.