Slogans hatao

That the Congress Party has fallen back on its four-decade old slogan 8220;garibi hatao8221; to try and answer the BJP8217;s counter-slog...

That the Congress Party has fallen back on its four-decade old slogan 8220;garibi hatao8221; to try and answer the BJP8217;s counter-slogan of 8220;Hindutva8221; reveals the Congress8217; bankruptcy of ideas and its failure to keep pace with the times. The two-day convention of party block presidents held in New Delhi last week is perhaps a positive step towards the rejuvenation of the Congress organisation which has fallen into decay in all parts of the country. Yet it is doubtful whether this new-found zeal to rejuvenate the grass-roots will be able to infuse the Congress with a new lease of life. Whether on its stand on secularism or on the economy or even on foreign policy, the Congress is now in serious danger of being completely crowded out of the political centre by a BJP armed with increasingly docile regional allies and a virtual monopoly on issues like religion and national security. The late V.N. Gadgil, veteran Congressman, often spoke of the short-sightedness of the Congress vision of secularism and today his words have come to mock the party. The frantic way in which the Congress is now seeking to posit 8220;Hinduism8221; against Hindutva, shows how desperate it is for a powerful rallying cry.

8220;Garibi hatao8221; was a slogan created in 1971 during the high tide of Congress socialism, when politicians still retained some amount of idealism and were not perceived quite as cynically as they are today. While the trickle down prosperity from the new liberalising economic policies may not be in great evidence, yet the trundling out of old banners, the use of tired Left-leaning rhetoric of an alliance of farmers, youth and the unemployed, gives proof once again that the Congress remains out of touch with the bounding aspirations of the voting public, eager for newer ways to achieve prosperity and affluence. Not only is the Congress out of tune with the public mood, it has also failed to stitch up crucial regional alliances as the BJP has successfully managed to do. The Congress record with allies is abysmal and it has failed to realise that future general elections in a fractured polity will be fought between rival coalitions rather than rival parties.

At the current convention, workers petitioned Sonia Gandhi to terminate the humiliating alliance with Laloo Prasad Yadav8217;s RJD in Bihar. In UP, the Congress is still confused about whether or not to ally with Mulayam Singh Yadav and south of the Vindhyas it does not have any allies worth the name. The Congress failed to grasp how to re-invent its secularism, failed to grasp the importance of allies and neglected to invigorate its party organisation. Now it seeks to recapture the 8220;garib8221;, after floundering around with 8220;soft Hindutva8221;. Tinkering around with slogans will not rescue a party fighting for its survival.