Who146;s in charge?

The extraordinary thing about the Congress, now dealing with the aftermath of two defeats in Punjab and Uttarakhand, is this: since the general elections of 2004, when a victory that owed more to alliance making than to the party8217;s own vote-getting powers, the Congress has never lost the illusion that its political fortunes are invulnerable to organisational atrophy. This, as our columnist today argues, has become a political touchstone for the Congress. Respectable performances in the assembly elections of the late 20068217;s must have reinforced this thesis. But except in Assam, where a victory margin was cobbled together, the Congress wasn8217;t a main contender for power in that round. In Punjab and Uttarakhand it was, and it has paid the price of thinking that power flows from the party HQ8217;s strange ways.

Amarinder Singh spent the better part of his tenure trying to use the state machinery as a means to putting Parkash Singh Badal behind bars. Much of this was crude even by the liberal norms of Indian politics. His unilateral subversion of an inter-state water treaty was almost unique. That was the time, when Sonia Gandhi was reportedly terribly upset, that Singh should have gone. The high command neither took the high ground nor did it command. It didn8217;t even seem to think there was anything odd about its CM in Uttarakhand telling almost everyone he met that he was too old, too tired and didn8217;t really want to fight for this job again. N.D. Tiwari proved a political theorem familiar to everyone but obviously a novelty in Congress strategy rooms: reluctant leaders can8217;t win elections.

The Akali-BJP in Punjab and the BJP in Uttarakhand should therefore take the voters8217; message on effective governance. India8217;s growth story is state-driven now and there are already examples like Navin Patnaik and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee bucking anti-incumbency by advocating reformist policies. At the other end of the east-west axis is Narendra Modi, widely expected to beat anti-incumbency later this year principally on account of delivering policies that modernise the economy. The Congress didn8217;t do that in Punjab and Uttarakhand. Neither did it get its political organisation right. It should be utterly unsurprised at its defeat.