Opinion A half story on Congress is no story at all
A serious debate should be able to say that Congress is right to worry about democratic backsliding but wrong if it imagines this alone will win elections.
A serious debate should be able to say that Congress is right to worry about democratic backsliding but wrong if it imagines this alone will win elections. A recent Indian Express editorial (‘Bihar to Karnataka, Congress must ask why’, November 29) returns to a familiar narrative, portraying Rahul Gandhi’s approach as too dark and “apocalyptic”, suggesting the party is in denial and seeing internal quarrels as signs of decay. I disagree, not because Congress has no problems, but because this reading ignores how power, money and institutions have reshaped Indian elections.
Rahul Gandhi’s warnings about democratic erosion are not just a melodramatic excuse to explain away defeat. International and domestic observers have downgraded India’s democratic standing in recent years, citing pressure on media, civil society and institutions. One can argue about his tone, but to dismiss his concerns as “apocalyptic” is to ignore evidence and the experience of citizens who see agencies and rules being used unevenly. An uneven field can still produce competition — the 2024 Lok Sabha results showed that — but it is still uneven. A fair assessment of Congress has to hold two truths. First, the party is organisationally weak in many places, and second, the playing field does favour the ruling party.
The Bihar election is then presented as a simple morality tale: Congress contested 61 seats, won only six, and blamed the Election Commission’s (EC) SIR and the NDA’s cash transfers. This caricatures what happened on the ground. On October 31 and November 6, the Bihar government transferred Rs 10,000 each to the bank accounts of women beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, along with a promise of additional support of Rs 2 lakh to eligible women. This was just days before the first and second phases of polling on November 6 and 11. While the Model Code of Conduct was in force, the EC then allowed “Jeevika Didis” — who had just received these payments — to be deployed as “volunteers” at polling stations. You may still feel Congress ran a poor campaign, but to pretend these factors are irrelevant is selective blindness.
Of course, Congress must introspect. It has not built a robust cadre in large parts of north India. It often appears confused about its economic message. And its alliance management is clumsy. But the call for introspection cannot be addressed to only one side. When opaque electoral finance sends a huge share of anonymous funding to the ruling party, when enforcement agencies open case after case against Opposition politicians with very few convictions, when voter lists and welfare schemes intersect neatly with electoral needs, then “the system is tilted” is not an alibi — it is a description. Asking Congress to stop talking about institutions and only talk about organisation is like asking a cricket team to accept a doctored pitch in silence.
Karnataka is treated in the same one-eyed way. Yes, there may be a tussle between Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, and yes, it sometimes spills out in public. But leadership rivalries are part of every large party. The difference is in how they are narrated. What is called “assertive regional leadership” and “course correction” in one party is labelled “infighting” in another. Congress does need better discipline and more transparent decision-making, but turning every disagreement into a morality play hides the fact that competition inside parties is also a sign of life.
A serious debate should be able to say that Congress is right to worry about democratic backsliding but wrong if it imagines this alone will win elections; that the BJP is right to showcase its welfare schemes but wrong if it normalises a pattern of institutional capture; and that the media must scrutinise both with equal sharpness. Voters can hold two ideas at once. They want better governance and development, and they also want a democracy in which the rules are not constantly bent by those in power. Any editorial that blames only the Opposition, while treating the structures of power as neutral, ends up telling only half the story.
The writer is professor of Political Science, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad
Share
