The Congress seems to have acquired a new spring in its step. It turned the court appearance of its top leaders in the National Herald case into an opportunity to mount a show of strength on Saturday. The Gandhis’ seven minutes in court were preceded by a public rallying together of all top leaders and a street-level mobilisation of workers on a scale the Congress has not done — or has forgotten how to do — for a long time now. In Parliament, the party with 44 Lok Sabha MPs has managed to stall the legislative agenda of a government with a massive mandate, especially the long-pending and crucial GST bill. So, all things told, things are looking up for the Congress. But are they, really?
Watch Video: National Herald Case: Sonia, Rahul Get Bail
In the last year and a half that the NDA has been in power, the Congress has not looked any of the organisational or political issues that it will need to reckon with for any kind of a real revival, in the eye. It has not democratised its organisation in any significant way, nor shown any signs that it is thinking imaginatively or innovatively about the challenges in a new India, be it on secularism or federalism, or on the balance between redistribution and growth.
At best, the Congress’s preoccupation with its ruling family and its obstructionism in Parliament point to a party looking for the shortcut. In fact, they speak of a party that is mired in a past moment, unwilling or unable to recognise the enormity of the challenge of regaining the trust and confidence of a changing electorate.
