Opinion Bihar to Karnataka, Congress must ask why
In Bihar, the Congress now has six MLAs, after an election in which it contested 61 seats.
Rather than constantly search for fall guys, Congress needs to own responsibility for what it does, and fails to do. In recent years, Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi has painted an apocalyptic picture of the state of India’s politics. It has claimed, in effect, that the entire electoral system is rigged against it. And that the values of the Constitution, the “idea of India”, are besieged. In election after election, however, this bleak and pessimistic tone has struck few sparks on the ground. And yet, in the aftermath of the party’s poor showing in Bihar, and at a time when the infighting in its Karnataka unit has again bubbled to the surface, Congress is still not asking itself why. The picture that emerges, once again, is of petty battles within and a leadership that is either irresolute or remote.
In Bihar, the Congress now has six MLAs, after an election in which it contested 61 seats. But going by the “post-mortem” exercise conducted by the party, no one in the party is to blame. According to the Congress refrain, the fault lies with the Election Commission’s SIR exercise and its defeat can also be blamed on the cash transfers by the NDA government. Reportedly, when arguments broke out among state leaders about the party’s rout, Rahul Gandhi stepped in, claiming he was “equally responsible” as state leaders. This could have been the beginning of an honest conversation on what needs to change in the party — it wasn’t. The party has all but squandered the gains it made in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, its footprint across north India and up to Maharashtra has severely shrunk (it has a government only in Himachal Pradesh). It continues to govern in Telangana and Karnataka, but in the latter state, instead of providing a model of governance, it keeps baring its internal faultlines to the public. Ever since the Congress came to power in 2023, the Siddaramaiah vs D K Shivakumar tussle has dominated public conversations, divided the party, and is drawing attention away from governance.
Rather than constantly search for fall guys, Congress needs to own responsibility for what it does, and fails to do. It needs to show what it stands for, not just all that it is against. To do so may require an overhaul, but first it calls for a sincere reckoning.
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