From Gandhi-Patel land, Congress will signal its golden past. But all eyes on what AICC Session holds for future

Leader after leader is expected to underline that while the BJP may be laying claim to Patel’s legacy, it was the latter who banned the RSS – its ideological fountainhead – following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The message is that the Congress is resolving to take on the BJP from the land of Mahatma and the Sardar.

Incidentally, four months ago, the Congress held a meeting of its Working Committee in Belagavi, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of a Congress session held there presided over by Mahatma Gandhi. That meeting too was meant to remind itself and the country about the milestones in the Congress’s long history and its lead role in the freedom movement – unlike the BJP.

But all this symbolism notwithstanding, the best that party functionaries are expecting is a reassurance from the top leadership that the Congress is on the right course, and some hint about action in the present, particularly the narrative to adopt against the BJP. Party leaders have been talking in private about the need to choose battles that resonate with the public instead of opposing anything and everything that the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi say and do. There is also hope that the session may shed some light on the INDIA bloc, which is threatening to become a flash in the pan after the bright Lok Sabha poll start.

At the same time, there is a resignation that their wait for clarity on both these key issues may not end anytime soon. An AICC session’s large and open format is hardly the right platform to discuss organisational reforms and roadmap. And, even if the party chose to go there, leaders have the disappointing experience of the 2022 Udaipur meeting behind them. Most of what the party resolved so as to revitalize the organisation at that meeting lies forgotten three years hence.

Some of the Udaipur resolutions were ambitious – setting a limit of five years on terms to give new people an opportunity, implementing the principles of “one person, one post” and “one family, one ticket”, and reserving half of the positions in all committees, from the CWC to the block and mandal level, to those below the age of 50.

None of this has been met, though some consider the recent meeting of the leadership with District Congress Committee members from across the country as a good first step.

But even the low-hanging fruits have remained out of reach. Such as the declaration to create three new departments at the national level – a Public Insight Department to gauge the mood of the people continuously, a National Training Institute, and an AICC Election Management Department to ensure preparedness well in advance for polls.

Interestingly, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had declared 2025 as the year of organisational empowerment for the party.

Since the party hasn’t done the work, a leader said, it remains clueless about what is the alternative model it is offering to the people compared to the BJP. “We can’t be against everything, we need to be for something. But what is that something needs to be explained and should be convincing,” the leader said. He added that the hope is that some sort of a vision will be laid out at the Ahmedabad AICC session. “Otherwise, it is meaningless. What is our story? What is our direction?”

Sources said the resolutions being planned will address current challenges and topics such as inflation, the paucity of jobs, the state of the economy, issues of farmers, social justice, foreign policy, “attacks on the Constitution” and religious divisions and challenges. Randeep Surjewala, the head of the drafting committee, is expected to present a working sheet to the CWC Tuesday, which will decide whether to have an omnibus resolution or separate ones issue wise.

As per another leader, they are reconciled to not much changing. “Most of the leaders believe nothing extraordinary will come out of the session. The Assembly election defeats have injected a sense of despondency. So we will all be together again, there will be speeches, even rousing ones, resolutions to fight the BJP/RSS,” he said. At the same time, he added: “It is better than nothing. It may at best boost the sagging morale of the party.”