It was a public rebuke that reminded everyone, perhaps mostly his party colleagues, how Rahul Gandhi’s comments can sometimes sting a lot. Gandhi once publicly castigated the Manmohan Singh government for issuing an ordinance to negate the Supreme Court order on disqualifying convicted MPs and MLAs, terming it as “complete nonsense” that should be “torn and thrown out”. On Saturday, on the last day of a two-day stock-taking visit to Gujarat, he took aim at the state Congress leaders “conniving with the BJP”. “Even if we have to remove 20 to 30 people, we will do it,” Gandhi said. While there may indeed be several in the Congress ranks who may be playing for the ruling party, could Gandhi be missing the bigger picture? Several party leaders agreed with what he said, while some, like former Mahila Congress state president Jenny Thummar, pointed out that what he was railing at was all but natural when a party had been out of power in the state for three decades. “We, as a party, have to motivate them, we have to sit them down and talk to them,” Thummar suggested. Another sobering take came from a Congress leader who questioned this my-way-or-the-highway approach, pointing out that several of those Gandhi was targeting might have business or other links with leaders of the BJP, which is almost a hegemonic force in Gujarat’s political landscape. And how will the Congress deal with complaints that stream in as rivals try to tear each other down, alleging their involvement with the BJP? The Congress’s troubles in Gujarat and the challenges it faces across India require a systematic study of the underlying causes of the BJP’s dominance and a clear-eyed road map to providing an alternative that voters can get behind. In the Gujarat Assembly polls in 2022, it was telling that even though there may have been a sentiment for change, for many the Congress was simply not an option for many voters who instead went for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). As Neerja Chowdhury wrote in one of her columns at the time, “A question that cannot be wished away is this: why did the changeseekers — and there were many in Gujarat who talked about ‘badlav’ and they ended up being around 45 per cent — not look at the Congress as the alternative, in a state that has been traditionally bipolar?” After that stunning loss, the Congress set up a committee comprising senior leaders Nitin Raut, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, and Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka to conduct a review and submit a report. Nothing was heard of it afterwards. Earlier in 2022, when the Congress headed to a Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, Rajasthan, Manoj C G wrote, “After 1999, (A K) Antony was given the job of introspection thrice — in 2008, 2012 and after the Lok Sabha defeat in 2014. But no one, not even the top leaders, have heard anything since. In fact, in Congress circles Antony committees are derisively called as ‘anth-heen (endless) committees’.” The Congress at the moment appears to have lost steam after the boost of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Since then it has lost in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi, with the big test in Bihar up next later this year. The framing of the demand for a caste census and the narrative around the Constitution clearly worked for the party in the parliamentary elections, but now they sound more jaded when Congress leaders at levels repeat the talking points almost mechanically. Important issues, yes, but can the Congress strategists find a way of freshening up the narrative, find interesting ways of putting across their argument? That remains the challenge. Then there are the real organisational challenges that need a lot of planning and work. “Talk to Congress workers, including those who fought the recent state elections, and they bemoan the lack of a party organisation in state after state. The PCCs, DCCS and block-level workers, who convert sentiment into votes, are virtually nonexistent. As a result, there is a last-minute choice of candidates and a poll strategy that is hurriedly put in place and unequal to the task — as happened in Delhi,” Neerja wrote in a recent opinion article. Gandhi also admitted on Saturday that rebuilding the party would not be an easy task. “We do not have to talk about the elections, this is not a two-three year project but a 50-year project," he said. That is a start, but the Congress will need more substance in this project if it has to remain standing 50 years later. Happening today: The Sangh-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the Swavalambi Bharat Abhiyan will hold a two-day meeting in Chhattisgarh from Sunday to discuss a host of issues, including the economy. The meeting will be held at the Agrasen Dham in Raipur.
