India is facing turbulent times calling for statesman-like leadership to handle the complex task of rebuilding the nation affected by the twin challenges of economic troubles and the health pandemic. The premise here is that the Indian National Congress (INC) has a golden opportunity to reinvent itself as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government seems clueless about how revive the economy as well as gain the trust of the poor and the working class after the handling of the lockdown in an inhumane way. The INC should use the time between now and the next Lok Sabha elections, in 2024, to be in the reckoning.
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The interim President of the INC, Sonia Gandhi, its past President, Rahul Gandhi, and leaders such as P. Chidambaram, to name only a few, have no doubt, raised the right questions and tried to cause embarrassment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But sadly that by itself is not enough. The party should come up with alternative policy perspectives to deal with the complex challenges facing the country.
It is appropriate to recall that a few thinking members of the party, such as Shashi Tharoor, Jairam Ramesh and Sanjay Jha , have expressed opinion on the need for not only serious introspection at the top level but also institutional reforms within the party. The following are some of the suggestions if the project of a revival of the Congress party is to bear fruit.
Tap talent
The party should constitute a Committee comprising talented partymen and outsiders drawn from public life who carry credibility and entrust them with the task of holding organisational elections at the national and State levels in an impartial and transparent manner in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. There must be an emphasis on bringing in young blood to man party positions to keep the party future ready. Let it not be forgotten that Mrs. Indira Gandhi had Young Turks to usher in her socialist programmes after 1969; Rajiv Gandhi too had his own young team to work towards his vision of a technology-driven India. The United Progressive Alliance regimes too brought in some young people but failed to exploit their potential to the full as Sonia Gandhi who virtually held the reins of power was reluctant to give a free hand to the younger elements in the government.
It is also necessary to de-emphasise the role of the high command, which is antithetical to a vibrant democratic functioning of the party. While there seems to be a strong case for the Gandhi family to be kept out, it may not happen, sadly, because of the sycophancy of the old guard with whom Sonia Gandhi is comfortable and who plead for her continuance as the party chief. The bane of the Congress leadership has been its reluctance to develop a second line of leadership that is independent of the Gandhi dynasty.
Regain the social base
The party needs to reinvent itself ideologically and while doing so, the narrative should be build around a broad left-of-centre position, in support of the poor and socially economically oppressed sections while also taking into account the aspirations of educated urban voters for whom ideology does not really matter. The party should address itself to the needs of farmers, small and medium-term industrialists, rather than siding with big business.
It needs to make serious efforts to regain its social base among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, which has eroded in recent times as borne out by the outcome of the 2019 Lok Sabha and subsequent Assembly elections. Minority appeasement also will not work the way as it used to in the past.
Most crucially, the Congress has to rebuild the morale of its party workers, which stands eroded after successive defeats either electorally or losing power after being in government in rather quick succession in States.
The leadership at the central and State levels will also have to accord priority to enrol new members to the party to make it cadre-based. Figures are not available about recruitment of new members to the party-fold in recent years.
Side by side, serious efforts ought to be made to root out the bane of factionalism in the party. And that can happen if the leadership is persuasive and inclusive in its intent. The high command which has concentrated decision-making powers should make way for decentralised functioning of the party.
At the State level, it has to align itself with regional parties if it has to successfully capture power. More pertinently, the party State-level leadership needs to be nurtured and allowed to function independently keeping in mind the ground realities.
Project views
It is high time the party set up a shadow cabinet at the central level, drew up and publicised its alternative policy prescriptions and presented them in Parliament rather than getting fixated in obstructing official business. Unparliamentary behaviour by members of the Opposition and ruling party members is detested by the public.
Additionally, the party leadership would do well to involve experts in drawing up medium- and long-term solutions to problems which are increasingly becoming complex in the interdependent and technology-driven ecosystem.
In these days of the powerful role played by the media, especially the electronic media which are owned by business houses, the party may have to take the help of some such group to project its image and points of view.
The conclusion is inescapable: The Indian National Congress needs to work tirelessly and strain itself in a sustained manner on all fronts if it has to play an effective role in our democratic polity and to stake its claim for power in future.
P.S. Jayaramu is a former professor of political science, Bangalore University and a former Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research
