Fall and fall of Indian National Congress

Oldest party of the largest democracy in the world is struggling to find some wind in its sails. The harsh truth being told, it is not rise of the BJP that has made Congress land in this situation, but the mistakes made by the party's own leadership. 

The issue is not only with the Congress not winning elections, but lack of acceptance in the Gandhi family. Even though INC has not fallen further down the graph since the 2014 general election, at least not in terms of vote share, it has been stagnant with its performance. Or maybe there is no room for going further down.

It might sound offensive to some, but seemingly, the Indian National Congress is setting up its own deathbed. The ego of the high command and reluctance towards change is enough for fulfilling this death wish. Before someone terms these words to be merely opinionated rants, what follows is the base for these claims.

Courtesy: ANI

Here, it is important to underline that even though Congress is in a constant phase of decline, Congressmen have been doing pretty well. Interestingly, it is not a fact true for recent rebels who have left the party, but the truism goes back decades. K Chandrashekhar Rao, current Chief Minister of Telangana, left the Congress party in 1983 and joined the TDP under the leadership of N.T.Ramarao. Today, the little known footsoldier of Congress, politically owns the state of Telangana.

However, it seems like Congress did not learn from the mistakes of previous leadership. In recent times, Congress has been shooting multiple rounds in its feet with utmost concentration, not missing even a single bullet. Starting with Mahua Moitra, INC has lost multiple potent leaders, either to dynasty politics or lethargy of the high command. 

The credit of delivering all of North East, partially, goes to Congress as well which made the conditions for Hemant Biswa Sarma so hostile in his own party that shifting ideological boats was a more feasible option for him. In INC, his growth would have been limited even after being the most deserving candidate for Chief Ministership. As by the rules of dynasty politics, Akhil Gogoi should have been the favoured one. The results are clear: Congress lost all its strongholds in the Northeast where it was either the only dominant force or a direct contender to the Left.

Courtesy: India Today

Anyhow, the story continued in the same fashion. India’s grand old party has gifted the whole of Southern India to regional parties in the same way as it did with the Northeast. The Rajiv Gandhi fiasco in Karnataka, failed attempts to cut Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy’s size and undermining his popularity to leave Kerala for the Left given the infighting. Today, it has no stronghold in the southern peninsula that once it used to rule lock, stock and barrel. The only state where it has some presence is Tamil Nadu, thanks to DMK’s mercy.   

The Nehru-Gandhi led party has been creating a vacuum by making grave mistakes that other parties, especially the BJP, have been quick to fill. What happens from here is unclear, but given the track record, a change in leadership seems to be a must for the revival of Congress and Indian democracy.