Sunil Gatade | Will AICC in Gujarat Mark Major Reset for Congress?

Let us continue to debate whether democracy in India is fully or partially free and the extent of the “institutional capture”. But the Congress Party’s decision to hold the next AICC session in April in Gujarat is certainly good news, signalling that the badly battered Opposition is still not vanquished.

There is certainly no question of putting up the white flag.

No doubt, the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been at the zenith for over the past decade, but there is still a challenger around, however feeble or incapacitated it may be.

It speaks volumes on the state of Indian democracy that no anti-BJP party has thought it fit for the past decade of holding its key meeting on the home turf of Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Banking on the Hindutva card, a resurgent BJP has changed the grammar and vocabulary of the Indian polity. Aided and abetted by the cacophony of a not-so-independent media, the growing footprint of the world’s largest party has clouded the existence of other forms of political creatures.

The just concluded Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj was utilised to further the Hindutva vote bank.

The detractors of the BJP insist that the ultimate intent behind the “one nation, one election” move is to have “one leader”.

At such a time, it is certainly brave or foolhardy as one chooses to think to challenge the saffron party in its backyard. There have been a series of elections scheduled next year after those in Bihar at the end of this year. They include those in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled for early 2027, while Gujarat will go to the polls by the end of that year.

The AICC session at Ahmedabad on April 8 and 9 is also an unmistakable message to those squabbling allies in the INDIA Opposition bloc as to who is the leader of the anti-BJP group. A single action often matters more than a thousand words.

Besides telling the other Opposition parties that it alone could take on the BJP in its den, the move is intended to enthuse the dispirited Congress cadres and tell them that there is a rainbow at the end of the tunnel.

The Congress has created a dubious record of sorts since May 2014 of losing a record number of state polls and three successive Lok Sabha elections. It is witnessing the worst dry patch in Independent India, when the party which helped the country get its freedom from the British yoke is finding itself in the political wilderness.

The credit for the Congress fightback goes solely and squarely to Rahul Gandhi, who has been the most maligned leader in the history of free India, with a vicious campaign on to paint him as “Pappu” for the past nearly 15 years.

Whether Rahul Gandhi succeeds or not is another story, but his actions show that one who is already down does not fear defeat. If there is any movement, it could be up.

Interestingly, the session in Gujarat, the birthplace of the Mahatma, is taking place when Rahul is firmly in command and has even brought about an organisational reshuffle, bringing to the fore his team to manage the party. The last such Congress meeting in Gujarat had taken place way back in 1961, when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was at the helm.

That glory is now a thing of the past. And living on it is not making any sense. The 1985 centenary celebrations of the Congress held in Mumbai, where the Congress was founded a century ago (1885), witnessed the party at its pinnacle of power. Since then, it has been a downhill journey, and it has only accelerated since the emergence of Narendra Modi on the national scene in May 2014.

So, Ahmedabad is crucial to see how the Congress seeks to reinvent itself and turns its character of an “umbrella” organisation encompassing all castes, creeds and religions an appealing thing in the changed circumstances. The “mohabbat ki dukan” pitch has to be made really catchy to all at a time when strident Hindutva is the order of the day.

This is easier said than done, as the Congress has for long remained content with the much-maligned “nomination” culture that has left the organisation hollow. The building up of the organisation and infusing fresh blood at all levels is a Herculean task that has yet to be seriously undertaken. A dialogue within the party is the need of the hour, to bring to the fore hidden talents as well as to ensure that the one within flourishes.

Brainstorming sessions at the national as well as state levels are necessary to generate fresh ideas to overcome the drawbacks being consistently observed in the working of the organisation to make it fighting fit.

What needs to be also done on a war footing is devising a strategy to take on the BJP, which is using every trick in the trade to deny a level playing field to its detractors. Right or wrong, some observers hail the BJP as the world’s most ruthlessly efficient political party, and therefore the Congress must realise what an onerous task it is facing.

A redeeming feature is that in spite of most of the media playing a partisan game to help the ruling side, there is a wide body of people at all levels that feels that the middle path offered by the Congress is the best way out for India at this crucial juncture.

There are no two opinions on this: The Gujarat session is crucial to make or mar the Congress. It must come out with a roadmap and a resolve on how to make a turnaround on a war footing. Time is crucial, as one has to prepare for the next Lok Sabha polls right now and virtually from scratch. It has to decide on how best to proceed on the issue of alliances while making the Congress shipshape.

There is no time to lose. The Congress needs to remember that Mahatma Gandhi brought the mighty British Empire down with his Dandi march.

A small beginning sometimes brings miracles if backed by unwavering determination. Will the Congress act decisively? Only time will tell.

The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi