The meltdown of the Congress Legislature Party in Goa has triggered less concern within the leadership of the grand old party of India than it ought to. The new acolytes of the Sangh Parivar had taken oath on the Constitution and religious texts before they were made candidates that they will not switch their loyalties post-election. The Congress owes the electorate which picked those very same people an explanation, even if it takes the losses in its stride.
The Congress has been adrift politically ever since it lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the situation has worsened after its dismal showing in 2019. The party lost its governments in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh when the BJP with its deep pockets chose to throw all democratic norms to the winds and have its own governments in those states. Its coalition government in Maharashtra also collapsed. Still, the party has no plans to protect itself or the other Opposition from the relentless onslaughts the NDA has made a part of its politics. In fact, the Congress sided with the BJP when the Central agencies went hunting the AAP government in Delhi and the LDF government in Kerala.
Though it runs governments in only two states, the Congress is the main Opposition force in many others, including Gujarat which is going to polls soon. It had given the BJP a tough fight in the last Assembly election. The party leadership seems to have taken no note of the political significance of the key state even as the AAP has been actively seeking to occupy the Opposition space there. The long march the Congress has undertaken now will have little resonance among its own supporters unless the party takes itself seriously.
