By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE
Will Congress wither away in India? Two years back, this question looked quite improbable. It was really audacious on the part of the BJP to raise a slogan like 'Congress-free India' during the Lok Sabha elections.
Today, Congress has lost two more states- Assam and Kerala. At present, Congress is in power in six states only. It looks like we are already moving towards a "post-Congress era".
Here is how the Congress is imploding.
Regional parties are bane of Congress: Over the years, there has been a slow, but a steady decline in support for Congress across India. Congress has never regained a state where it has lost power to a regional party. In Bihar, it has come back in power but only as the junior most partner of the Grand Alliance. It is always in dilemma whether to fight or form an alliance with a regional party as was the case in these assembly elections. While in West Bengal, it was in alliance with the Left whereas both were fighting against each other in Kerala. The central leadership's flip-flop vis-a-vis regional parties is making it more harder for local units in states. As a result, the Congress is not able to create a robust line of state-level leaders to take on regional parties.
High-command culture: The high-command culture is slowing killing the grand old party. Its central leadership is not ready to listen to local leaders, leading to defection and dissatisfaction in regional leaders. A case in point is the story of Himanta Biswa Sarma whose defection is one of the main reasons for Congress's defeat in Assam. Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was nursing hope to become the state chief minister, led a revolt along with a section of Congress MLAs after the last Lok Sabha polls in 2014 but Tarun Gogoi, who enjoys the confidence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, continued in office by effecting a reshuffle in the ministry. Sarma resigned as minister, from the party and also from the assembly before joining the BJP taking along nine MLAs close to him.
Congress is in auto-pilot mode: Will he, won't he? For over more than two years, Congressmen have been waiting for Rahul Gandhi to take charge of the party, but he is yet to oblige them. While Sonia Gandhi has taken a back seat, Rahul is yet to assume the steering wheel of the party. This has led to a kind of policy paralysis in the party.
No fresh ideas: Congress is caught in a time warp. Time and again, it is going back to same old "secular and socialist" slogans while forming all kinds of opportunistic alliances. Somehow, it's not been able to connect with changing and an aspirational India.
BJP may be the only hope: It may look odd but Congress may be silently praying for the spread of the BJP to every state of India. Congress has more chance of coming back to power in states like MP and Rajasthan where there is no regional alternative. In a multi-party contest with a predominance of regional players, Congress becomes an also-ran party, as is evident in Bihar and UP. A surging BJP looks the only hope for Congress.
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