The case of Congress and the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

While the death of Congress may be imminent, the idea of Congress must live on

Sacking one of his Generals for losing a crucial battle in the civil war out of sheer stupidity when it seemed victory was almost assured, Abraham Lincoln reportedly said, “He has managed to wring one last spectacular defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Who can now be fired for these stunning defeats of the Congress party in the recent state elections? Sonia Gandhi can’t be blamed. She is an ad hoc president who unwillingly accepted the job because the CWC pressured her. Rahul? Well, didn’t he resign from the post of party president nearly three years ago, owning moral responsibility for that defeat, and told the party to fend for itself? He crept back to wielding power de facto only because no one wants that job. Priyanka? Well, she was just fluttering in the wings, and nudged Rahul now and then to act on his impulse.

Rahul raises relevant and serious issues — Hindutva versus Hinduism, crony capitalism as against level playing field, secularism or politics based on religion — but sadly, no one takes him seriously. He is still seen as a dilettante. And his sister Priyanka is perceived as a debutante with great political aspirations but little practical experience — yet to be forged in the flame of politics. The ailing Sonia’s benign filial presence hovering above from the shadows constrains them in action, and a phalanx of toadies screen them from reality. It is not their fault if the party gets destabilised and is in disarray wherever they interfere.

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Rahul doesn’t seem to know where he wants to steer his party to, and as Seneca said, “If one doesn’t know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable”.

In Punjab, the BJP and the Akalis had offered Congress victory on a platter. With the Akalis splitting from their alliance with BJP, the high-handed approach of the BJP toward farmers, the bulldozing of the farm laws in Parliament, the sudden lockdown that caused an exodus of migrant labourers that put farmers in distress, a Congress win seemed certain under the leadership of Capt. Amarinder Singh, despite his many failings as Chief Minister. Instead of defusing the internal rebellion against the party veteran in a mature manner, Rahul and Priyanka fomented dissidence against their own Chief Minister, setting Navjot Singh Sidhu after him. Who can divine their strategy! They toppled Amarinder and replaced him with Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit leader but an unknown face without broad acceptance, just months before the elections and upset the stability of both the party and state government. Rahul and Priyanka’s stupendous ineptitude was evident to the voters.

A few months before Amarinder was thrown out, it was widely believed that the Congress would retain Punjab comfortably, that it had a fair chance of regaining Uttarkhand and Goa, perhaps even Manipur, and would improve its tally in Uttar Pradesh because of rising unemployment, inflation and covid mismanagement, farmers’ distress, and general disenchantment with BJP which constantly stoked the embers of communal strife that affected the livelihoods of common people.

A sure victory was turned into an ignominious defeat for want of good sense and sound judgement on the part of the Gandhi siblings. Now, the question looms — will Congress survive? It seems likely the party may disintegrate of its own accord. Perhaps, we have to ask the question differently — does India need Congress? Should it survive?

The choreographed post-defeat Congress charade played out on expected lines. The sycophants trotted out statements that were not a surprise: “There can be no Congress without the three Gandhis”. Apparently, the Gandhis were willing to step down at the CWC held on March 13, but members begged Sonia to continue as interim president and she readily obliged to save the party. Rahul will also continue his leadership role with Priyanka dancing in tango. A situation which noted historian Ramachandra Guha said suits Narendra Modi perfectly. Rahul will facilitate Modi’s tally of election victories.

Is there a possibility of some Congress dissident following in the footsteps of Narendra Modi, who rebelled against the old guard of his party, sensing the mood of the party, and with lightning speed propelled himself to lead the party and rode to power in 2014? Such a rebel from within will be a good thing for the Congress and the country. But no leader with such overvaulting ambition and a sense of purpose seems visible on the horizon.

While the death of the Congress may be imminent, perhaps inevitable, perhaps even desirable, under the present leadership, the ideals of the Congress — of plurality, of democracy embedded in fraternity, egalitarianism, tolerance of all faiths and secularism in its widest sense — values that Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Bose and others had stood for — that idea of Congress must live on. In the absence of the Congress, another countervailing force to single-party dominance that may spur the pursuit of policies and ideologies antithetical to the Constitution, a resistance against attempts to reduce and homogenise Hinduism and Indian civilisation into a narrow brand of religious identity and nationalism, is urgent and necessary. Leaders without a strong and responsible Opposition in a parliamentary democracy are bound to err, especially muscular, authoritarian leaders are more susceptible to commit egregious blunders and put a country and its people to great danger — as we saw with Trump in the US and now with Russia’s Putin.

While there is a counterpoint to BJP and Modi in many non-BJP, non-Congress-ruled states, through regional leaders who are no less authoritarian and intolerant of dissent than Modi, none of the regional leaders — from Mamata Banerjee to Naveen Patnaik, Kejriwal to Uddhav Thackeray, K C Chandrashekhara Rao, Jaganmohan Reddy, M K Stalin or Pinayari Vijayan — have a pan-India presence or appeal to match Modi.

Congress could have filled that gap. That hope has evaporated.

Who can fill that vacuum? If Kejriwal, who has risen like a meteor by seizing a decisive victory in Punjab, can abandon his autocratic ways and carry along with him more leaders with diverse backgrounds, ideas and talents to complement his strengths, the nation can then perhaps pin its hopes on him and his party to be a worthy challenger to Modi.

We have to keep our fingers crossed.

(The writer is a soldier, farmer and entrepreneur)