LOOKING WITHIN: BEYOND THE SLOGAN OF “CONGRESS MUST DIE”1

Ever since the announcement of Exit Polls’ predictions where the walls of the ‘grand’ opposition
seemed crumbling and decimation of Congress party was predicted, Yogendra Yadav stirred
controversy by saying that the Congress should die. This debate raged up further after the
confirmation of Exit Polls through the electoral results that proved nothing short of a debacle for
the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. The intelligentsia asserted that the Congress as
well opposition forces failed to protect the ‘Idea of India’ from the electoral authoritarianism of
the BJP. He also called Congress the single largest obstacle for the resistance to BJP’s
majoritarian project. The question to be contemplated is whether the opposition failed to appear
as a strong alternative or the voters were steadfast with their choices.

Some people have attributed this landslide victory of BJP (If exit polls turns out to be true) to
vulgarization of the Hindu mind which is becoming more chauvinistic and intolerant day by day
(evident with growing audacity of extremist organization like VHP, Bajrang Dal). Another
section of intellectuals is ascribing the fiasco on Congress party for not being able to take on
BJP. Yogendra Yadav went to the extent of saying that Congress is the single-largest obstacle in
creating an alternative to divisive politics of BJP.

The abject hopelessness of liberals is understandable but the question how fair they are in
chastisement of opposition party especially Congress. Poll analyst were befuddled over trends
during elections but they are hopeful about the fair performance of Mahagathbandhan in UP and
perpetuation of Lalu’s charisma by his son and an overall resurrection of Congress under new
leadership. Essentially, the faith in the electoral arithmetic of alliances seems to have been
brutally crushed in this battle against the chemistry of emotive nationalism, ideological
hegemony and personal charisma. While some still believe in the delusions of the considerably
different outcomes if there was a higher index of opposition unity, the message from the voters
against opportunist anti-Modi electoral pacts is very clear. The best example for the same is
Karnataka where the arithmetic of the INC-JDS alliance resulted to be counter-productive
because the various practical realities of party organization and social coalitions were
disregarded.

11
Prannv Dhawan and Bhaskar Kumar are students of NLSIU, Bangalore.
The true believers in the foundational principles of our Republic must take this moment to look
within and acknowledge the limitations of chastisement of the political opposition which faced
the most well-oiled political machinery under a remarkably uneven electoral scenario. While the
criticism that the opposition failed to offer a real and trust-worthy alternative is fair, the criticism
and self-reflection must go deeper than that.

First of all, as Prof. Suhas Palshikar and Prof. Apoorvanand have argued before, it is rather
imprudent to write off a party that has ensured a firm grip over its traditional vote of over twenty
percent (over 12.13 crore voters) firmly despite the monumental organizational failures and
ideological incoherence. It must be acknowledged that the Congress party values the principles
which shape India as a democratic country strictly adhering to the constitutional principles.
Congress needs to go back to its where it successfully championed the vision of modern India
based on progressive values and didn’t let the country succumb to communalism like neighbor
country. The party needs rejuvenation in its methods of approaching common man and
addressing the concerns which reflects hearts and souls of people standing at bottom ladder of
society. There has been some serious attempt as the party launched a full fledged campaign by
addressing the grassroots issues and concerns of larger section of Indian populace. The party
included in its manifesto the agrarian distress, poor implementation of GST , revival of MSME
and the issue of jobs and education. The party attempted to launch a campaign solely dedicated
to genuine issues while maintaining a principled stand to abstain from capitalizing on hyper-
nationalism and warmongering. Rahul Gandhi also attempted unique communication strategies
that signified spirit of engagement, dialogue and team-work like informal dinner interactions
with stakeholders. However, the failure to bring home the alternative vision of governance led to
sub-optimal electoral outcomes.

The allegations on the Congress party for letting go the election without putting enough effort
and assessing the gravity of situation needs to be dissected. The election was a perfect political
ambush deftly deployed by BJP first it diverted the minds of voter from genuine issues to issues
like Pulwama attacks, airstrikes by capitalizing on patriotic sentiments strategically ignited by
the ruling party. It is the congress of opposition’s parties’ fault that they could not come up with
appropriate response but it was also the general voter who failed to decipher the hidden intention
of BJP and could not figure out the ambush. There was a failure in conveyance of the idea that
the democratic structure, constitutional values and secularism are under severe attack in this
country which can be attributed to the fact that majority of people don’t relate to these ideas
directly. The voters get swayed by nationalistic sentiments because the threat on national
integrity of country was rampantly capitalized which got intensified after Pulwama.

The critics must emphasize upon constructive recommendations like building a grassroots
organization that represents the alternative vision of India. The means and modes of
communicating with the people and taking up their struggles need to be redefined even as the
Congress and other dynastic parties need radical reforms to resurrect inner-party democracy and
federalism, promote political talent and dismantle feudalistic organization structures. The cynical
alliance-building simply based on opposition to one political personality should be prevented
even as building alliances with people’s movements and struggles must be prioritized. The
serious challenge of PM Modi’s personal charisma must be taken head-on by giving space to
mass leaders who can offer a credible local alternative to his political hegemony.