The much-hyped 85th plenary session of the Congress has turned out to be a futile exercise as it has failed to set up an alternative narrative to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 general elections. The plenary session had provided a perfect opportunity to deliberate on the soft-Hindutva line adopted by the party since 2014. Congress MP Sashi Tharoor raised the issue on the second day of the brain-storming conclave and blamed the approach for the erosion of the party’s support base. In his opinion, the party should have protested more vociferously on incidents related to discrimination against minorities to make the dream of inclusive India a reality. But no other leader seemed to be interested in debating over this ideological issue. Again, the party’s insistence on leading the anti-BJP alliance will definitely harm the prospects of opposition unity. At the same time, the reluctance shown by the party in ensuring 50 per cent reservation in organisational posts for women and marginal sections of society and lack of enthusiasm in implementing the much-talked about ‘one man, one post’ policy will prevent the party from strengthening its position. Further, adaptation of selection procedure for the formation of the party’s working committee instead of opting for elections, proves that the Congress still believes in handpicking its leaders rather than offering spaces to grass root level workers, who are the real strength of the party in the organisational hierarchy.
The failure to take decisions on such key issues will likely further weaken the Congress and make it a complete mismatch against BJP in the upcoming assembly elections and in the general elections a year later. Sonia Gandhi may feel proud of the successful completion of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ undertaken by Rahul Gandhi, but in reality it has done nothing to strengthen the party. The hype surrounding the yatra is not enough to bring votes for the party. The yatra passed through the four states namely Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the party will be engaged in a direct fight with BJP shortly. The outcome of these Assembly elections are very important as poll results will indicate which way the wind will blow during the 2024 general elections. In the last assembly elections, the Congress formed the government in all four states, but later lost two due to infighting. It is crucial for the Congress to retain its stronghold in these four states to keep the hope of dethroning BJP from power. Quite unfortunately, no effort has been made so far to put an end to internal bickering, which is potent and will cause further downfall of the party in these states. The plenary had provided the platform to discuss ways in which to end internal feuds, but in their own wisdom the party leaders decided not to use the platform to rid the party of this chronic disease. Thus, once again the Congress has lost a golden opportunity to introspect and find ways to reestablish its lost connection with the people of India.