The underwhelming performance of the congress in the recently concluded Assembly elections in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was anything but surprising. The disappointing electoral performances of the party on multiple fronts since its surprising success in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections have not only pushed it towards oblivion but has also allowed other political parties to strengthen themselves and become the principle challengers to the BJP. The recent elections saw parties like the Trinomool Congress and the DMK consolidate their position as credible competitors to the BJP and its allies in their respective regional strongholds while the congress failed to dislodge the incumbent governments in Assam and Kerala.
Since its humiliation in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections many political analysts have pointed out the inability of the congress to even come close to the BJP in terms of electoral success and political acumen. While this is true it has led many to equate the downfall of the congress with the rise and success of the BJP but on deeper analysis one may attribute the irrelevance of the congress on its inability to mobilise any organic electoral support as a direct result of its failure to bring any fresh political agendas to the ever evolving Indian political landscape.
To highlight this one may look at the sporadic electoral successes that the congress has been a part of since 2014. Each of these successes were characterised as the catalyst for the rise of the congress and the fall of the BJP but in reality the success of the congress did not provide any alternative political narrative that could be used to reclaim power at the center rather these sporadic victories were achieved by piggybacking on local issues and leaders. Punjab in this context offers an excellent example, while the congress victory in the state of Punjab was definitive it was built on the popularity of its local leaders and anti-incumbency sentiments without any input from the central leadership. Similar factors were again at play when the congress won in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in 2018. Not only did the congress fail to use these victories as a catalyst to reclaim power at the centre (as it performed well below par in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections), but constant infighting between its leaders meant that it lost its government in Madhya Pradesh and the same almost happened in Rajasthan. While a strong regional presence can be beneficial to a political party as evidenced by the rise of Prime Minister Modi, it has to be accompanied with an alternative political narrative that offers distinct political solutions which the incumbent currently seem incapable of implementing as was the case in 2014.
Hence the congress has failed spectacularly in suggesting any political alternative to the present Central Government rather it has been more focused on appropriating the success of the local/ regional leaders. If only it was interested in learning from regional leaders like Mamata Banerjee they might have had some impact in the recent elections.