For the Congress, the time to act is now

All state elections between now and May 2024 will feature the Congress as the primary challenger to the BJP, which is changing the rules of Indian politics with its broad appeal

A time-tested cycle that has yielded little result repeated itself on Sunday with the Congress gathering for a meeting to “introspect” on its dismal showing in the five-state elections. The four-and-a-half hour meeting ended predictably: No resignations from the Congress leadership, entrusting the Congress president to effect organisational changes, and organising a ‘chintan shivir’ to brainstorm for ideas ahead of state polls later this year.

Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, New Delhi, March 13, 2022 (AP)

The Congress faces an existential crisis. It’s haemorrhaging leaders who appear to do well once they leave the party, it appears unable to exploit anti-incumbency against other parties but is vulnerable to the phenomenon itself, and it has a dearth of grassroots leadership and regional satraps who can win elections. It only rules two states on its own — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — and with both going to the polls in late 2023, there is a real danger that the party may head into the 2024 general election without a single chief minister.

But even as the party hurtles from crisis to crisis, its response appears to not reflect the trouble it is in. The question of leadership appears to bounce between members of the same family, internal squabbles continue and panels formed to look into drubbings offer effete solutions. A report on the party’s poor showing in the 2021 state elections is gathering dust. For a democracy to remain healthy, a robust Opposition is needed. All state polls between now and May 2024 will feature the Congress as the primary challenger to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The organisational changes announced on Sunday will need to be decisive. Introspection can no longer cut it. For the Congress, the time to act is running out.