For the Congress, time is running out

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s exit shows a party in an existential battle, at a time it should be fighting the BJP

In the last few years, the desertion of senior leaders has become so commonplace in the Indian National Congress that sometimes it doesn’t even warrant comment, except on the hapless state of the party. Yet, the resignation of former Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad must sting, not only for the stature of the 73-year-old who served under four prime ministers and was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, but also for the scathing indictment of the Congress’s working delivered in his letter to party president Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Azad’s letter and his exit couldn’t have come at a worse time for the party, which is looking to reconnect with the masses through the Bharat Jodo Yatra.  (PTI)

In Mr Azad’s opinion, the problems with the Congress stem from the personality and behaviour of former party chief Rahul Gandhi (the letter uses the adjective “childish” at one point), the rise of a coterie around him; and the erosion of a culture of deliberation . He identifies three main areas of concern for the party – the sidelining of senior leaders and old-timers in favour of an inexperienced group, the sidestepping and deliberate discarding of recommendations made by internal panels for reform in the party, and the targeting of a group of leaders who wrote to Mrs Gandhi two years ago, pointing to problems in the party’s internal organisation and demanding a raft of changes in the functioning and structure of the party. The Congress has defended itself and pointed out that leaders who exit political outfits always hold grudges and have unresolved grievances. Yet, worryingly for the party, the problems flagged by Mr Azad are real: The Congress has leadership issues; it has organisational issues arising from a moribund leadership that is not up to the task of rejuvenating the grassroots cadre demoralised from a string of electoral reverses; and it has political issues with decisions being made by leaders with little ground connect.

Mr Azad’s letter and his exit couldn’t have come at a worse time for the party, which is looking to reconnect with the masses through the Bharat Jodo Yatra and boost morale with the election of a new president. Mr Azad has weighed in on that too, commenting on the party’s efforts to find “proxies”, presumably for Mr Gandhi, and termed the process a “sham” and a “farce”. With elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh just months away, and then an almost continuous poll season in 2023 leading up to the general election in 2024, the Congress has little time to lose. That it is in an existential battle with the BJP in every state that goes to the polls from now – including the only two states it rules on its own – was known. Now, as Mr Azad’s letter shows, it would appear to be in an existential battle with itself – and those rarely end well.