Opinion: Congress needs a new lease of life

ON December 28, 1885, 72 delegates from all over British India met at the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College and Boarding House in Bombay (now Mumbai). Their discussions led to the creation of the Indian National Congress, that went on to spearhead India’s freedom movement.One hundred and forty years later, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) met in New Delhi on December 27, 2025, to celebrate the party’s long existence. Energising the grand old party continues to be the key theme — it has been sitting on the Opposition benches since 2014 after having been in power at the Centre for a total of around 55 years. There are only three states where the Congress is in power on its own (Telangana, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh), while it is a junior member of the ruling coalition in Jharkhand as well as J&K.It was in 1984 that the Congress last rode to power with an absolute majority. Then came Narasimha Rao’s minority government (1991-96); later, the party ruled for a decade, leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister.Despite accusations that Sonia Gandhi engaged in “back-seat driving” and the loss in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls due to the BJP’s well-planned campaign, the party has not lost its prominence in Indian politics. The 2024 parliamentary elections showed its ability to bounce back.The Congress displayed its incapacity for party-building during Rajiv Gandhi’s reign and then during the UPA years. Rahul Gandhi wasted a decade as a “non-performing” MP during 2004-14. In September 2013, he tore a copy of an ordinance — in full public view — that his own party’s government was bringing in to save convicted legislators.The focus on keeping the leadership in the hands of the Nehru-Gandhi family has restrained the party from developing local leaders and cadres. Making Mallikarjun Kharge (83) the party president was a smart move, but age is not on his side. There should be younger leaders around him. Equally, it is important to empower young leaders and workers to give grassroots zest to the party.At the recent CWC meeting, it was announced that 2026 would witness the ‘Sangathan Srijan Karyakram’ (organisational revamp programme). However, no comprehensive resolution on the country’s social, political and economic situation nor a strategy to tackle the key problems came out of the deliberations.Indeed, the party needs an exhaustive rebuilding programme. The fact that the Congress is poor at attracting funds compared to the BJP does not help matters. According to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) data, the BJP has emerged as the richest party with a Rs 7,113-crore fund balance, while the Congress has just Rs 857 crore.The hopes that the party raised with its performance in the 2024 elections have dimmed. The Congress began its rebuilding efforts with Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanniyakumari to Kashmir and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai. These journeys (September 2022-January 2023 and January-March 2024, respectively), covering over 10,000 km on foot and by bus, gave Rahul and the party some visibility; BJP leaders stopped calling him Pappu (duffer). But, as I pointed out in my articles in the Mainstream Weekly a couple of years ago, the yatras did not make an enduring impact on the party’s fortunes. The 2024 General Election saw the Congress gaining slightly and the BJP losing its absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. But apart from getting the office of LoP, the party’s gains were limited.The 2025 Bihar Assembly elections starkly exposed gaps in the party’s institutional edifice and strategic foresight.The BJP has retained its edge as a party that functions 24x7; its strategy is to keep looking for opportunities, irrespective of occasional electoral setbacks. The Congress, particularly its Nehru-Gandhi leadership, has been unable to build such a party structure and provide guidance with such dynamism.The party’s strategy of attacking the ECI and naming officers has had a negative impact as the BJP has repeatedly accused the Congress of maligning the institution. The ‘vote chori’ allegations, though backed by loads of documents, have not had the kind of resonance that Rahul and the party were expecting.Foregrounding the redesigning and renaming of MGNREGA — the rural employment guarantee scheme that was rolled out by the Congress-led UPA — as the VB G-RAM-G Act by the Narendra Modi government is also not turning into a big platform for political mobilisation.The BJP’s strategy of creating a large population of ‘labharthis’ (beneficiaries), who sustain on free foodgrains, and offering cash to women eventually proves to be a vote-catcher, as witnessed in the Bihar elections.Obviously, the Congress needs to redesign its programmes and agenda for strengthening the party structure in order to reach out to every Indian. It can start from the states where it is in power. Beyond that, it will have to react promptly to issues emerging in various states.

Opinion: Congress needs a new lease of life

The Bihar Assembly elections starkly exposed gaps in the party’s institutional edifice and strategic foresight.

Ajay K Mehra

Opinion: Congress needs a new lease of life

The Bihar Assembly elections starkly exposed gaps in the party’s institutional edifice and strategic foresight.

Ajay K Mehra

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