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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  A year on, Congress comes to terms with life in the opposition
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A year on, Congress comes to terms with life in the opposition

The big challenge for the party now is to work towards becoming a political alternative in states where it is in a fight against BJP

There was an informal baton handover in the Gandhi dynasty—Sonia retreated and left it to Rahul to guide the party in the rest of the budget session. Photo: PTIPremium
There was an informal baton handover in the Gandhi dynasty—Sonia retreated and left it to Rahul to guide the party in the rest of the budget session. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Little over a year ago, the Congress, after suffering its worst electoral defeat in a general election, struggled to convince the Lok Sabha speaker that it should be designated the leader of the opposition even though it had not won the requisite number of seats.

This would not be the first time that the Congress would sit in the opposition. But it was the first instance where it could not manage even 50 seats, restricted to a few pockets in the south and east of India.

Worse electoral setbacks followed. The Congress and its coalitions were voted out in Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir. Its ignominy was complete with the Congress failing to win a single seat in Delhi which it had governed for three consecutive terms till 2013.

Even while a diminished Congress struggled in the Lok Sabha, it was unable to rally the opposition. As a result, some of the crucial bills opposed by the Congress in the upper House were passed because the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) managed to split the opposition.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) occupied the centrestage of politics in the last one year, for the Congress, it has been a struggle for both survival and revival. After losing out on the post of the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, the party was in disarray because Rahul Gandhi, its most important leader and party vice-president, chose to go on a 56-day sabbatical. In his absence, it was left to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to rally the party.

Even as the Congress struggled politically, both within and outside the House, concerns about the party’s future began to force fissures within the country’s oldest political party. The return of Rahul midway through the budget session and his aggressive posturing invigorated the party cadres. More importantly, there was an informal baton handover in the Gandhi dynasty—Sonia retreated and left it to Rahul to guide the party in the rest of the budget session.

“There is a newfound enthusiasm among party leaders as well as members ever since Rahul Gandhi took on the government, especially in the Parliament. The road ahead is that this sustains and translates into a robust organizational revamp and a consistent attack on the Modi government," said a general secretary of the party, who requested anonymity.

For the first time, the Congress was willing to be more assertive. In the upper House, the new avatar of the Congress managed to rally the rest of the opposition to partially derail the legislative agenda of the government: while the controversial land bill ended up being referred to a joint committee of Parliament, the goods and services tax bill was sent to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha.

At the same time, the session saw Rahul draw up his own team made up of younger parliamentarians. Among the younger leaders more visible with Rahul Gandhi were Jyotiraditya Scindia, who also accompanied Gandhi on a trip to Punjab. Deepender Singh Hooda, who led the party’s attack on the land bill, and first-time parliamentarians Gaurav Gogoi and Sushmita Dev were also part of his team which took on the government in Lok Sabha.

“If you look at the last one year, the Congress party has taken time to come to terms with its devastating defeat and being in the opposition. At the end of an year, the Congress as a party is still not doing well but the Congress party as the opposition has certainly made its presence felt, especially in the Parliament," Zoya Hasan, a New Delhi-based political analyst and professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said.

“There are very difficult days ahead for the Congress party. What we have witnessed in the last six months is just the beginning of the party doing some re-thinking but the bigger question which remains is whether Rahul Gandhi will stay the course or not," Hasan added.

The bigger challenge for the party now is to reorganize itself and work towards making itself a political alternative in states where it is in a bipolar fight against the BJP.

Apart from ensuring a sound electoral performance in the upcoming state elections in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, some of the immediate issues facing the Congress include organization rebuilding, containing factionalism, raising the right issues to connect with the public and emerging as an effective opposition to the ruling BJP.

“There is a lot of work that remains to be done. The entire party organization needs to be revamped, from top level to the state-level leadership. Till now, there has not been a single sacking of senior leaders, many of whom were largely responsible for the party’s defeat last year," Ramesh Dixit, a Lucknow-based political analyst, said.

“Rahul Gandhi has to learn to reach out to the masses, not with show and pomp, but with complete humility. Being an effective opposition is the sign of beginning, but as far as the party is concerned, some serious steps need to be taken for organization building," he added.

Rahul has adopted a two-pronged approach—strengthening internal party organization and opposing the government both inside and outside the Parliament on the right issues. The party is focusing on its pro-poor, pro-farmer agenda and held a massive farmers’ rally in New Delhi last month. Gandhi has travelled to Punjab, Maharashtra and Telangana to speak about farm distress and the land acquisition bill.

“The immediate priority for the party and Rahul Gandhi is to strengthen the organization and he has already begun it with changes at the state-level organizations. Reaching out to the public is another key area which would include public rallies and padyatras," said a senior party leader.

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Published: 24 May 2015, 10:37 PM IST
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