Belagavi meet: They came, they met and they left

Rather than a ‘Chintan Baithak’, the CWC meet merely indulged in BJP bashing and did not unveil any road map to put the Narendra Modi government on the mat. It was expected that the two-day session would go in for serious introspection and roll out major reforms in its organisational structure. But it did not happen. The party needs to infuse young blood and move away from the present team of cheer leaders if it plans to stage a comeback by 2029.

The session demanded income support to the poor and tax relief to the middle classes. If the Congress had raised this issue effectively in the winter session of Parliament, it would have helped the party connect with the genuine tax-paying sections of the society. The threat the Congress should understand is more to their existence than to the Constitution or anything else

The biggest challenge before the 139-year-old Congress party is how to rebrand and re-build the leader-based party into a cadre-based party, if it were to start winning elections after it got decimated in 2014 and since then has not been able to regain its lost ground.

When the party decided to hold its two-day CWC session at Belagavi in Karnataka, it was felt that the party would discuss its failures and challenges ahead in an impartial manner and work out a road map for 2029 polls and move in that direction. But it did not happen. It seems to be determined not to make corrections and does not want to change its narrative and strategies in 2025 as well.

Rahul Gandhi was named as the party’s secretary general in September 2007 with his mother Sonia remaining as the president, and in January 2013, he was appointed the Congress vice-president. Rahul fought his first Lok Sabha election in 2004 from Amethi and people embraced him making comparisons between Rahul and his father Rajiv Gandhi. They saw a future PM in him. But during his two decade-long journey, the party has not only lost over 90 elections and is now fast losing the faith and trust of its alliance partners. It was expected that Belagavi session would go in for serious introspection and come out with major reforms in its organisational structure. But it did not happen.

People expected that the Congress would work towards getting a new avatar from Belagavi since this is the place where the historic CWC meeting was held when Mahatma Gandhi was the party chief. After his release from prison, Mahatma was unhappy with rampant factionalism in the Congress party and lack of unity among the Hindus and the Muslims during the freedom struggle. In February 1924, he chaired the 39th CWC meeting in Belagavi. He later sat on 21-day fast from September 18 to October 8 to bridge this divide between both the communities. It was a period marked by intense political activity and growing momentum for India’s freedom movement.

This historic session brought together leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, C Rajagopalachari, Sarojini Naidu, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and many others. Mahatma Gandhi reiterated his commitment to non-cooperation and civil disobedience as the most powerful tool against the British rule which became the cornerstone for all future agitations including the Salt March and the Quit India movement.

It was a session which gave a clear road map for promoting khadi as a symbol of self-reliance to protest against the economic policies of the British government, revive indigenous industries and reduce dependence on the British goods. To achieve Independence, Gandhi stressed the need for communal harmony and the need for unity of all religious and ethnic groups in the country. It was also important as the noted vocalist Veene Seshanna performed the song ‘Udayavagali Namma Chaluva Kannada Nadu’ which became an anthem for Karnataka’s unification movement.

In contrast, the CWC meeting chaired by the AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi at Belagavi held on December 26 and 27 failed to introspect why it found little favour with the voters since 2014 and why the party failed to galvanise the party cadre to win the elections. There is an urgent need for the Congress party to reinvent the wheel, but it failed to work in that direction as it refuses to see and accept the reality.

It should have known that naming the meeting as ‘Nava Satyagraha Baithak’ and giving a new slogan “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan Abhiyan,” cannot revive the poll prospects of the party. It needs to go in for a complete overhauling of the rank and file, change its narrative, become more sensible and put the Union government on mat by participating in debates and discussions and presenting irrefutable facts and figures, re-stablish their connect with people not by the theatrics but by working with them at the booth level.

Most importantly, the Congress party needs to bring drastic changes in the party organizational structure by infusing young blood and moving away from the present team of cheer leaders if it plans to stage a comeback by 2029.

Unfortunately, even a semblance of such efforts or thoughts were not found during the two-day meeting. It was just another meeting where leaders came, they met, and they left. It resolved that in a bid to get battle-ready for the challenges ahead, the Congress will decide on an action plan for the next year at the CWC meeting.

It means another 365 days are lost. It passed resolutions urging the NDA government to use its upcoming budget to provide income support to the poor and tax relief to the middle classes. If the Congress had raised this issue effectively in the winter session of Parliament it would have certainly made the government ponder over it and would have helped Congress connect with the genuine tax paying sections of the society. If the budget did not reflect this, Congress would have got a powerful weapon to take on the NDA and it could have given a ‘fatafat guarantee,’ that it would do so if voted to power. But it lost a golden chance.

GST certainly needs a relook. There are no two opinions about it. Though, it has not become an absurdity as Rahul Gandhi feels, there is need to urgently rationalise the system and reduce the financial burden on the common man. Instead of simply making a demand for GST 2.0, the party should have torn into the government in Parliament on this issue and should have given its own proposal for a simple tax in practice. This would have helped the party make the people look at Congress party. But the winter session of Parliament ended with ruckus inside and drama outside.

Expressing concern over GST and making comments that it was tax terrorism on industry, trade and commerce or passing a resolution saying that it was designed to enrich a few of Modi’s favourite business groups like Adani does not help. Such narrative people are now tired of listening to and repeatedly, the Congress had been losing the elections. If the party still cannot realise what people want, then perhaps even God cannot save them.

CWC said, “Oligopolies in the economy are growing. While more and more Indians have a stake in capital markets, the integrity of regulators has been called into serious question. Private investment, which must drive faster economic growth, is still extremely sluggish and mass consumption is stagnating.”

Making statements does not solve the problem. Such important meetings should have had more in-depth discussions. At least in the party forum, they should have discussed the alternative plans that could reverse the “Oligopolies” situation and should have told the nation what they would do to put the country on much faster road to growth. Rambling never helps any party. They should explain the solutions they have up their sleeve.

They went on indulging in BJP bashing making vague statements on current political developments including their latest narrative that Constitution and its architect Dr B R Ambedkar were under attack and contrary to their pre CWC claims, they failed to come up with clear-cut ideas to address the challenges. The threat the Congress should understand is more to their existence than to the Constitution or anything else.