Is Congress losing perception battle in North East?

Guwahati: The Congress Party, which once lorded over almost the whole of the North East, is now fighting to stay relevant in seven sisters. The party is fighting an existential threat as it has been pushed to the edge by the rapidly changing political landscape in the seven sisters.

Ever since, it lost Assam in 2016, the Congress has been fighting a perception battle. It lost Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur in quick succession. Though it got more seats than the BJP, the latter managed to act with alacrity and cobble up a motley coalition to form the government. Now, with Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland going to polls, the party is facing bleak prospects.

In Tripura Congress has been reduced to being a non-entity. It is nowhere in the picture and the near-empty venues of Rahul Gandhi public meetings on Sunday show that the party is nowhere in the fight. In Nagaland, the Congress has for long been a non-entity. The party faces an uphill task in Meghalaya, where a group of regional parties and the BJP have pushed it to the wall. The Congress is in power, but can it hold on to the power in Shillong is the big question.

That leaves the Congress with Mizoram alone. Once, it had governments in all the northeastern states. It was the automatic choice of the voters. But, now in states like Nagaland and Tripura, it is unable even to find candidates for contesting the elections.

The party lacks strategy and leadership in North East unlike the BJP, which has marshaled all its resources for the three NE states and cobbled up winning alliances. A win in North East is important for the Congress for it will demonstrate the Congress ability to be the alternative to the BJP in 2019 polls.