Can Congress be revived?

If the developments in the Congress party are any indication, it appears that the year 2021 too is unlikely to bring any cheer to the rank and file of the Grand Old Party. The party failed to regain its lost ground after the debacle it faced in 2014 general elections. The way the party has been dithering on every issue and refusing to learn lessons clearly indicates that the main reason for this pathetic situation is lack of leadership. While it is good to use technology, no political party can afford to survive politically only with the help of technology.

A leader is one who stands with the people and keeps fighting for the cause of the common man while exposing the government's omissions and commissions and coming up with alternate action plans. But what is happening is that the Congress social media wing keeps praising the Gandhi family, abuse and troll those who oppose the party. The party leaders starting from Rahul Gandhi down to the PCC leaders keep addressing press conferences and are hardly found at the ground level. The internal dissension is never ending, and the party is groping in dark. Soon after the 2014 debacle, the party started off on a very promising and positive note by declaring that no member of Gandhi family would head the party. This certainly was a bold decision but then the party started losing the advantage it had gained. Six years down the lane, Sonia Gandhi had to take over the reins once again despite her poor health and she continues to hold the fort.

Who is to be blamed for it? Obviously, it is Rahul Gandhi who should take the blame. Rahul who took over as party president for a short period till 2019 elections was not focussed in his approach in taking on the government. He proved to be inflexible and intolerant of dissent. Despite having good organisation in Madhya Pradesh, Rahul failed to handle the situation deftly and it led to the fall of the government. Rahul's onetime good friend Jyotiraditya Scindia walked out with his team of MLAs and most of them got elected on BJP ticket sending a clear message that the Congress had lost the confidence of people. When some senior Congress leaders wrote a letter expressing their anguish over the way the party was fast losing its existence, nothing was done to address the issue.

Till now, it had not taken steps to have full time party president. It had almost lost all the elections that were held later and even in the recent Bihar elections, it did not fare well. The Congress in the last six years never played the lead role on any issue. In 2019 elections, it rubbed shoulders with some regional parties including the TDP but did not take the lead to organise these parties and emerge as force to be reckoned with. As a result, the regional parties and the Congress suffered a serious blow. Towards the end of 2020, the party once again appeared to be trying for a makeover when it was said that it would go in for appointments of new PCC presidents. But while the exercise was said to be on, Rahul Gandhi went on a holiday to Italy to meet his maternal grandmother.

Sonia Gandhi who is the interim party president of late has not been taking any independent decisions. This has resulted in party leaders washing their dirty linen in public. For example, the TPCC leaders are indulging in mudslinging against each other. This gives an impression that things in the Congress party will never change.