Less than half a decade ago, the Congress seemed invincible. The BJP was busy infighting, with more PM candidates than the number of bedrooms in 7 Race Course Road. The Congress was in the classic Goldilocks ‘just right’ state. Manmohan Singh spoke little, the economy grew fast, Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai local train rides were celebrated and Sonia Gandhi was the undisputed leader. Ah, and Twitter didn’t matter much either.
How times change. The Commonwealth Games (incidentally, four years later, another CWG is happening now, in Glasgow) started a series of unfortunate events which, coupled with the arrogance of key leaders, made the party collapse into a dithering mess. For all the party’s sins, one wonders: do they even deserve any advice to resurrect themselves? One, they won’t listen and two, don’t they somewhat deserve the mess they are in?
Well, there are reasons to fix Congress. One, a healthy and reasonably strong opposition is only good for a democracy. In fact, even the BJP could suffer if the Congress is too weak. For it is when politicians fear no competition that they become smug, arrogant and make irreparable mistakes. Since Congress and BJP are the only two plausible national alternatives right now, we must keep things competitive between them rather than make any one party feel indispensible or invincible. So, how to fix the Congress? Frankly, it isn’t that difficult. The party can take a few quick steps to regain a certain amount of lost ground. Here are five:
One, it needs to publicly fire some party heavyweights. Many of their senior leaders became the public face of the party’s arrogance and corruption, at least in perception if not reality. They will probably never win another election and if they stick around, they won’t let others win too.
Since politics is about keeping only the useful, the Congress should make a huge show of humiliating these people and showing them the door. Of course, the family will enjoy the constant immunity card, just as popular celebrities are never evicted early from a reality show. But the rest, well, you know what they say about horses and usefulness. Same in politics. Sorry.
Two, make Rahul say sorry. No glibness, no cleverness, no attempts to say something deep and profound. He has to apologize for not acting when he needed to. For trying to be too clever and keeping mum (no pun intended) during scams. For claiming to be a youth leader but letting them down. For posing to help the downtrodden, but only using them to secure a caste-based votebank. These tricks, possibly handed down to him over the generations, do not work in the internet age. Sincerity, or the lack of it, can be spotted. While leaders do not look good apologizing, if coupled with firings, it will have a positive effect. However, if the apology is stagemanaged, especially with some clever uncle guiding the proceedings behind-the-scenes, it will backfire.
Three, pick on genuine shortcomings of the new government. The BJP government will make mistakes or fall short of expectations, and the Congress has to spot these opportunities and react to them with grace in a fair and constructive manner. It has to be solution-oriented criticism, not ‘they are all crooks’ nonsense or glib comebacks.
Four, promote and give power to a few new faces. Talent exists in the Congress, but it is valued little. The insecurity about stealing the limelight from the family is so high, that there are virtually no Congress stars. Rahul needs to feel more secure. He has to realize his style of management will be different from his forefathers. He should adopt a more collaborative style, not be the sole and last voice on every issue, but have his team do it. The party and Rahul both have to re-jig their working styles. Rahul still enjoys enough equity that his walking away from Congress leadership would make the party crumble. He should use it to build something. Else, it is being frittered away every week.
Five, tell us how things will be different. What has changed in the Congress that a CWG or 2G will not, and cannot happen again? How will we be sure that arrogance won’t be tolerated in the party? How are we sure that Rahul is going to be making himself chamcha-proof? Unless these questions are answered with real actions, trust will never be regained. Even as past scams keep emerging, it is indeed difficult to have sympathy for a party that let India down. However, if it does try to improve, it won’t go unnoticed. Time, however, is running out. Change, or perish.