Opinion | Congress Must Learn That Nehru, Gandhi, Patel Can't Save It Anymore

It is hardly surprising that the just-concluded Congress session in Ahmedabad created no more than a ripple. Apart from symbolic grandstanding by crashing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's den after a gap of six decades, the AICC meet had little to offer by way of a much-anticipated roadmap for revival to lift the party out of the morass of repeated electoral defeats.

As a senior leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity remarked in a despondent tone, “We don't seem to have moved forward from where we stood in 2020.” That was the fateful year when a group of 23 senior leaders (later nicknamed G-20) penned a letter to then acting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, seeking sweeping changes in the party and the re-establishment of a collective system of responsibility tasked with revival following a second successive general election defeat.

Listen To Tharoor

It was left to Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor to bell the cat by striking a cautionary note on the session's obvious shortcomings. Drawing on his consummate diplomatic skills to convey his misgivings as gently as possible, he urged the Congress to project itself as a party of hope and positivity, not resentment and criticism, and as a party of the future, not just of the past. The youth, he reminded those present, do not give much importance to history but look for ideas for their future.

Tharoor's words assume significance in the context of the present Congress leadership's tendency to hark back to its glorious past by repeatedly recalling its pivotal role in the freedom struggle and the sacrifices of its slain leaders Indira and Rajiv Gandhi.

The propensity to live in the past oozed out of every pore during the two-day session. In fact, the entire meet was high on historical symbolism with pointed markers of the party's rich legacy: a Congress Working Committee meet at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial in Ahmedabad, a visit to Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram, a break from tradition in favour of one omnibus resolution adopted in honour of India's ‘Iron Man', Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Posters and banners of Gandhi and Patel studded the venues as the party made a desperate bid to reclaim these national icons from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has glorified Patel in particular by consecrating the world's tallest statue in his image.

'Well-Planned Conspiracy'

The Congress drove home the point further, with a resolution condemning what it termed as “a well-planned conspiracy” against national heroes. The resolution described the BJP's bid to claim Patel's legacy as “laughable”.

While appreciating the driving need to remind the country that it was the Congress that birthed the heroes of the freedom struggle who are being deified by the BJP today, it's time for the party to stop living off its past glories. This is the 21st century. The freedom struggle was fought and won nearly 80 years ago. Most of the country's youth do not remember or do not care to remember that era. 
The median age in India is 28.5 years. It's a young population driven by aspirations to get ahead.

Recalling the Congress of the past does not resonate with this demographic. Tharoor was not wrong when he said that the youth don't attach much importance to history. They look to the future and want to know how the Congress can help them get ahead and fulfill their dreams. The current crop of Congress strategists would do well to recall how Rajiv Gandhi paraphrased the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr, “I too have a dream…” and reached out to a young population raring to storm into the 21st century with computers, skill-based education, drinking water on tap and a corruption-free environment.

Playing To Its Strengths

The Congress as a name has immense brand recall. After all, it has been around for almost 140 years. However, it needs to pour new wine into old bottles to strike a chord with the burgeoning population of young voters.

To be fair, the AICC session did attempt incremental changes in messaging. For instance, for the first time, it took the bull by the horns and challenged the BJP's view of nationalism. Dismissing it as “pseudo-nationalism”, the Congress made an effort to define its own brand of the concept, which it described as one that binds people together instead of dividing them, and one that is deeply embedded in our shared heritage, not in vitriol and prejudice.

The concept is still evolving and needs refining, but at least the Congress has started the process.
On secularism, too, the Congress is still trying to frame its position. However, it did try a bolder approach this time by specifically identifying Muslims and Christians as victims of violence, instead of waffling about “religious minorities”.

Stay Positive

However, there is a section within the party that has reservations about the constant harping on caste and caste census. This is Rahul Gandhi's new obsession, and while a census will certainly help the cause of equitable social justice, some wonder whether constant talk of historical atrocities on the marginalised injects negativity into the party's discourse.

Tharoor talked of the need for positivity. Perhaps the Congress should concentrate on crafting a well-defined agenda with a futuristic vision for the nation, something like Rajiv Gandhi did back in the mid-1980s, instead of focusing all its energies on a negative campaign against the BJP and RSS. The Ahmedabad meet would have been a good place to start brainstorming on this. It would have certainly sent out a message of change. Unfortunately, the Congress failed to seize this opportunity.

(The author is a senior Delhi-based journalist)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the authors