INC: A guide on how not to be a political party in opposition

In politics, the true and biggest test for a political party is being out of power and playing the opposition. There exists a serious existential crisis for the opposition party if it fails in not building a narrative, holding the government accountable, and reaching out to people to get back in power. This seems to be the case currently with the Congress party, which still seems to be in its hangover of power and has not come to terms with the political reality of the day. Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress president, had recently remarked on the upcoming general elections that if the BJP wins a 3rd term in power, India would become a dictatorship and even went on to suggest that India will have elections like those in Russia. Leaving aside the merit of this argument, the remarks give us a view of Congress's psyche and all that is wrong with it.

First of all the remark is a formal acknowledgment of what the general election results might have in store for the Congress. It shows the defeatist attitude of the party and its unwillingness to even put up a good fight for the sake of its political fortunes. Asking people to vote for the party to save democracy and for their own good highlights the narcissism and arrogance that it harbors. It feels like the party believes that people voting it out of power is an anomaly that automatically will get rectified. The recent state election results and Congress's reaction to the poll debacles stand as a testament to it. Instead of looking within and figuring out what went wrong, it insinuated that the states where it lost don't understand it and hence perhaps don't deserve it, blaming the people instead. There seems to be no attempt to give an alternative to the people apart from being anti-BJP, a complete lack of imagination in terms of political ideology or policy. Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is to an extent abstract, with its exact objectives not being clear and the same is the case with his "Mohabbat ki Dukan" proposition. The slogans and the yatra might be good for social media, but for it to matter electorally there needs to be some substance to it as well.

The most important role of the principal opposition party is holding the government accountable through debates and discussions in the parliament. But what we see in parliament is only a ruckus and the government smartly blames the opposition for it, escaping any accountability or scrutiny. The opposition led by the Congress seems too fixated on getting the optics right in the parliament with their majority focus on cornering the Prime Minister and Home Minister. There is nothing wrong in holding the PM accountable for his government, but limiting the act of accountability to getting just the optics of it right is doing a disservice to the people at large and losing sight of the bigger picture. Apart from the land acquisition bill brought in Narendra Modi's first term, there is nothing else for the Congress to write on its resume for its role as the principal opposition party. And it is not as if this government didn't have its share of vulnerabilities, from the CAA, and farm laws, to demonetization there was enough opportunity for the opposition to make a dent in Modi's and BJP's credibility. But you can't credit the Congress party or the opposition at large, for any change of stance or policy reversal on these issues. It shows how clueless the Congress has been in its role of playing the opposition party.

It seemed that with stitching of the I.N.D.I.A alliance the Congress looked serious about putting up a defense against the BJP. But even before something tangible in terms of seat sharing or electoral strategy was worked out, the alliance saw Mamata Banerjee humming the tunes of "Ekla Chalo" in West Bengal, while Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA fold with his yet another summersault. It is the unwillingness of the Congress to concede some space to the regional parties and in turn, losing a possible chance of keeping the BJP out of power. On the other hand, you have the BJP, which in the past had shook hands with its archrival the left, to keep INC out of power. BJP even accepted to swallow a bitter pill and make Eknath Shinde the chief minister, not only to legitimize the Shinde faction but also to ensure that they hold on to power in the state in the future as well, despite being the single largest party. But the Congress lacks the shrewdness to play such realpolitik and lacks a long-term vision.

Lastly coming back to Mallikarjun Kharge's remark, it is very irresponsible of him to insinuate that Indian elections would become just a gimmick without presenting any facts or data to back his claim. This then gives anyone the power to question the legitimacy of any government which is a very slippery slope to venture on. Mr Kharge should remember it is the same democracy that has seen a party that once upon a time had just 2 seats and staring into political oblivion, coming to power with a full majority. While there might be several problems with the Indian democracy and while no democracy is perfect, comparing it with Russia is not justified. Whether BJP winning a 3rd term has an impact on India's democracy or not only time will tell, but it is a step forward towards the Congress becoming politically inconsequential is a statement of fact.

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