22nd January: A Commencement or Continuation?

As the Congress Party intends to meet on the 22nd of January perhaps to kick off the leadership election process, five month after 23 senior leaders of the Grand Old Party wrote a letter to the Interim President, Sonia Gandhi calling for sweeping changes in the Party and demanding Elections to the official positions, it must take a lesson from the Chintan Shivir at Panchmari in 1998 and the Shimla Shivir in 2003.

Nearly 20 years have passed since these landmark sessions but the similarities of then and now are certainly prominent. The Congress had lost power in the 1998 Elections and it's seats had dwindled both at State and Centre Levels. The Chintan Shivir witnessed Sonia Gandhi being elected as the President of the party. On her inaugural address, she mentioned several vital points that have stark resemblance with today's crisis within the Congress. She had mentioned that what was far more concerning than the electoral losses was the loss of their support base amongst those who were staunch supporters of the Congress previously- the Minorities, the Depressed Classes who seemed to lose faith in the INC. She also emphasized how intra-party discord was a big reason why the Congress was losing its credibility. She also commented positively on the necessity of forming coalitions to battle the BJP-led communal forces but not at the cost of compromising its basic ideology and values.

The G-23 leaders include High-profile senior leaders such as Gulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Bhoopinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan amongst many others.

The Session was landmark in the sense that it intended to establish a Congress Election Authority, comprising eminent, impartial and highly regarded senior Congress leaders to ensure free and fair elections at all levels of the party. This aimed to revive the party back in states like UP, Bihar and Tamilnadu. It even moved further to accommodate young leaders in top positions. However quite like today's government, the party didn't well implement these policies chiefly due to its unwillingness to adhere to them and it failed once more in the 1999 polls and from 141 seats was reduced to 114 in the Lok Sabha. It was again in the Shimla Shivir, held a year before the 2004 General Elections that the party met and publicly devised a policy on Governance like promising to enact a national rural employment guarantee act, establish food and nutrition security for all at more affordable prices, political representation and legal equality of Dalits, adivasis, OBCs and minorities and start a purposeful dialogue with private industry on how best India’s social diversity could be reflected in the private sector in different ways like reservations and fiscal incentives. The convention had its desired effect and the party was elected back to power in the polls conducted the following year.

It's essential that the party looks back to its remarkable decisions of the Chintan Shivir. A permanent Election Committe within the party will be a first in India's political history that will surely result in the elevation of leaders who may have been sidelined. If the Congress also sticks to its 40 under 40 policy often harped by Sachin Pilot (wherein 40% of party tickets are to be given to candidates under 40 years of age), it will have wider acceptability among the youth who seem to have lost confidence in the party. Elections will have a two-pronged effect: i) it will effect in the creation of prominent state leaders thereby making the party strong in states ii) it will also lead to an end to intra-party disputes for the leader will be elected and not selected, appointed by wishes of a majority and not anointed by one man or woman.

Amongst all other measures, the Congress would have to act on the same lines to elect a President in 2021 as it did so to replace Sitaram Keshri in 1998 if it wishes to regain the confidence of the people.

It will be foolhardy to belive that on the Election of a new President, the Gandhi factor will cease to exist. The Gandhi family has undoubtedly played commendable roles in allaying inter-party disputes in the UPA coalitions and intra-party leaders most recently how Priyanka Gandhi Vadra handled the Sachin Pilot situation. However as of now the Gandhi siblings despite their good intentions have failed to showcase that level of decisive expertise that their mother showed in the 2000s, although political commentators have applauded PGV's efforts to step in for her brother at several important occasions like the Foundation Day Celebrations and speculating that she is stepping into the shoes of veterans like Ahmed Patel and Motilal Vohra, the erstwhile crisis managers of the party. However their wings need to be clipped and they need to be dragged down to the same level as others to prevent the party from becoming anymore irrelevant. Leaders should stop being gaga over them and report to the Party President and not 10 Janpath. It's naive to say that the party lacks charismatic leaders who are not either members from a family or good enough to serve as Presidents. There is Capt. Amarinder Singh who can be installed to neutralize the BJP's military rhetorics, Bhupesh Baghel who doesn't belong to any political family, Dr Shashi Tharoor who is a youth icon and so on. They have simply not been explored well enough. 

Although Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is gradually preparing for greater Political roles and seems to be promising, the Congress should not immediately elect her to the top post given her poor record in electoral politics such as in eastern UP in 2019 and Bihar in 2020.

The newly elected President's first responsibility would be to devise a new governance model like the party did at Shimla in 2003 and also to end inter-leader disputes. The battle between the Hoodas and Randeep Surjewala in Haryana, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan, Oomen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala in Kerela must have honourable solutions without expelling anyone like it did in 1999 with Sharad Pawar, Tariq Anwar and PA Sangma, especially the latter one if it wants to make some serious dent in the image of the extremely popular LDF Government in the upcoming Kerela Niyamsabha polls. Suspended members like Sanjay Jha must be brought back. The election of a National President will certainly set a healthy precedent for elections at state, district and lower levels and only then under a united leadership can the party revive back itself from the grass roots.The meeting on 22nd will include 19 members, 26 permanent invitees and nine special invitees other than the Congress president.

The Feud between Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala has weaker the UDF in Kerela further as testified by the recently concluded Kerela Local-Self Government Polls.

A leadership crisis is not unprecedented in the Congress. In 1998, the party stunned the entire political community on promptly removing Sitaram Keshri as Party President on the pretext of not preparing the party enough in 1998 installing Sonia Gandhi at Panchmari. But at that point a Gandhi was involved. Whether the Congress would act as swiftly this time when the Gandhis are not interested or even if it does if is it going to commit the same mistake of bringing back Rahul Gandhi just like it did with Sonia after she resigned from her post in the 1999 (which although worked to the Party's advantage) is something are eyes are keenly set on.