In The Wake Of BJP’s Massive Victory, Does The Congress Need To Change Their Political Strategy?

The saffron tsunami is in full swing once again in India. Riding on the Modi wave the BJP has registered a massive victory in the 2019’s general election, where the BJP performed extraordinarily well. After the BJP’s victory over the Congress party and the Opposition front in the Loksabha election, the future of alternative politics in India has become a much talked-about topic.

Four decades ago, the Congress party’s president DK Barooah proclaimed, “India is Indira & Indira is India”, this was at a time when India was under the rule of the political elite – the Congress party. Now, the time has changed and the narrative has been changed by the BJP’s victory.

This is a distinctly Indian political phenomenon. The people of India have witnessed this phenomenon over the years: from Nehru to Indira and Shastri ji, or from the Indira regime to the Desai uprising and the return of the Iron Lady, to the emergence of regional political parties, right up to Modi’s emergence.

One of the most important questions I’d like to ask is, how can the Congress party remain relevant in Modi’s era? What will it take for the party to survive in today’s political climate? In simpler terms, I think the Congress party needs to be restored, and for that, they have to organize themselves better. Here, in my opinion, are some of the reasons for the Congress party’s downfall and the lessons they need to learn.

Congress Needs To Introspect

I strongly feel that the 2019 election result represents the defeat of the Congress party more than the BJP’s victory. The Congress party as a weaker political alternative gave the BJP led NDA government a huge opportunity to retain its the power for the next five years.

The party who fought the last general election to revive the political power in their favour needs to introspect on how they will survive in this political climate.

1. The party should establish themselves as an organisation of common people whose interest stick to do politics. Therefore, the party needs to re-invent itself as a political organisation.
2. The party needs to break the leadership crisis because powerful leadership is essential for any political party.
3. The party should change its narrative to compete against the BJP and they should focus on issues and challenges of the country. They must address the problems of common people rather commenting on one individual or the opponent’s party.
4. Rahul Gandhi’s defeat in the 2019’s election from Amethi seat set a clear message that the Gandhi family’s charisma is fading. Therefore, the party should move away from its current dependency on the Gandhi family in the near future.
5. The party needs to change their election strategy and they should establish direct contact with the voters instead of rallies and road shows. Voters are intelligent beings, so the party should never categorise them as “vote banks”.

The Congress party’s political approach has not been very popular in recent times. Riding on a wave, a nationwide agitation, backed by a huge anti-corruption movement, the BJP party got a clear majority in 2014’s election thus forming a strong government.

But in 2019, the major issues and promises have been ignored by the party and more surprisingly, the Congress party has failed to address these failures of the NaMo government. The party has also failed to convey a unified message to the nation. Hopefully, the party will fix their internal problems for the sake of our democracy.