Congress - Now, Walk The Talk

With the decline of the Congress going unchecked, the talks about the party nearing its demise have become louder. Its political opponents have started writing it off and its critics are bemoaning its failure to get its act together, and there is a great sense of despair and despondency within the party

- Soni Mishra

As the results of assembly elections in five states flashed on the television and mobile phone screens on March 10, a dark realisation engulfed the minds of most Congress leaders—that in terms of the number of states they rule, their 137-year old party is at par with the new wimpy kid on the block. Yes, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party rule two states each. And next year, both the Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will be going to another dreaded round of polls.

Indeed, the party is sharing power in two more states—Maharashtra and Jharkhand—and is an ally of the ruling side in Tamil Nadu. That, however, is no comfort, knowing well how the BJP had upset its precarious applecarts in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh only a year ago thanks to the sheer ineptitude of its own leadership. Even for the Gandhis, the family that has been lording over the party for most of India’s post-independent years—save a brief seven-year spell in the 1990s—it is a never-before moment. For once, little chieftains who used to blame each other at every defeat till a year ago have become emboldened enough to question the first family, its ability to command and control and take the party anywhere other than downward.