There is no gainsaying that the BJP has replaced the Congress in some states while the left-of-centre parties who at some point in time shared political vibe with it in the others
The disastrous performance of the Congress in the Bihar Assembly election and its extremely poor strike rate should offer some lessons both to the party and to its allies in various states. As for the party, it will continue to sink unless it rediscovers its political agenda and work seriously on it. The allies may take a realistic account of the strength of the grand old party and the electoral dividend it can bring to the table before committing themselves to accommodating it.
There is no gainsaying that the BJP has replaced the Congress in some states while the left-of-centre parties who at some point in time shared political vibe with it in the others. This happened after the Congress deviated from its historic positioning as a liberal secular political force capable of accommodating a wide variety of thoughts. The party is now perceived by some as the BJP’s B-team, while others portray it as an ally of Islamists and Maoists. It has long cast its socialist moorings away, angering the Leftists.
That its opponents have a strong opinion on it need not worry a party if it follows its own agenda but the Congress appears to have none. The party keeps telling the people that the BJP-led NDA government at the centre, under the guidance of the RSS, has been out to weaken the Constitution and the democratic institutions. The party has reiterated several times that the BJP must be unseated from power both at the centre and in the states if the country were to survive. The party which has such a concern and conviction on the future of the country should also know that the BJP can be removed from power only through democratic means and the elections are the only legitimate route to get there.
But the Congress has been anything but responsible when it comes to elections. It has refused to accommodate even the nominal claims of its allies in several states and ended up enabling the installation of BJP governments. The allies, who had a better understanding of the realpolitik, were more accommodating in the Lok Sabha elections, and the strategy proved fruitful in that it stopped the BJP from getting a simple majority in the Lok Sabha, leave alone crossing the two-thirds mark.
The Congress was at its irresponsible best while negotiating seat-sharing in Bihar this time, too, though the party was largely responsible for the return of the NDA in the 2020 election by losing most of the seats it was allotted. The Congress’ claims delayed seat-sharing negotiations until the final day. It fielded candidates in 11 seats allotted to the Mahagathbandhan allies. The party even delayed endorsing RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate for no reason.
A section of the Congress leadership in Tamil Nadu has now raised the demand that the DMK allot a higher number of seats to it in the Assembly elections than last time. The party also wants a share in power, which has not been the practice so far.
It is incumbent upon the Congress to convert I.N.D.I.A. bloc into a viable alternative to the saffron brand of politics. If the party has no plans to concretise its political agenda and aggressively pursue it, then the allies must look for alternatives for their survival.
