Catastrophe of Congress : India’s Assembly Election 2022

Catastrophe of Congress : India’s Assembly Election 2022

KAKALI DAS

ASSEMBLY ELECTION

Assembly election 2022 was viewed as a mid-term mandate, because 5 states were undergoing election from all corners of the country and in the middle of the term. So, this was a litmus test for 2024 general elections. BJP has won 4 states with flying colours, except for Punjab.

There are two headlines doing rounds – firstly, how is BJP still controlling the narrative, winning hearts and election time and time again? and secondly, about the failure of congress, their arrogance and incompetence.

Rahul Gandhi says, “We will learn from this and keep working for the interests of the people of India.” Top leadership of Congress party is under scrutiny again. It’s evident now, that in 2024, BJP’s challengers will not be Congress but powerful state-based parties.

The rate at which the Congress party is falling, will they even be a principal opposition party in 2024? Nobody, now, wants to be in alliance with the Congress party. And we have witnessed this in the recent assembly elections. Actually, it is Nehru who is responsible for the downfall of Congress. Annual election was discontinued during Nehru’s tenure and party became a family tradition.

Now, Congress is headed by an interim president for 3 years; it has never happened that a party is without a full-time President. Moreover, when Rahul Gandhi resigned after 2019 debacle, people thought finally Gandhi-mukt Congress is here. But, he was in fact trying to make an indirect return.

Assembly election: Uttar Pradesh Election

In the present time, Congress is defeated in all five states. Congress has won merely 2 seats in Uttar Pradesh, even after massive campaigning by Priyanka Gandhi.

Reasons for Congress’ debacle/BJP’s win in U.P. –

• Silent Women Voters – free ration, welfare schemes by BJP
• Brahman votes for BJP remained intact
• Late entry of Akhilesh Yadav, no grassroots mobilisation. Akhilesh became a Twitter politician, he was busy tweeting.
• BJP captured MINDSCAPE, be it through social media, 24 hours of circulated WhatsApp messages etc., instead of Booths.
• Law & Order perceived to be better than the Samajwadi Party.

Priyanka Gandhi launched a progressive campaign, that the advertising agencies sure must have enjoyed, but people were not confirmed. Even if you don’t take into account the communal or national angle, BJP would have still won the Uttar Pradesh election.

Assembly election: Punjab Election

The biggest insult for Congress was losing Punjab. Rahul Gandhi must hate Kejriwal more than Modi today. Congress was reduced to 18 from 77 seats. And this was Congress’ only chance to retain a state, especially after the massive farmers’ agitation.

Reasons for Congress’ debacle/AAP’s win in Punjab-

• AamAdmi Party focused on anti-corruption campaign.
• Congress-Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) perceived to be the two sides of the same coin. SAD-Congress failed to solve problems of Punjab, engrossed only in the leadership changes.
• AAP promised many welfare schemes like employment, agri-reforms, women welfare etc.
• Bhagwant Singh Mann’s elevation as CM face helped to remove the ‘Outsider’ tag from the AamAadmi Party (AAP). By not repeating previous mistakes, AAP announced a CM face this time.
• AAP was able to pay heed to and sympathize with farmers’ protest. Congress failed to do so.
• Congress’s internal conflicts too were the reason for their downfall. Apart from the external circumstances, Charanjit Singh Channi was announced as the last minute chief minister. There were a lot of internal conflicts in Punjab congress. It’s not as if BJP hasn’t changed their CM faces, but they don’t pull these stunts just before election. BJP portrays unity within the party. Basically, arguments within Congress were openly available for public entertainment.
• Lack of leadership both at the State and the Centre – tussle between Navjot Singh Sidhu and Channi, as well as people like Ajay Maken within the party. Local party members were ignored.

Winning an election is a structured process. It is algorithm that must be completed step by step. Intention alone is not enough.

Assembly election: Uttarakhand Election

This is not all, Congress failed in other states too. Congressassumed that the people of Uttarakhand will vote them for power. Despite the anti-incumbency, BJP won 47 seats. Congress managed from 11 to 19 seats.

Reasons for Congress’s debacle/BJP’s win in Uttarakhand

• BJP’s strong narrative around national security, religious tourism and army welfare.
• Congress failed to put out a solid narrative. It is election time, they should at least show some drive, passion and dreams to the common people.
• Harish Rawat was busy dousing Punjab Congress’ fire. He, who is a respected Congress leader of Uttarakhand was made to handle Punjab tussle.
• Congress’ missing CM face. Congress does not recognize state level leadership and there was no CM face. There’s no strategy, planning or sales pitch from their end.

Congress party’s problems in Uttarakhand are not last minute, infighting was ongoing. Basically, the congress was divided into two sub-parties.

Assembly election: Manipur Election

Same story is repeated in Manipur. BJP won 29 seats, whereas, Congress reduced to 4 from 28 seats last time. This shows the increasing geographical reach of BJP.

Reasons for Congress’s debacle/BJP’s win in Manipur

• BJP promised peace and stability as they noticed the law and order problem during OkramIbobi Singh’s tenure.
• BJP promised to smoothen the existing friction between hill and tribal people.
• Again, Congress made it easier for BJP to win. Ibobi Singh returned in the last two months of election after having vanished for 5 years. This last minute pitching does not work anymore. People now want to know whether politicians are connected to the ground realities throughout, not just in last 2 months.

Assembly election: Goa Election

Finally, let’s take the example of Goa. In the pre result, this was deemed a closest battle. But BJP is forming government in Goa too. Congress has reduced from 17 seats last time to 11 seats now.

But, how has BJP received catholic votes? BJP gave tickets to influential catholic leaders having their vote-bank. Thus, BJP had a stronghold. Again infighting Congress helped BJP in it. Congress leadership could not identify the right candidates.

This was a simplified explanation of how Congress contributed to BJP’s success. So, a bouquet should be delivered to the Congress party. (pun intended)

Assembly election: Conclusion

Dr Ashwani Kumar told NDTV that this is the endgame of Congress. After working for 40 years in Congress, Dr Kumar is saying so. Now, he will inevitably be trolled. Everyone is wrong according to them except for Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. If long-term members are uttering this, then there is a problem for sure in the leadership.

At least, Aam Admi Party (AAP) can demonstrate the Delhi model of governance that they promised in Punjab. What model of governance will Congress show? Rajasthan or Chhattisgarh model?

On one hand, Rahul Gandhi says that he will side with media fighting injustice. On the other hand, in Chhattisgarh, people in press are crushed and jailed. On one hand, Rahul is against sedition. On the other hand, Punjab congress government lodged sedition after sedition cases.

People are not blind to this hypocrisy. Another jumla of congress is that Priyanka Gandhiis the future, and she reminds of Indira Gandhi. Hoping to be a chief minister candidate, Priyanka has completely failed in Uttar Pradesh.

You must remember the interview by Arnab Goswami when Rahul’s reputation was damaged. Interestingly, there was a gap of 2 days between the interview and its broadcast. Yet, it was not stopped from airing. Because, Priyanka Gandhi was sitting in that interview as an observer and signalled it green. So saying that Priyanka is astute in her judgement and knows politics is wrong.

Another lie by Congress is that media does not give it space. Gandhis never tried to cultivate mainstream media. It is agreed that there is godi media subjugating the mainstream media space, but isn’t there any channel that will cover the Congress party? Congress failed to take advantage of digital media.

And lastly, social media game of congress is also far behind. Twitter is a dying platform this congress doesn’t seem to understand. So much have happened and Rahul is still saying that this is a learning experience for them. He is in no mood of giving space to other people. Congress isn’t even trying to evolve.

This is not a good news for democracy as strong opposition is equally important as a strong government. Now, after this election, BJP will drive Rajya Sabha including election of President of India and passing of bills, without any major discussion or debate. Forget winning in 2024, Congress should focus on being a strong opposition first, reinvent themselves from zero, otherwise their seats will be zero.

Pics: Collected from Net.

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking.  You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com (For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary)