The defeat of the Indian National Congress in the 2019 General Election was always seen as inevitable. With Balakot strikes and no major corruption charges, the Modi government had indeed hit the ball towards the goal.

In the same line, analysts have also argued that Congress’ defeat had a lot more to do with the BJP than Congress itself. This theory clearly explains the lack of self-awareness clouding the Grand Old Party of India today. A simple look at their number of seats is enough to show that there is plenty wrong with INC. But, what prevents INC from saving its sinking ship? The answers lie below.

1. Accept Defeat and Analyze

As someone following politics for quite some time now, it was unbearable to see the opposition’s reaction after results were declared. From blaming the EVMs to blaming coalition partners, the Congress did it all. Media reports that Rahul Gandhi, the then president of INC, was assured of much better performance, if not a win showed complete lack of self-consciousness.

It is essential for INC to logically understand where it stands and openly presents these facts to its leaders. Learning from past mistakes will go a long way to sight any signs of victory in 2024.

Why it will fail: Unfortunately, more than three months after the results, INC has shown minimal promise of dealing effectively with the loss. Not only has the Congress taken a step back towards Sonia Gandhi, but also the reports from the INC working committee have not been impressive on the other hand, ideological rifts between top leaders, accusations of selfishness on notable personalities have clearly shown that neither has INC accepted its defeat, nor made an attempt to learn from it.

2. Traditional Congress Thresholds

The general elections in 2019 saw Congress lose several of its traditional thresholds, Amethi being the most famous one. While some of these losses have had factors like pre-poll alliance and regional politics play a role, many have been due to a general lack of trust.

Congress must not only analyze the cause of defeat but also try to build the trust of the people on its capabilities. Congress leaders must now concentrate on local issues of these constituencies and refrain from abandoning these areas. Smriti Irani’s repeated visits to Amethi after her loss in 2014 shows how a candidate can effectively change his / her image in just five years.

Why it will fail: This is perhaps the only step on this list that Congress will fail to take due to lack of an effective mechanism to instigate and regulate it. Rahul Gandhi has not visited Amethi even half the number of times he visited his new constituency, Waynad.

Thus, he is not leading by example. Congress allies in Karnataka, the JDS was filmed asking people to “go ask Modi to solve your problems” while they were in power. Such acts of “revenge” on people will do no good to the opposition.

3. The Two-fold Strategy

The Gujarat Development Model, popularized by Narendra Modi in 2014, was one of the major reasons for his success then. Congress has to do the same now. It has to engage in purely developmental issues in Congress-ruled states and on the other hand, attack the Modi government on pressing developmental problems, like infrastructure and macroeconomic strategies.

By the end of five years, the goal should be to not only highlight the failures of the Modi government in developmental issues but also to provide an alternative to the country in the form of the Congress Development Model. This twofold strategy will definitely help Congress gain a footing in the country.

Why it will fail: Internal rifts in the Punjab government, loss of power in Karnataka, increasing crime rate in Rajasthan and non-delivery of promised schemes in Madhya Pradesh are all depicting a poor state of affairs in the Congress-led state governments as well.

Neither is Congress using the opportunity provided by these states to improve the trust factor, nor is it attempting united attacks on the Modi government regarding relevant developmental issues. With arrests of former leaders and cases on many more, the trust factor for Congress is going downhill with every passing day.

4. Controlled and Effective Criticism

Throughout the NDA 1 regime and since the NDA government has begun its second term, Congress leaders have been quick to criticize each and every step taken by their political opponents. Without understanding the sentiments of the nation, INC has done more harm for itself than good.

This is a lesson the INC must have learned after the NDA-1 considering how the shouts of “Chowkidar chor hai” turned out to be a bane than a boon. It is the need of the hour that Congress leaders are trained to make collective, united, and structured criticism and support them with evidence.

Why it will fail: Interestingly, the INC seems to have ignored this as well. Their reaction to the abolishment of Article 370 was disastrous. Further various major leaders of the party came out to support the decision against its will. The criticisms on the economy have been bland and proof less. INC does not seem to have learned the art of asking the right questions. As long as it continues to be a weak opposition in this regard, be it in the parliament or on media, the Modi- Shah duo will be unbeatable.

5. Trustworthy leadership

Leadership plays a vital role in the success or failure of any organization, and unfortunately, it has been the later for INC. Repeated attempts to redo Rahul Gandhi’s image have not been fruitful, Sonia Gandhi is still not considered trustworthy by the general public, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has hardly any credentials to her name. Not only does Congress require a humble leader who can bring functional changes in the organization but also a diplomatic leader who can lead a coalition of opposition parties to victory.

Why it will fail: The reason why this step is, in the end, is because; it is one step I personally believe will be impossible for INC. Any attempt to bring in a leader outside the family is feared to create conflict among major leaders and possibly lead to the breaking of the party into fractions.

Of course, there are other factors. Another primary concern is whether the INC has trained such leaders who can come up to save the sinking ship or did they invest too much resource on Rahul Gandhi. The very diverse Congress party of Sardar Vallabhai Patel and Indira Gandhi today has a shortage of leaders who can strategically bring the party out of this crisis.

Now, the question which determines the future of Congress in particular and the Indian political system, in general, is this: Can the Congress make a comeback in 2024? Well, a simple answer to this is, yes.

Congress can come back to power. We need to remember that time and again, democracy has proven itself to be unpredictable. But for such a victory, Surprise will be the element for success than attack for the Congress. They must rise at this moment when very few people expect them to.

But the problem lies here. The question is not about whether or not Congress can overcome this loss; it is whether or not they will.

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Editor's Note: The opinions in this article solely belong to the author of the article. Team InsideIIM have no role in writing of this article.

Rahul Singh

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