How Congress is stuck between being national and regional

In the just concluded 85th plenary of the Congress in Raipur, point number 52 in its political resolution read as follows: “Unity of secular and socialist forces will be the hallmark of the future of the Congress party. Congress should go all out to identify, mobilise and align like-minded secular forces. We should include secular regional forces who agree with our ideology. There is an urgent need for a united opposition to take on the NDA on common ideological grounds. Emergence of any third force will provide advantage to the BJP/NDA.”Point number 53 in the political resolution appeared to be a continuation of the previous point: “Wherever the Congress is the main opposition party, we should be a responsible and responsive opposition. While campaigning, focus should be on the respective local issues.”Haath Se Haath JodoResolutions from the 85th Plenary Session of the Congress :- https://t.co/LAbI9d9Kn9— Congress (@INCIndia) 1677501453000These two poorly drafted points, like a few others, which employ a set of cliché vocabulary and contradict themselves at different punctuations, hold a shining mirror to the cluelessness of the Congress. If you read 53, there is contentment. If you read 52, there is ambition. Here, the party is essentially trying to assign itself the role of a binder, a glue, an agent that holds everything together in a crumbling national political space for the Opposition.But the Congress has to first ask itself if the rest of the political players in the secular space perceive it that way any longer. Have they begun to see the Congress in their own mould — as just another regional player? Do they see it as a vote-share hindrance, especially those regional players who wish to be recognised as national parties? As a sort of ‘vote-cutter’ in their direct contest against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in many states?Zero-sum gameThe game is simple. The unity of secular and socialist forces will automatically happen if the Congress politically revives itself. But the stark irony is that if the Congress revives itself, it would at the expense of regional secular parties. It will be a bloodbath for the regional players.The revival cannot and will not be limited to the 2024 general election. It will have implications in the assembly elections that will follow. Once revived nationally, will the Congress generously cede the regional turf to its secular partners?Therefore, when it talks of common ideological grounds, what will the Congress diplomats carry as a compromise formula to the regional camps is the central question. Will the regional forces stand aside and allow the Congress to contest maximum seats in 2024 at the cost of their own possible shrinking? Will they give up their symbols to fight under the Congress symbol, something like the 1977 Opposition experiment? Will they do it for a larger secular ideal? To assume anything in this direction is to be naïve. medium98308554Political space is anyway not about conceding, it is about fiercely contesting not just between antagonistic ideologies but within an ideological group for newer meaning, pragmatic interpretation and greater clarity of a certain aspect of the ideology. Or else, why would there be so many political offshoots of the communist ideology? The Congress speaks of socialism, but its obvious references are to Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi’s interpretations. Will a Ram Manohar Lohia, a Jayaprakash Narayan and a Narendra Dev be accommodated too?If the regional forces emphasise on a secular but a deeply federal polity, then the idea of the ‘centre’ has to be totally redefined by the Congress. Rahul Gandhi has been invoking the ‘union of states’ argument but that means little as long as the Congress continues to imagine itself as a ‘national’ player. It is about the gulf that exists between worldviews. The BJP has tried to sell the idea that there can be only one national party at a time. This leads us to assume that the Congress is now actually in a kind of limbo — it is neither ‘national’ nor ‘regional’. The Congress would have immensely benefited if it had given itself some clarity on this very fundamental aspect at the 85th plenary.Troubling questionsIt is here that point numbers 48 and 51 of the resolution become noteworthy. Point 48 asserts: “The Congress must redefine political discourse by recapturing the centre space in the present polity.” Then, point 51 reiterates: “Congress will infuse new blood in leadership roles without creating new fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings. Congress will create a clear-cut role model and will catapult the party back to power at the state and centre.”Occupying the ideological centre and occupying the chair at the Centre is not the same. One is not a natural extension of the other. When the party says the goal is to return to power both at the Centre and states (interestingly, it is just ‘state’ in the resolution, the plural is missing), then how does it expect the regional secular players to read this message? An absence of clarity on its future political steps is the reason for these contradictions.Watch: Priyanka appeals for Opposition unity medium nocaption98251622There is another question: The Congress speaks about like-minded secular forces. What about parties like that of K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) or Asaduddin Owaisi in Telangana, who speak a secular language but do not want to do anything with the Congress?KCR’s daughter K Kavitha said in Mumbai on February 25: “There is only one front, BJP, in the country. The Congress is empty. There is no front or Opposition tent. We have good relations with Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. KCR is working to build a strong alternative of regional parties and that will be the alternative front.”Addressing an election rally in Shillong on February 22, Rahul attacked Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee and questioned her integrity. He said her party indirectly supports Narendra Modi and the BJP. “You know the history of the TMC — the violence and scams that take place in West Bengal. You are aware of their tradition. They spent a huge amount of money in Goa [polls] and the idea was to help the BJP. That is exactly the idea in Meghalaya,” he said. medium98308585Similarly, the Congress is at loggerheads with the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka. It never misses an opportunity to call it a ‘B team’ of the BJP. The Congress has stuck the ‘B team’ appellation to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) in Kerala as well. Modi recently brought up the ‘friendship’ in Tripura and ‘wrestling’ in Kerala analogy between the Congress and the CPI (M). In Maharashtra, if Pawar and Uddhav come together, how much of the secular space will be left for the Congress? The BJP has a narrative, and the regional parties have a plausible narrative, but it looks like the Congress is only left with the weight of history.Seeds of doubtBy speaking about the ‘third force’ in the resolution, the Congress has given away the game. It is not trying to negotiate from a position of strength but is seeking a concession — asking regional players to not form a ‘third front’. It is also sowing seeds of doubt against some players, creating a hierarchy in the secular space where it is putting itself at the top. This imperiousness may not work before 2024.Even other statements made by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh before the plenary and during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, like: “The Congress must be [not ‘can be’ or ‘will try to be’] the fulcrum of any Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections. No coalition can be meaningful or relevant without it” does not help the party’s cause when dealing with regional players. medium98308578Party president Mallikarjun Kharge mirrored the idea when he said at the plenary that the Congress will lead the Opposition alliance against the BJP and was in talks with “every” other party to realise it. The Congress is not speaking of adjustment or accommodation but asserting its assumed right to be at the top of any heap of regional parties.Again, if the Congress has become weak in the regions, why will any regional secular party want to revive it and face its own extinction? If regional players have to accommodate the Congress in an alliance, they will extract their pound of flesh. They may even pressure the party to concede leadership of the alliance. On the secular principle, technically speaking, the Congress cannot stand on ego. If the regional players group together, then the number of seats that the Congress may be allowed to contest itself may get limited. When it comes to seat sharing, even its best-behaved ally like MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu will be wary.Read more from the author here.Lead illustration: Sandeep Adhwaryu