As Rahul Gandhi turns 49 today, he received tons of wishes from party workers, supporters, and well-wishers. Even the arch-rival of Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished good health and long life to Congress president.
In Lok Sabha elections 2019, Congress managed to grab few seats more than its 2014 tally. Back then, it could point to anti-incumbency after 10 years in power and the tremendous rise of the Narendra Modi. Neither reason stands any longer. Modi is no longer an unknown commodity at the national stage and the Congress has had five years to craft a response to his prime ministership. The result, as mentioned above, is just 7 more seats. 52 this time, compared to the 44 in 2014.
After the Lok Sabha election debacle, many questions related to Congress party has been raised. One of which is the Congress party facing a leadership crisis. The stalemate over Rahul Gandhi's offer to quit as the Congress chief continued amid the deepening fissures in the party's state units over its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls. There have also been speculations on the need to put in place an interim arrangement for the decision making, especially in the run-up to assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra later this year, if Rahul Gandhi does not relent. Meanwhile, rumblings within the state units of the party are growing louder over the massive defeat of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul Gandhi was at the forefront of his party's campaign during elections in April and May, repeatedly taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over allegations of corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal and coining the slogan "Chowkidar chor hai", as he sought to galvanise the Congress.
PM Modi and Mr. Gandhi also sparred over his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, after PM Modi declared the former Prime Minister "bhrashtachari No 1'' (corrupt number 1)" during an election rally in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Gandhi's response to PM Modi's remark was a hug, and a warning on "karma". However, despite Mr Gandhi's best efforts, the Congress slumped to defeat in the election.
The Congress has decided to not send spokespersons to television debates for a month, as the party faces a leadership crisis with Rahul Gandhi insisting on stepping down as its president.
It's not just leadership crisis
India’s Grand Old Party is also going through an unprecedented existential crisis. The Congress is yet to recover from widespread rejection by voters in central, north, north-east and western states, and is now facing four big daunting crisis situations – Rahul Gandhi’s resignation; vulnerability of governments in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka; rebellion in Rajasthan and an acute shortage of funds.
In the order of priority, the leadership issue, although the biggest, doesn’t require immediate attention as Rahul has assured that he would remain at the helm till a successor is found. But the Congress should focus on trouble in states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh where the grand old party didn't do well. Congress is also facing fund crunch, for example, in the financial year 2017-18, the BJP earned more than Rs 10 billion, while the Congress got just Rs 2.25 billion, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The donations are expected to dry up further after its embarrassing election performance.
The Conclusion
It’s high time Congress restructured their system and their so-called powerful courtier, the Congress Working Group (CWG). The same result two General Elections in a row suggests this is no fluke, and that the Congress does not have an answer. While Congress is in the process of introspecting the loss, in the meanwhile will Rahul Gandhi do his bit to keep Congress relevant in the political arena? Only time will tell.
