Congress plenary calls for a unified opposition to take on BJP-led NDA in 2024

But the party’s diminishing influence in many States raises questions about its ability.

Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge at the 85th plenary session of the Congress in Raipur on February 25. | Photo Credit: PTI

The 85th plenary of the Congress, which took place over three days from February 24 in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, was an exercise in part realism and part realpolitik, and part grandstanding and part introspection. Its goal was to set the tone and tasks for the Grand Old Party for upcoming elections in half a dozen States this year and the parliamentary election next year. The political resolution stated that there was “an urgent need for a united opposition to take on the NDA [the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance] on common ideological grounds” and that the “emergence of any third force would prove advantage to the BJP/NDA” even as party leaders in election-bound States were told in unambiguous terms to work with discipline and unity.

The party would focus on local issues and act as a responsive and responsible opposition in States where it is in the opposition, the statement said. It was obvious that the Congress was keen to reach a consensus with other opposition parties on “national level” issues. However, given that a few opposition parties do not agree with it because of competing interests within States, a lot of groundwork still remains to be done.

Compared with most other opposition parties, which are either regional parties or parties with a regional base, the 138-year-old party unquestionably has a greater “national” presence. But the flip side is that the Congress is not the principal opposition to the BJP in most parts of the country, and even where it is, it is unable to pose a strong challenge to it. As such, the party is still unable to define a clear path for the journey to opposition unity. The moot question is whether it will “lead” a united front of opposition parties or just be one among many partners, and in many States, a junior one.

Only time will tell how much of the call for unity will prevail. It was not clear whether the party was declaring its intent or stating a resolute commitment to align with like-minded parties when the political resolution stated that the “unity of secular and socialist forces will be the hallmark of the future of the Congress party” and that the party should “go all out to identify, mobilise and align like-minded secular forces” and include “secular regional forces”.

Of course, it was made abundantly clear that the BJP-RSS combine constituted its main political adversary. “We have to tackle this regime with boldness and vigour,” said former party president Sonia Gandhi, speaking at the plenary session.

The plenary promised “a vision document for 2024 following a mass contact programme”, which would address issues such as unemployment, poverty eradication, inflation, women’s empowerment, job creation, and national security. It was also resolved to infuse “new blood in leadership roles without creating fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings”. This affirmation made it obvious that there were problems with the party’s transition from its experienced members to younger ones. The resolution further pledged to create a “clear cut role model and catapult the party back to power at both the State and the Centre”.

Inclusive measures

The reasonably good response elicited by Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has given the party a boost in expanding its national presence. It appears to have recognised the importance of re-establishing its connection with the masses and regaining lost ground among the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The plenary addressed this challenge by making as many as 85 amendments to the party constitution and making the Congress Working Committee (CWC) more representative.

As many as 50 per cent of CWC seats and all party positions have been reserved for SCs, STs, OBCs, women, and youth. The CWC strength itself has been raised from 25 to 35. However, it has authorised the Congress president to nominate CWC members rather than conduct elections to the body. The election of Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, to the party president’s post allows apologists to claim that the Congress has already democratised itself.

Sonia Gandhi was generous in her praise of Kharge’s organisational capabilities. She spoke of the party’s highs and lows in the past 25 years. Party vice president Rahul Gandhi was commended for “setting the tone” for the tasks ahead. She described the Bharat Jodo Yatra a turning point in the history of the party. According to a political observer, the purpose of the plenary was to reinforce Kharge’s new-found responsibility as party president and to underscore that the Gandhis were very much part of the agenda of political, economic, and social transformation.

In his closing speech, Kharge spoke about the deep economic divide and the ensuing social unrest, and the need to stand with oppressed sections, combat the “ideology of hate”, make unemployment and price rise a part of an ongoing agenda, and “protect Babasaheb’s Constitution”. The political resolution, he said, was emphatic that the “ideological battle against the BJP-RSS would be intensified”. The Bharat Jodo Yatra was the first significant step taken to “heal the wounds created by divisive forces”, the political resolution noted.

Political resolution

It resolved to uphold the independence of the judiciary, to strengthen the freedom of the press through legislation if necessary, to repeal all outdated laws that restricted people’s freedom, and to undertake reforms to ensure reservation for women constables and officers in State police forces. It called the electoral bonds system of political funding flawed and corrupt and resolved to work with like-minded parties to raise the issue of electronic voting machines with the Election Commission of India and move the court if need be.

On the question of minorities, the resolution stated that it was “inhuman” to neglect, marginalise, and alienate minorities who formed one-fifth of India’s population. The party resolved to enact a law to prevent and punish hate crimes, reintroduce and pass a Grievance Redressal Bill, operationalise rules under the Whistleblowers Act 2014, and enact a Right to Healthcare Act and an anti-discrimination law. It also resolved to double the healthcare expenditure to 3 per cent of the GDP by 2024-25.

The political resolution read almost like an election manifesto, promising a caste census as well. It castigated the BJP for lacking a “cogent National Security Strategy” and offered to present a better one. The resolution included a commitment to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir; bring Ladakh under the protection of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution (granting autonomous administrative divisions); restore special category status to the north-eastern States, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand; and extend such status to Andhra Pradesh. A permanent Inter-State Water Disputes Commission would also be established, it said.

Nitish Kumar’s call

On February 19, a few days before the plenary session, Nitish Kumar, Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar Chief Minister, set the cat among the pigeons by suggesting that the Congress should take the lead in forging opposition unity and that if it did so the BJP would not win more than 100 seats. He said this on the sidelines of the national convention of his party’s ally, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, in Patna.

Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, with which the JD(U) shares power in a Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar, agreed with this and said the Congress should take the lead and decide on its role. He also said that the party should “allow regional parties to stay in the driving seat in States where they were stronger”.

However, the Congress did not take kindly to the unsolicited advice, and the very next day its leaders addressed a press conference saying that the party was well aware of its role and that it did not need a “certificate from anyone” to take the lead. But then, perhaps taking the cue from the Mahagathbandhan’s leaders, Kharge declared while campaigning in Nagaland on February 22 that a Congress-led alliance would form the government in 2024. The party’s communications department emphasised the fact that there could not be any opposition alliance without the Congress and that the formation of a third front (led by regional parties) would weaken the opposition to the BJP-RSS combine. Given the fact that the party was barely in a position to consider itself indispensable to lead a coalition of disparate opposition parties, senior Congress leaders’ vain assertions were surprising. Many observers felt that rather than declare that the party would lead from front, the plenary should have focussed on consolidating the party’s position in States like Bihar where it does not have a significant influence.

Congress leaders stage a dharna at the New Delhi airport on February 23 after Pawan Khera was deboarded from a plane owing to an FIR against him. | Photo Credit: PTI

On February 23, Congress leader Pawan Khera was “deplaned” at Delhi airport by a team of Assam and Delhi Police personnel for his allegedly defamatory remarks against the Prime Minister while campaigning in the north-eastern States. Khera was accused of violating numerous sections of the Indian Penal Code, including making assertions prejudicial to national interest, defamation, intentional insult, and intent to provoke breach of peace. Many sections were non-bailable. Multiple FIRs have been filed against Khera in Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

Khera, who is the chairman of the party’s media and publicity department, was on his way to Raipur for the plenary along with general secretary K.C. Venugopal and other Congress leaders. Party workers staged a sit-in at the tarmac protesting Khera’s arrest.

Combative mood

The episode sent the party into a combative mood. Randeep Surjewala, Congress general secretary, who travelled to Raipur with the group, told the media that there was no arrest warrant or arrest order. The arrest itself, albeit brief, was a clear case of legal overreach, of misuse of the law as it were, he said.

Before the airport drama, there were raids by Enforcement Directorate officials in the homes and offices of party leaders in Chhattisgarh, which was hosting the plenary. Party leaders said the raids were politically motivated.

Even as the Congress president expressed concern about the need to take on unprecedented challenges, such as the attack on constitutional values, democracy, and the social fabric, and the atmosphere of hatred and fear, he stopped short of identifying the growing insecurity among minorities in the context of the communal attacks on them, including in Congress-ruled States.

Shashi Tharoor, MP from Thiruvananthapuram, addressed this gap in his seven-minute speech at the plenary. “If we don’t speak out in such cases, we are only surrendering our core responsibility of standing up for India’s diversity and pluralism, which should be central to the Congress’ core message,” he said, asserting that the Congress could have been “more vocal on the Bilkis Bano outrage, attacks on Christian churches, murders in the name of cow vigilantism, and bulldozer demolitions in Muslim homes”.

He was not far off the mark. Except for an MLA from Rajasthan, the Congress leadership in Haryana and Rajasthan, where there is an ongoing investigation into the murder of two young Muslim men by alleged cow vigilantes, had not yet visited the families of victims. On March 2, nearly two weeks after the incident, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot visited the family of the victims in Bharatpur and announced compensation. “The problem is the Congress takes Muslim support for granted,” said a party insider.

According to the plenary, the unity of “secular and socialist forces” will be the hallmark of the party’s future. The “Haath se Haath Jodo Abhiyaan” (Joining hands movement), a mass contact programme launched as a follow-up to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, will continue, it said.

Yet what will be watched for is an alternative economic agenda. With the exception of the commitment to disallow blind privatisation and crony capitalism, there is not much to choose between the Congress’ economic blueprint and that of the NDA. Given the Congress’ stated commitment to bridge the economic chasm, there is more to be done.

The Crux

• The 85th plenary of the Congress, which took place over three days from February 24 in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, set the tone and tasks for the Grand Old Party for upcoming elections in half a dozen States this year and the parliamentary election next year.
• The political resolution called for “an urgent need for a united opposition to take on the NDA”.
• The party appears to have recognised the importance of re-establishing its connection with the masses and regaining lost ground among the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
• As many as 85 amendments were made to the party constitution to make the Congress Working Committee (CWC) more representative. As many as 50 per cent of CWC seats and all party positions have been reserved for SCs, STs, OBCs, women, and youth.