Can humpty dumpty of a UP Congress be put together again?

Can a moribund party be revived by seeking bio-datas of Congressmen for various positions in the organisation?

Congress party that did so well in the parliament elections without resorting to such a contrived organisational rejig, is mired in uncertainty again. Though the challenge to these efforts will present itself in 2027 elections, party men would be more worried about which party is the Congress allying with rather than fighting alone. In their reckoning, Congress party does better with an ally rather than fighting alone. Interestingly, there are not many who are worried about the party’s departure from its core ideology of fighting for the rights of the poor and dispossessed and secularism. They too seem to be pandering to soft Hindutva and majoritarianism rather than go back to those values they are identified with.

Of late, the party, like others, believe that win or loss in elections in UP depend on how well the polling booth is managed rather than what the party stands for. Despite these learnings, the Congress party has begun this programme for organisational renewal called -“Sangathan srajan” in right earnest. They hope that by then the party would be strong enough to win the elections or at least climb to second or third position from the lowly fourth they are in after BJP, SP and BSP.

Although it is a big challenge for UP Congress leadership to achieve this task, but AICC general Secretary incharge of UP Avinash Pande recently annouced that within 100 days a revamped five-tier organisation will be ready. The optimism of Avinash Pande is based on weeklong meetings of UP Congress leadership with thousands of party leaders and workers at UPCC headquarters at Lucknow. The entire excercise was called “sangathan srajan” as both the State party chief. Ajai Rai and general secretary Avinash Pande discovered that the party office bearers who were appointed by General Secretary in charge of the state Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her trusted lieutenant, Sandeep Singh.  

It was only after Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge gave free hand to team of Avinash Pande UPCC president Ajay Rai that all the all units including state body dissolved to pave the way for rebuilding the organisation. 

Avinash Pande and Ajay Rai came up with the mantra of ‘ Sangathan Srajan” and organised massive weeklong exercise to interact with the party leaders who had been actively associated with the organisation for more than 25 years. Senior party leaders visited all over UP  to identify active members who were invited to visit the state capital, Lucknow, to participate in Sangathan Srajan” meetings. Former UPCC presidents were called to give their opinion to help rebuild the organisation and interact with other members invited from all over the state. 

Prominent anong those former presidents who attended the meetings included Salman Khursheed, Nirmal Khattri, Arun Kumar Singh Munna, Brijlal Khabri , Raj Babbar. Gandhi family loyalist and Rae Bareli MP Kishori Lal along with other former MPs were also involved in these meetings. CLP leader Aradhana Mishra played important role in these weeklong exercise. She reiterated the resolve of Priyanka and the party to grant 30 percent seats to women so that they can live up to her slogan of : “ladki hun lad sakti hun.”

Aradhna Mishra said the participation of women in the excercise with good presence of 30 per cent which was possible of Priyanka Gandhi’s sogan ‘ ladki hun lad sakti hun”. Rai and Pandey also held meetings with all the frontal organisations and asked them to get ready to play an important role in rebuilding the organisation at grass root level. 

Overall more than 6000 Congress leaders and workers were invited for interaction that represented 75 districts and 58 city units to expand later on to block, nayay panchayat and booth level. The idea behind the whole exercise is to set up the strong organisation enjoying the support of all caste and communities with significant participation of women. Avinash Pande and Ajay Rai repeatedly told the participants of “sangathan srijan” Meetings that party should be each and every constituency to fight panchayat and later on Assembly polls in 2027. 

There is a great amount of enthusiasm in Congress leaders with such an excercise which has given hope that party would be revived with strong and vibrant organisation. 

It would be worth mentioning here that as a part of INDIA alliance Congress contested 17 Lok Sabha seats and won six and was placed second in 10 seats. This was much better than 2022 assembly polls when party’s performance was worst with two seats in assembly with only three percent vote share. This happened when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was AICC general secretary and incharge of UP. After the drubbing, Priyanka was so angry that she did not visit UP at all.  

The decline of the fortunes of Congress started when powerful brahmin  shifted to BJP  in the name of Ram Janabhumi. While muslim went to Samajwadi Party when the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav who ordered the police to open to protect Babri Mosque fron karsewarks in Ayodhya in 1990. Dalits gravitated towards Kansi Ram and Mayawati’s BSP. 

It was only in 2009 Congress surprised everybody when party got 22 seats in Lok Sabha. That was due to loan waiver scheme for farm labourers during the regime PV Narsimha Rao. Since then Congress witnessed continuous decline in the representation in UP Assemby and Lok Sabha. 

Another reason for decline was alliance politics adopted by Congress leadership which reduced the bargaing power with other parties. Way back in 1996 Congress entered into alliance with BSP leaving 300 seats for Mayawati while retaining only 125 . With the result that the Congress workers of 300 assembly seats shifted loyalty to other parties and loyal voters also got disappointed. After the elections, Mayawati dumped Congress and ended the alliance unilaterally. 

Again in 2017 assembly Congress was forced into alliance with Samajwadi Party by election strategist Prashant Kishore. Prior to this alliance Congress had launched agitation against Akhilesh Yadav government. With Rahul Gandhi leading the agitation Congress was emerging as main opposition party against Samajwadi Party. Then all of a sudden Congress was forced to join hands with Samajwadi Party. The slogan was also coined on Rahul and Akhilesh Yadav – UP Ko Yeh Saath Pasand hai”.

The result was bad for Samajwadi Party as well as Congress. BJP won the elections. Congress had to pay a heavy price for anti-incumbancy factor against Akhilesh Yadav government. Now Congress can only be revived if sincere efforts are made to bring back the traditional vote bank consisting of brahmins, Muslims and dalits  abd by giving them adequate representation in the organisation.

(Cover Photo: Indian National Congress – Uttar Pradesh)