They say that a week is a long time in politics. Going by that logic, six months could well be counted as an era. That’s certainly what it seems like if one examines the trajectory of the Congress since it posted a robust performance in the Lok Sabha elections back in June.
After winning 99 seats in Parliament – up by a sizeable 47 seats from the previous election – the party’s boat was sailing proudly with all sails aloft. The INDIA alliance machinery was running smoothly and there was some talk of Rahul Gandhi finally taking guard as a worthy opponent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the tall but divisive shadow he has cast on national politics for a decade.
In the six months since the Lok Sabha polls though, all hopes of a Congress-led revival of the Opposition have almost come undone. The biggest blow came in the resounding defeats in two important State elections – Haryana and Maharashtra, where the Grand Old Party massively miscalculated voter sentiment.
Following the Maharashtra drubbing, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance leaders have repeatedly played up the issue of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and how they may have been tampered with to affect the eventual outcome of the polls.
However, National Conference leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday sharply criticised the Congress for its “inconsistent” stand on EVMs, pointing out that when the Lok Sabha results were in its favour, there were no complaints, but Congress was whingeing after it had lost crucial state elections.
The Congress has reacted sharply to Omar’s statements, pointing out that it was the Samajwadi Party, NCP and Shiv Sena UBT that had raised the bogey of tampered EVMs, adding, “Why this approach to our partners after being CM?”.
The swipe at Omar is clear, who fought the J&K elections in alliance with Congress and won. However, no amount of splitting hairs over who said what will not change the fact that the INDIA alliance is in troubled waters.
It’s not just Omar, other alliance leaders, especially the ones with strong regional presence, are also not willing to toe the Congress line. Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and a senior leader of Trinamool Congress, also echoed Omar’s sentiments and said that if the Congress did feel that the EVMs had been tampered with, they should present evidence to substantiate this, and making claims without proof did not make any sense.
Elsewhere too, the INDIA alliance is showing cracks that can widen if they are not filled up in time. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has declared that there would be no partnership with the Congress in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
The simmering tension between the two parties have been felt in Goa as well, with leaders from both sides, who had not too long back worked together, crossing swords over how the alliance would continue in the future. The question of who has greater sway over Benaulim has become an issue that can unseat the alliance going forward.
Omar’s advice to the Congress about EVM complaints has to be seen in this backdrop. The message from the J&K Chief Minister is loud and clear. If the Congress wants to press ahead with the advantage it gained in the Lok Sabha elections, it has to stop complaining and do some soul-searching to figure out why states (like Maharashtra), where it performed impressively, were not willing to vote it to power only a few months later. Once this has been done, the party can look for a way forward by getting its act together.
Despite the recent debacles, there are a few things going in favour of Congress too. For the first time, both Gandhi siblings – Rahul and Priyanka – are in Parliament together. However maligned their surname may be, it can’t be a pretty picture for the BJP that brother and sister will marshal the Opposition forces in Parliament together.
Priyanka has already shown in her brief time in the House that she has what it takes, as she attacked the Modi government with the charge that the party was trying to change the Constitution. The ‘Palestine’ bag that she carried proudly into Parliament showed that she’s seasoned at political signalling with her fashion statement too.
While their boat has been rocked badly, it’s far from doom and gloom for the Congress. Some good work on the ground, better coordination with alliance partners, and upping the game in Parliament can quickly change things around for the party. Another six months from now could be a very different story. For that indeed is a very long time in politics.