While its stance on the land law is understandable since it was, along with the food security act, one of the measures which the Congress expected would bring it victory in the last general election (although it didn’t), the resistance to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and now the investment proposals are typical of an adolescent who acts out of pique and doesn’t understand that such bloody-mindedness can hurt him in the long run.

A more mature party would have realized that it would have lived up to its reputation of being the Grand Old Party – which it is now busy squandering – if it had demonstrated a greater spirit of accommodation towards the BJP at least on the GST and the FDI initiatives.

Instead, its tit-for-tat approach to pay the BJP back in its own coin for the latter’s earlier obstructionism is setting an ugly precedent which bodes ill for democracy and reinforcing the impression that the Congress is being led by petty-minded leaders.
As it is, the voters have punished the party for playing footsie with corruption and blocking growth-oriented reforms in Manmohan Singh’s second term as prime minister in favour of Sonia Gandhi’s faux socialism.

If the Congress is now seen to be standing against Modi’s reforms programme as well, then its future is uncertain if only because economic growth is the plank for which Modi received wide support in May, 2014. Any nay-sayer will not only be seen as a spoiler, but also for undermining the interests of the nation for partisan purposes.

The argument that development is a buzzword which Modi is using to hide his communal agenda, as the Congress’s mother-and-son duo of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi maintains, does not carry much weight as it goes against the general perception both at home and abroad that economic growth is the answer to poverty. The duo could have made out a more credible case if they said that Modi is helpless before the RSS or is unable to control the hotheads.

But neither mother nor the son has shown an ability to make politically telling points. Instead, they depend on clumsy generalizations which resemble the assessment of novices. They also believe in unrelenting attacks in parliament and outside although the leadership caliber of a national party should demonstrate its capability to be the shadow government by targeting the weak points of the rulers (Modi’s failure to keep his sabka vikas promise) while backing their worthwhile endeavours (swachh campaigns).

If the Congress hasn’t been able to change its tactics from constant bludgeoning to rapier-like thrusts, the reason is that the duo holds the party in thrall. There is no one in the organization who can dare to articulate an alternative line of attack.

Even last year’s shattering defeat in the parliamentary polls, which was preceded and followed by a series of losses in assembly elections, haven’t led to a loosening of the grip of the party’s first family on its cowed followers.

Instead of analyzing the root cause of the party’s multiple setbacks, which would have told the Congress that its rejection of reforms was one of the reasons for its humiliations, the duo, especially Sonia, seems to be bent on taking the party back to the 1970s, which was the period when her political instincts had taken shape as a young, politically inexperienced housewife in Indira Gandhi’s house.

Sonia still thinks, therefore, that “socialism”, entailing the distribution of doles and subsidies, is the answer to India’s problems. To her, reform is a bad word, meaning the pursuit of pro-rich policies. Sonia’s inclination are endorsed by her son, who has exhibited little sign of intellectual acuity and takes pride in the Congress being called “left of Marx”, as Arun Jaitley once did.

Arguably, the Bihar outcome has strengthened their stranglehold on the party although its critics say that the Congress might have won more than 27 seats out of 40 if Rahul had not campaigned. In any case, the fortuitous jump in the number of seats doesn’t negate the party’s position of being a poor third in the company of the Big Two in the state.

If its leadership remains beholden to the past, the Congress will continue to lag well behind in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal and U.P. where there are powerful regional leaders, and also in those states where the BJP is a force to reckon with.

The result, as the historian, Ramachandra Guha, has said, will be that the Congress will continue to be in a state of historical decline. Ironically, the decline will be under the leadership of the very family which once took it to the pinnacle of glory. (IPA Service)