The upping of the Congress ante follows the appointment of VD Satheesan as the Leader of the Opposition (LOP). Satheesan had declared, immediately after taking over as the new LOP, that the party’s number one enemy is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The satyagraha is the first manifestation of that decision, which will go a long way to change the prevalent perception that the Congress is functioning in Kerala as the B team of the BJP.

Significantly, the Satheesan line is at odds with the declaration of the new Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, K. Sudhakaran that the party’s main enemy is the CPI(M). Sudhakaran’s stance has fuelled the fears of further alienation of the minorities from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) at a time when the Front needs to regain their trust in order to retain its cohesion and stability. The estrangement of the minorities – both Muslims and Christians – was the principal factor that caused the UDF’s devastating debacle in the Assembly elections.

By organising the satyagraha against the fuel price hike, Satheesan has signalled his intent that the fight against the BJP will be intensified. The altered strategy vis-à-vis the BJP is expected go, at least to some extent, in inducing a rethink among the minorities, and persuade them to begin the trek back to the UDF. And the anti-BJP campaign of the Congress could gain traction in the days ahead. That is a sound political strategy which could fetch rich rewards for the Congress-headed UDF, which is trying to shake off the dust from the front’s assembly election debacle.

That said, it is also clear that mere satyagrahas will not make the Union Government drop its reluctance to act against the relentless fuel price hike. The Modi Government has not done anything to end the ongoing farmers’ agitation which has completed eight months. The message emanating from the farmers agitation is that mere political movements or pressure won’t make the Modi Government amend its wrong ways.

Alongside the political movement, the Opposition must mount legal pressure by moving the courts against the price hike which amounts to a blatant violation of the right to live guaranteed under the Constitution. That being the reality, the Opposition must not lose further time to seek legal remedies against the fuel price hike, which is nothing but a crime against humanity. And Congress must take the initiative in this regard, being still the biggest Opposition party in the country despite its enfeebled position.

An essential prerequisite to the Congress emerging as the main fighting force against the BJP-RSS duo in the country is the strengthening of the party organisation, which is in bad shape in most of the States with the exception of Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In this connection, the Kerala unit of the Congress has a big role to play. After all, Kerala is one of the few states where the Congress is still a force to reckon with and where it can still entertain hopes of wresting power in the future. A fructification of the comeback plan entails total revamp of the organisation in the State. One of the reasons why the Congress lost the state assembly election is the lack of an organization to counter the might of the awesome organizational machinery of the CPI(M).

It is gratifying to note that the new KPCC chief K. Sudhakaran has begun well by taking a few steps towards realization of this objective. His announcement that the jumbo committees which were part of the Congress organization will go, lock stock and barrel hits the nail on the head. What he has in mind is a shorter and compact 51-member committee. The intention is good. The problem lies in its implementation. Given the ground reality in the State, it is easier said than done.

The big question is: will the two dominant groups led by former chief minister Oommen Chandy and former leader of the opposition Ramesh Chennithala give him a free hand to reorganize the party the way he wants to? True, for form’s sake, both Chandy and Chennithala have assured the new KPCC chief of full support in his endeavour to revitalize the party organization. But the past record is anything but reassuring. The dichotomy between their promises and practices is too glaring to be missed.

Here, the Congress High Command has a big role to play. Any effort to scuttle the attempts to end groupism must not only be resisted but defeated comprehensively. This is of paramount importance. The latest attempt to cut the group managers to size must not meet the fate which overtook efforts by former PCC chiefs V M Sudheeran and Mullappally Ramachandran. It is true Sudhakaran is a strong leader who knows how to tame the rivals. The Congress rank and file hope Sudhakaran will not fail where Sudheeran and Mullappally faltered.

The Congress can no longer afford the luxury of another failure to emerge as a force to reckon with, a force strong enough to wrest power in the State. Therefore, Sudhakaran has to be careful in his tactics. His antipathy to the CPI(M) is understandable. But that must not result in neglecting the fight against the BJP. This is important for another reason. There is a perception that Sudhakaran is soft on the BJP. That perception needs to be changed. The road ahead is bumpy. But it has to be negotiated carefully and with confidence. (IPA Service)