The warning signals came as early as 2012 Uttar Pradesh elections, after which the mother and son came out and admitted it was because of the lack of organisation. Then came the debacle in 2013 Assembly polls. Why was the party not prepared?

Look at the state of affairs in the Congress. It cannot even get the status of Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha. It has lost deposit in 193 seats. It has not won a single seat in at least ten states and has not reached a double- digit figure in any state. Its vote share also came down significantly. It has not been in power in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Sikkim and Nagaland for the past 25 years, which accounts for 205 seats. This alarming picture shows that without a major surgery the party cannot survive. After all elections to the two Congress-ruled states- Haryana and Maharashtra -are hardly a few months away in both states the party is facing anti-incumbency.

The first thing the Congress has to realise is that Modi was able to benefit from the huge anti-Congress wave as the country had witnessed in 1977 or 1989 or 1996. People were fed up of corruption and wanted to throw out the Congress and Modi positioned himself as the alternative.

Secondly there was a total disconnect not only with the people and their problems but also between the party and the leadership The spiraling price rise and inflation were hitting the common man hard while Modi was showing them the moon in the mirror.

Thirdly, the Congress lost the perception war to the BJP, which depicted it as a party of corruption and clinging to the dynasty. Till the last day of the polling the Congress was in its own world behaving in an arrogant fashion.

Fourthly, the Congress also lost the communication war to the BJP, which was able to project Modi in a much better light. Modi himself is an excellent communicator while the Congress lacked articulate leaders. The star campaigners were only the mother and son. More importantly its poll strategy completely went wrong as it was managed by Rahul Gandhi’s coterie, which has no clue about how to fight a poll. They were all rootless wonders and theoreticians while the old timers were totally sidelined and those who came from other parties like Sanjay Nirupam, Beni Prasad Verma, Madhusudan Mistry and Mohan Prakash were given prominence. Moreover the party was in a dilemma that while it did not want to give any credit to Manmohan Singh government and distanced itself from it, the Congress could not also take credit for the welfare schemes implemented by the government. Above all it had no machinery to take the voters to the polling booth. The foot soldiers were the ignored lot.

No doubt that this was not the first time the Congress lost power. But the times have changed, things have changed, outlook has changed and new players like Modi, Kejriwal and Jagan Reddy and the regional satraps have emerged to challenge the Congress. The Congress leadership lacks the capacity to rise to the occasion.

The first thing is to go for a thorough over haul and fix responsibility for the failure of the party. The Congress is a status quo party as has been seen these past few years and no body gets sacked. This culture has to change.

Secondly, if Rahul Gandhi wants to run the party he should become a 24/7 politician and not disappear from India as he does so often. He should take the party leadership in Parliament, as it requires hands on leader supported by a good and experienced team. It also has to build up powerful second line of leadership. This is being talked about but the family does not want anyone else to overshadow Rahul with the result there are no state level leaders. Rahul has been talking of changes but nothing has changed. Presently, the Congressmen have no access to leadership and unless this changes the party cannot grow.

The third is to bring back democracy and hold elections for all the organisational posts including the Congress Working Committee and Pradesh Congress committees. The party should also stop the nomination culture including those of the chief ministers and PCC chiefs. The CWC has just left nominating the parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha to Sonia Gandhi.

This is also the time for introspection and course correction. The earlier conclaves like Pachmarhi, Shimla had yielded results. There should be one such exercise to chalk out the future course of action.

The problem with the congress is that it is refusing to give up its durbar culture and delude itself that it only has to bide its time and it can come banc to power after the next Lok Sabha elections. The wonderful performance of the regional parties like the AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and the BJD show that the regional forces are getting stronger as an alternative to the Congress and the BJP.

It is time that the Congress realised the real state of affairs and put its house in order. It needs to take several crucial and drastic decisions to revive the party. Otherwise the Grand Old Party faces the danger of fading away. (IPA Service)