‘Introspection’ has become the most abusive word in the Congress repo tire, and every time Congress loses, there would be an introspection, and that would become an end in itself. The result: People simply have lost trust and confidence in the current leadership, and only a wholesale change from top to bottom may provide a ray of hope.
Traveling around in central and south Kerala during the election campaign, I heard several Congress leaders talking with growing confidence about throwing out the ‘corrupt Pinarayi Government,’ and even I was persuaded to believe that it might come true. Now the truth has been revealed: these leaders are totally out of touch with the people; they are in their own virtual silos disconnected from reality. For example, many of them were making fun of CPM buying votes by providing food kits. The truth of the matter is the LDF government saved the state from starvation and despair by providing food to lakhs of people, including some well-to-do ones. Instead of supporting good deeds by the government, they tried to be the stumbling blocks to good governance even by fling petition with authorities.
Congress is supposed to be a secular party. However, the eagerness to put the Sabarimala issue once again in front to create further communal polarization was not in the best interest of the party’s fortune. People simply rejected that argument. On Television, Congress and BJP appeared to have the same sound bites. For example, the Congress party and many of its leaders are victims of the politicization of central agencies like CBI and Enforcement Directorate by the Modi-Shah duo. Yet, Congress spokespersons hardly repudiated these intrusions in Kerala as part of a naked power grab by the governing party at the Center.
In Central Travancore, especially in Pathanamthitta District, where Congress lost all seats, minorities who dominate those constituencies are said to have lost faith in the Congress party as a strong guardian of religious freedom. CPM apparently has replaced the Congress party as an ardent defender of pluralism and diversity by quickly responding to any threats arising from the Saffron brigade. Congress leaders are known for their silence in the face of intimidation and violence from these extremist elements. They also appeared to have failed in condemning violence against minorities outside of Kerala.
It is no secret that the group leaders totally made up the candidate list on the organizational side. Instead of putting these feuding groups out of business, this election saw addition of another quasi-group to the fray. A veteran leader told me that although he was part of the Election Committee, not a single meeting was convened, nor was he consulted. The hollowness of High Command consultations is laid bare, and the Congress supporters at the booth and block levels have been simply deceived.
The resignation of Kunjalikutty from the Lok Sabha did not provide for good optics. The corruption under the former PWD minister loomed large when his son decided to defend his seat. It has become a tradition in India to emulate dynasty politics mostly to protect the ill-gotten wealth of their elders. Palarivattom Bridge remained a symbol of the leverage one coalition partner had over the UDF governance and exhibited the extend of tolerance by the Congress leadership towards fraud and corruption for the sake of clinging on to power. The eagerness of some group leaders to offer tickets to erstwhile partners soiled in corruption revealed the rot under the party apparatus.
The national leadership cannot escape from the responsibility either, as there is a crisis of leadership at the top. There is a growing perception that the Congress party is leaderless, rudderless, and adrift. The very inability of the Senior leadership to put an end to this groupism is a clear indication of a lack of decisive leadership at the top that is supposed to inspire confidence throughout the ranks.
Congress Party in Kerala was in opposition for five years. However, they could only decide on the candidates list just two weeks before the elections. It indeed points to an organizational failure at the state level, and the leaders must be held accountable for that massive failure. People were assured that 55% of all the candidates were new faces, yet it did not take too much time to figure out that the sycophants of these group leaders were the beneficiaries. As most of them have been defeated, it has become clear that they had no connections with the grassroots.
Therefore, in my personal capacity as someone who has labored for the party from my student days until now, I implore the top leadership to overhaul the KPCC with new faces who could inspire confidence and provide strong leadership for the Congress Party to survive as a viable entity in Kerala. However, all is not lost yet; conducting organizational elections from the Block level upwards would be a desirable start!
