DNA Edit | An uneasy crown: Rahul has an uphill battle ahead of him

Finally, the Congress has cleared the way for Rahul Gandhi to take over as party president. The 47-year-old’s ‘election’ to the position of Congress president is expected to sail through without a hitch this December. In the last few months, the soon-to-be Congress boss has come into his own. His Twitter handle has been blazing some burn for the BJP, while his public addresses — be it in Gujarat or Himachal Pradesh — have been drawing large crowds. This is not to say that there has been a complete turnaround as far as Gandhi is concerned. The failing, however, hasn’t been his alone.  In a sense, it is the Congress that has failed the Gandhi scion by not being able to outshine the BJP in its IT cell reach.

Consequently, several jokes and false information on him have taken root and entrenched themselves deeply in the public mind. To this day, countless Indians who have been looking for a progressive, modern and impassioned leader do not consider his candidature seriously, given the avalanche of negative perception that the vice-president is up against. This can be changed if the Congress — which has been late to the IT propaganda dissemination game — gets its act together and effectively counters the ‘Pappu’ narrative. Since 2014, Congress has been emaciated in its seat strength, evident from its marginal catch in 2014 of merely 44 seats. This was a massive drubbing and the Congress lost an incredible 162 seats compared to its tally of the 2009 elections. After the paralysis-stricken, corruption-prone innings of UPA 2, perhaps such a disastrous result was inevitable.

However, post 2014, the Congress has failed in capturing power in states even when people have handed it the mandate. A prime example of this failure has been the party’s inept performance in forming a government in Goa and Manipur, even after voters awarded it with the maximum number of seats within the two assemblies. Partly, the party has failed on this front because it has not succeeded in cultivating the second rung of leaders possessed of political shrewdness and realpolitik acumen. Perhaps, the blame for such a failure lies in the fact that unlike in the BJP, grassroots politicians have fewer avenues of rising through the ranks in the Grand Old Party. Add to this the grudging acceptance that Rahul gave to the tradition of political dynasties ruling India.

Taken together, these signs do not signal a conducive atmosphere for party democracy. This is  where Gandhi will have to focus his energies. If he manages to beat this menace within the party and also the public perception that it is a party of elites, Congress could possibly see a sudden revival of fortunes. It will also help him broaden its activist base vis-à-vis the BJP. Besides undergirding the party’s worker base, Gandhi will also have to fill the shoes of his mother, who can boast of a brilliant track record in managing fierce infighting. Will Gandhi be able to play the mediator with the same finesse as the current Congress president? Only time will tell.