Congress' dismal BMC loss: Why a Cong-mukt Bharat looks very likely

With every election, big or smell,  PM Modi’s prediction of a Congress-mukt Bharat comes closer to reality. Other than TV panels, Twitter trends and in articles of certain media persons who keep on missing the good ol’ days of 'tolerance', the Congress seems to be a party heading in only one direction – down! As its rival, the BJP rides on a mix of PM Modi’s charismatic personality and a history of solid governance in states, the Congress is left clutching at straws, completely out of touch with any semblance of reality.

This was perfectly encapsulated in former Congress MP and minister Milind Deora’s bizarre dig, lashing out at the voters of Mumbai. He wrote on Twitter after it became very clear in the morning that Congress was headed for dismal performance: “Conclusion one can draw from BMC election results is that Mumbaikars seem content living with potholes, flooding, malaria & water tankers.” By the end of it, Congress ended up with 31 seats, down from 52 in 2012 and 2007 in 75 seats. As several Twitter users, pointed out to Deora, it seemed like the people of Mumbai preferred malaria, pot holes and traffic jams to the Congress. 

Conclusion one can draw from BMC election results is that Mumbaikars seem content living with potholes, flooding, malaria & water tankers

— Milind Deora (@milinddeora) February 23, 2017

Deora’s response was the response of a petulant child, one who seemingly expects to get whatever toy it wants simply because they were born into position of privilege. What wasn’t shocking wasn’t that the Congress did abysmally badly, but that several of their leaders thought they were in with a chance.

The Congress office bears a deserted look (Pic by DNA"s Salman Ansari)

In Mumbai, factionalism among party workers created even more problems for the organisation and Sanjay Nirupam despite being a hard worker failed to rouse the cadre. Nirupam, who had caused quite a stink by questioning the veracity of the surgical strikes and faced accusations of favouritism when distributing tickets. That he was a former Shiv Sena member and Saamna editor, didn't help and his intra-party rival Gurudas Kamat refused to campaign.  

Yet, the Congress remained hopeful that BJP and Sena fighting separately would give them a shot, but both saffron parties ended up doing rather well. It wasn't' just Mumbai but the Congress did dismally in the 9 other bodies that went to the polls, losing out mostly to the BJP who lead in 8 out of 10 civic bodies. 

However, Congress’ problems in Mumbai is a perfect microcosm of the issues hampering the grand old party across the country. The truth is that no one is willing to seat down the top leadership and tell them they’ve a problem, as they stumble from one loss to another. The ones that do, like Assam minister Hemant Biswa Sarma, end up leaving and helping the enemy. 

As Finance Minister Jaitley pointed out in a recent blog, the Congress is becoming the fringe, a not-so-subtle dig at the fact that Congress often accuses of BJP of supporting fringe communal elements.They inevitably pick the wrong side of the debate in every major issue, from demonetization to surgical strikes. 

Even in the JNU's freedom of expression debate, their stance allowed the BJP to paint them as 'anti-national'. While one might argue that Congress has the right to back freedom of expression (even though they have a history of stifling it and literally wrote the laws to put it down), to the average Indian a cry demanding ‘Bharat Ke Tukde’ is a slogan too angry to stomach.

Similarly, the first thing former PDP minister Tariq Hameed Karra did after joining Congress was to slam Army Chief Rawat.  While Karra's statement might be popular in Kashmir, among the rest of Indians it simply isolates the Congress. The grand old party's electoral fate will largely depend on the results in the next five state elections.  The states where they stand a realistic chance is Punjab where Captain Amarinder Singh continues to hold sway and in Manipur. Things look bad in Uttarakhand, where the anti-incumbency against CM Harish Rawat is high and even in Goa, they seem to have lost their thunder to AAP. 

The worst scenario was however in UP where the Congress campaigned for four months, in high decibel Khat Pe Charcha campaign where Rahul Gandhi travelled around the state, as the Congress dragged Sheila Dikshit out of retirement and made her their CM face before unceremoniously dumping her when the Cong-SP alliance was announced. While the alliance may end up winning, it will be because of Akhilesh Yadav and SP and despite the Congress who have been forced into make-shift alliances in West Bengal and Bihar. It’s sad when you consider the party's history but it seems till the time Congress is willing to do an honest introspection and re-haul, it is consigned to be a minor player in several upcoming elections. While in politics, situation can change very quickly, at this point of time, a Congress revival looks nothing short of a miracle. The term Congress-mukt bharat no longer looks just like a Modi jumla.