The BJP is fully aware that it would be difficult to get another leader with an all-India charisma like PM Narendra Modi, capable of obtaining a significant number of votes on his or her own. So, even as it works to get the most out of the Modi appeal, it is continuously strengthening its state units so that party ideology can be consolidated at the grassroots. In contrast, the Congress is attempting to establish Rahul Gandhi as a counter to Modi as a national level leader. There is little evidence of the party promoting an ideology relevant to the present among potential followers. It is all about its having led the freedom movement and the Nehru-Gandhi family legacy.
It must not be forgotten that, even as the Congress has dominated much of India’s years as a democratic republic, it has won two general elections on the back of its leaders’ assassinations. It had little to do with what was being offered in its manifesto for the developing nation. In contrast, the coalition governments that came to power on the back of anti-incumbency could not last long as there was little ideological commonality and much personal rivalry.
So, in a post-Modi scenario, what will it be? A Rahul Gandhi with a stature that brings votes to the Congress across the country, or all the opposition parties combining to form a government? At the present, there are few states where the Congress can win on its own. Would the power-sharing be adequate to satisfy the alliance partners, and what common agenda would they all be able to put together for the nation’s future growth? Issues such as caste census, anti-ECI rhetoric, ethnic and language identity may serve well to bring down a government, but how will they serve a coalition when in power? With power in the hands of a leader because of his political inheritance, how much would the allies surrender space in their areas of influence to him? One needs to only look at how past coalitions turned out in such scenarios.
Is it even possible now for the Congress to revive itself as an ideological entity with a clear political vision for the future? Consider how moderate leaders espousing an ideology that projects the Congress as a party instead of a proprietorship are being treated at the present – Shashi Tharoor is a case in point. Despite Modi, ideology remains central to the BJP. In the Congress, ‘La Famiglia’ remains paramount.
