Reinvent the ideology- the only option before Congress

Indian National Congress is the oldest political party in India. During the time of British colonial rule, the party gained control by invoking the nationalist sentiments of the people. The leaders of the party knew that in a multi-cultural society like India, secular ideals would be better to get the support of the people. Thus, by combining the ideals of nationalism and secular concepts, INC became an unquestionable power. Any other economic ideology other than that of socialism would have been inappropriate in a country where the social division of haves and have-nots is a social reality. The Congress party under the leadership of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru adopted socialist policy in order to decrease the gap between rich and the poor. In other words, the ideological positioning of the party “nationalism+ secularism+ socialism” is what helps Nehru remain as an unquestionable power centre in the country.

In short, in order to understand the real depth of the problems of Congress party in the contemporary India, an understanding of history will be useful. There are political observers who say that it is because of the dynastic rule within the party that led to the destruction of the party, whereas some others point out the corruption cases leveled against the leaders of the UPA govt. I would say these are just simplification of the issue.

Nationalist sentiments were something which helped grow the Congress party, but the party failed to instill the same sentiments among the youth in the present era. In the place of Congress, BJP and RSS invoked the same sentiments. They have used the ideas and writings of the earlier national leaders such as Bal Gangadhara Tilak. This helped them gain control.

The Janata Parivar and the Leftist parties became powerful parties as they have concentrated on secularist and socialist ideas. When Congress failed to support the minorities and Dalits, they lost their support base.

In short, the reason behind the failure is because of their lack of ideological stand point. BJP proved to be a better right wing, nationalist political party and the regional parties raise the slogan of secularism louder than the Congress. So, if Congress wants to regain their lost ground, they need to invent some catchy slogans and ideology.