Indian National Congress: Demagogy, Dynasty, Disunity and Decline

Abstract

The Congress, the grand old party of India, plunged into a political abyss after consecutive defeats in the national elections of 2014 and 2019. It called for a deep remedial overhaul, but it resorted to ‘Band-Aid political strategies’ for pro-tem gains. It recirculated rootless leaders in various party positions, added digital footprints rather than foot soldiers and launched the ambiguous ‘Bharat Jodo Yatras’ (walkathons) – shepherded by Rahul Gandhi to reclaim its lost political dominance. It becomes contextual to revisit the deinstitutionalization thesis of Congress party and probe criticalities of personalism-dynasticism in top echelons and generational factionalism-leadership conundrums in states in hastening its endemic decline.