Indian National Congress Day

Today Indian National Congress completes its 131 years of journey. It's perhaps the oldest surviving  political party on the earth. Noone can dispute its contribution in freedom struggle. From safety valve to conducting rod to a coterie of "bourgeoisie Brahmins", it earned many sobriquets. It rose from a pressure group to prominent political party to become  unchallengeable "Congress system".Ideologically it calls itself left of centre, that's why it tries to accommodate subaltern forces.  But Its state led socialistic emphasis,  minority appeasement policy, politics of poverty  are alleged to perpetuate "povertarianism" in words of Shekhar Gupta. Its politics of patronage kept subaltern population dependent on the state , that's why poor states with maximum political participation for getting doles, freebies etc. Later this trend got institutionalised in Indian political system. Further, this party of consensus couldn't tame the pulsating centrifugal forces like regionalism, secessionism, linguistic jingoism, casteism after demise of Pt Nehru. Later on a number of  more unintended consequences  popped up for good or bad reasons.  Here, decentralization of political process, rise of coalition, emergence of identity plus politics, as yogendra Yadav calls it "democratic upsurge" like development are in line of diverse ethos of indian reality after decimation of INC. The identity crisis, it entered into, after last election, is yet on and unable to see any lantern in its dark political tunnel. INC, in  past,  mostly thrived on charismatic leadership which kept on melting since Nehru. UPA period saw its nadir which got materialised in 16th LS election. The emotional hangover of its contribution in freedom struggle is hardly left. Its scions have already grossly misappropriated the legacy  to perpetuate its political dynasty. Present leadership crisis in it in the presence of strong leadership in regional and other national parties further aggravate its miserable situation. It needs to cleanse at all level -from inner democracy to ideological mooring as per changing aspiration of people to grassroot political nourishment. The right wing forces are at its peak throughout the world due to increasing identity consciousness ,so to moderate  extreme forces centrists must come at fore to present a  strong and constructive opposition. In this context the most sought after 'development  call' should not be confined only to economic aspects as right wingers emphasize upon at the cost of multiculturalism but  should be holistic, multidimensional and inclusive recognizing all sort of differences.