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India's Congress party licks its wounds after electoral humiliation India's Congress party officials rally around Gandhis before polls inquest
(about 4 hours later)
India's ruling Congress party is to gather in New Delhi for a postmortem on its electoral humiliation, with its leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi facing pressure over their failed campaign tactics. The leadership of India's Congress party is to meet in New Delhi to discuss the causes of its crushing defeat in last week's general election, with its two most senior officials, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, facing criticism over their failed campaign strategy.
Congress slumped to its worst-ever defeat last week, claiming just 44 seats in the 543-member parliament, as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) swept to power with the first majority in 30 years. Congress suffered its worst-ever defeat in the poll, claiming just 44 seats in the 543-member parliament, as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) swept to power with the first majority in Indian politics in 30 years.
The Indian media swirled with rumours on Monday that the Gandhis, south Asia's famed political dynasty, would offer to step down – but their resignation would almost certainly be rejected by colleagues. Indian analysts have described the result as "revolutionary" and "a democratic asteroid" which has fundamentally altered the political landscape of the emerging economic power.
Sonia, the 67-year-old Congress party president, entrusted campaigning to Rahul, her son and vice-president, whose lacklustre performance failed to convince voters as Congress sought a third term in power. "It is a game-changer … a radical shift in the social bases of power, that is not transitory but long-term … A new era is upon us," wrote Professor Ashutosh Varshney of Brown University, in the Indian Express newspaper.
Speculation mounted that senior Congress figures would call for a greater role in the party for Rahul's younger sister, Priyanka, who entered campaigning late in the election campaign to more favourable reviews. Officials of the Congress party, which has been in power for all but 18 years since India won its independence from Britain in 1947, have sought to protect Sonia Gandhi, the 67-year-old Congress party president, and Rahul, her 43-year-old son and vice-president, from blame for the defeat.
"Where does the question of either the Congress president or vice-president resigning even arise?" the outgoing Congress minister Manish Tiwari told the CNN-IBN channel on Monday. "It is a collective responsibility for all of us as a whole," he added. Rahul, a Cambridge-educated former management consultant, has struggled to connect with voters and failed to develop any significant momentum throughout the campaign. Congress officials have nonetheless rallied around the two most prominent members of south Asia's most famous political dynasty.
The general secretary of Congress, Shakeel Ahmad, told AFP: "If they offer to resign, all of us might follow suit." "This is not about one particular leader or individual," said Salman Soz, a party official, as results became clear last week.
Congress has ruled for all but 13 years of India's post-independence history and has run the country for the last 10 years at the head of the left-leaning coalition. Indian media reports had suggested that both leaders would offer to step down, but their resignation would almost certainly be rejected by colleagues.
Its defeat has been attributed to a sharp economic slowdown, rising food prices and a series of corruption scandals, as well as Rahul being comprehensively overshadowed by the BJP leader, Narendra Modi. There has also been speculation that senior Congress figures could call for a greater role in the party for Rahul's younger sister, Priyanka, who entered campaigning late in the election campaign and is seen as a more effective communicator than her brother.
Modi assailed the dynastic rule of the Gandhis and tapped into widespread hunger for jobs and development, while offering a message of aspiration and ambition to the young electorate. "Where does the question of either the Congress president or vice-president resigning even arise?" the outgoing Congress minister Manish Tiwari asked the CNN-IBN channel on Monday. "It is a collective responsibility for all of us as a whole," he added.
"Economic growth and social mobility have radically transformed how younger Indians think and behave," the leading historian Ramachandra Guha wrote in the Kolkata-based Telegraph newspaper at the weekend. Congress took power in 2004 at the head of a centre-left coalition. Its defeat has been attributed to a sharp economic slowdown, rising food prices and a series of corruption scandals, as well as Rahul being comprehensively overshadowed by the energetic and effective BJP leader, 63-year-old Narendra Modi.
"No longer so deferential or unquestioning, they ask for evidence of Rahul Gandhi's own contributions apart from his family lineage. These are few," he concluded. Modi, who comes from a humble provincial background and once sold tea to make a living, repeatedly attacked the dynastic rule of the Gandhis and was able to tap into widespread hunger for jobs and development, while offering a message of aspiration and ambition to the young electorate.
The Congress working committee, the highest decision-making body in the party, will meet at 4pm local time (10.30 GMT) on Monday. Ashok Malik, a Delhi-based analyst, told the Guardian before the polls that the party's campaign rhetoric showed how Congress had failed to adjust to huge changes in India in recent decades, where younger voters are now more impressed by the opportunities a candidate appears to offer them than the achievements of his forebears.
Following the victory, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the "politics of accomplishment" had replaced the "politics of inheritance".
Other analysts spoke of urbanisation, rising literacy, growing if unequal prosperity and the decline of old instinctive deference towards supposed "social superiors" as underpinning the failure of Congress and Gandhi to connect with voters.
"The dynasty per se is finished. It will be a long slow death but it is incredibly difficult to see them recover from here," said Ramachandra Guha, an Indian political historian and commentator.