Decoded | Congress Chintan Shivir: Course corrections and the way forward
India Today
At the Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, the Congress party took several key decisions and adopted resolutions to revamp the organisation. Here’s a look at how the party’s hoping to revive its dwindling fortunes.
It was at the Jaipur Chintan Shivir nine years ago that the Congress named Rahul Gandhi as its vice president. This marked the beginning of a transitional phase, a generational change, in the grand old party. And the just concluded Chintan Shivir in Udaipur marked the culmination of this transition.
Just like the saying “every ending is a new beginning”, the culmination of this transition process has led to the Congress deciding that the time has come to pass the baton to the young blood in the organisation.
A sign of what is in store was given by Rahul Gandhi in his address at the Nav Sankalp Shivir, when he mentioned “transforming the nature of Congress party. Not the nature in terms of its thinking, not the nature in terms of its ideology but its nature of the way we do our work.”
And the “to do” list approved by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) fleshed out the detailed strategy as to how the party plans to “transform the nature of the way it will function in future.”
To begin with, proposals that got the go-ahead from the CWC, the party’s highest decision-making body, addressed two key issues -- how to strengthen the organisation and be battle-ready for elections. The proposals that got CWC’s stamp of approval include:
'50 below 50’ formula: The Congress decided that younger leaders will be given more representation, right from the CWC to booth-level committees, with 50 per cent posts given those below 50 years of age.
Fixed tenure: A cap of five years on term limit for all office bearers and ‘One Family, One Ticket.
