News Analysis | As Congress begins ‘chintan shivir,’ reports from past exercises remain tucked away

For instance, report from panel headed by Ashok Chavan was not tabled at party’s highest decision-making forum

The Congress brass has begun introspection at a three-day-long ‘Nav Sankalp chintan shivir’ in Udaipur, but even as it sits down to draft its strategy ahead, reports from similar exercises in the past remain tucked away. 

The latest one was a five-member committee headed by Maharashtra Minister Ashok Chavan, which submitted its report in June last year on the Congress’s defeat in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, and Puducherry. The report, despite demands from members of the Congress Working Committee, was not tabled at the party’s highest decision-making forum.

After the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle, the party had similarly constituted a committee under A.K. Antony to probe the reasons for its defeat. The committee ended up being an exercise to exonerate the Gandhi family while blaming the party’s pro-minority image for the defeat. 

Reports from these committees constituted in a moment of defeat have rarely seen the light of the day and it remains unclear what recommendations were made or what corrective steps followed, if at all, since they were not discussed at wider party platforms. 

Mr. Antony, who has gone into semi-retirement, is in Kerala and not participating in any discussions in Udaipur. Meanwhile, speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Chavan said that he hoped the report submitted by his committee would be discussed at the chintan shivir. “The report was well taken. And let’s hope, our findings will be discussed,”  he said. 

The Ashok Chavan committee that had Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, Vincent H. Pala and Jyothi Mani spoke to over 160 people before compiling a forensic analysis of the defeat in the four States. Sources familiar with the findings of the committee said that there were systemic flaws in the State units, heavy dependence on the central leadership and ineffective alliances.  

The committee found that the organisation had atrophied in the State and no efforts were made in last two decades to strengthen it. As many as 18 of the 33 District Congress Committees were found to be practically defunct. There were very few actual booth committees. The Congress campaign was ineffective even after the issues on which the election was fought were identified by an external consultant engaged by the central leadership. The candidate selection process was disastrously delayed, with the screening committee formed just two days after the nomination of candidates started in the State. The Congress’s anti-CAA stance failed to resonate in Upper Assam and North Bank because of the contradiction created by the alliance with the AIUDF. The opposition to an alliance with the AIUDF from many leaders was ignored.