Yashoda Srivastava,
senior journalist
Nowadays, efforts are going on in full swing to take the Congress organization to the grassroots level in UP. It is starting afresh with the selection of district presidents. Two layer observers have been deployed in all 75 districts of UP. One has been sent from the central organization of the party and the other from the UP committee. These observers will spend a week in the districts of their deployment. Assembly wise party workers will be held and they will take feedback from them on the working style of the current president and if the current president has to be changed, then who should be given a chance will be discussed.
In UP, this process of selection of district heads through opinion poll is probably being seen for the first time or after a long time. In this process, applications from contenders for the post of President have already been taken. According to a UP Congress spokesperson, at least five to six people from one district, including the current District President, have applied for the post of President. This experiment regarding organization is being praised within the Congress, the officials and supporters associated with the Congress are considering it as a good effort for radical change in the UP Congress organization, but they are also apprehensive that this exercise of the Congress may prove to be old wine in a new bottle.
The current condition of the district organization of UP Congress, barring a few districts as an exception, is not good. The central and state organizations of Congress are well aware of this. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was clearly seen that most of the district organizations were completely silent. Where Congress candidates were in the fray, there too and where SP candidates were in the fray, there also. This Lok Sabha election was fought jointly by Congress and SP and proportionately both the parties got better success. Despite the double engine government, BJP was badly defeated here, it even lost the Ayodhya seat. By fighting on 17 seats, Congress was able to win six seats. If the district organization of Congress had been even a little honest and active, it would have got Amroha, Maharajganj, Deoria, Kanpur and Bansgaon seat of Gorakhpur.
It is understood that in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress has noticed the working style of the district organizations and that is why it was concerned about the strength of the district organization, although two years ago the district presidents were changed in some districts of UP, but there was no hope from them in these two years. Of course, State President Ajay Rai has completed his three-year tenure well, but his condition is like that of a commander without a soldier. Keeping in mind the 2027 assembly elections in UP, this exercise of Congress is considered important. Currently, as coordination is being seen between Congress and SP, there is more hope that both the parties will contest the assembly elections together.
On the other hand, some enthusiastic leaders from both sides are not desisting from their rhetoric of contesting elections separately. The rhetoric of Congress MP from Saharanpur Imran Masood makes the Congress uncomfortable. The inclination of Muslim voters is towards SP and Congress, but neither SP nor Congress can win with their votes alone. It is necessary to select such people in the district organization who can counter such bigoted leaders. Congress will have to keep this in mind while revamping the district organization. The generation which had expressed trust in BJP in 2014, 19 and 24, is now losing its trust. This is the message of Delhi's Jantar Mantar and Jharkhand's student movement. The huge crowd in Rahul Gandhi's 'Students' Echo' program is also a sign of the change in direction of the youth.
Strong district organization is necessary to prevent these young voters from scattering elsewhere. The central organization of Congress cannot do everything, for this the observers sent to the districts will have to be more cautious in selecting the district presidents. It was clearly seen in the Lok Sabha elections that where SP candidates were contesting, the Congress organization was cleverly busy in benefiting the BJP by helping the candidate of the other party. Due to this reason, SP lost the elections of at least four Lok Sabha seats in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The condition of Congress in UP is not hidden from anyone. In 2022, Priyanka Gandhi's slogan 'Ladki hoon lad sakti hoon' had vanished. Only two MLAs were able to reach the assembly. (These are the personal views of the author)