January 28, 2025

Congress: Kharge Takes Charge

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-10-27 07:46:05

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Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

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Mallikarjun Kharge took over as Congress president on Wednesday with a rousing speech in which he promised to "smash this system of lies, deceit and hatred" spawned by the BJP.  He also promised to implement all decisions taken at the party chintan shivir in Udaipur, especially the pledge to have 50% of party posts for people under 50. In this regard, he also called upon the youth of the country to back the Congress "to give a befitting reply to the anarchic ways of this government". Kharge asked Congress workers to be brave and set aside their fears in the fight for democratic values.

As is the tradition in the Congress, as part of giving the new president a free hand, all members of the highest decision-making body in the party, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and general secretaries and state in-charges resigned. Kharge then set up a 47-member steering committee which included the Gandhis and most senior leaders, except Shashi Tharoor who contested against him in the presidential election, to guide the party till the plenary session expected to be held in March 2023.

The Congress has made a fresh beginning by having an elected, full time president. But Kharge must now move quickly to hold organization elections from ground up and allow deserving candidates to get elected instead of nominating people in the party’s central and state units. It will be better if this can be done before the plenary session. The Congress party is best suited to be the main opposition party. It must slowly but surely recapture the space it has vacated in the last 8 years. But this can only be done if the high command loosens its tight grip on the organization and allows those workers who still believe in the Congress ideology to come up from the ground. Only then will the ordinary workers’ faith be restored and he or she will give his all to fight for the party.