The continued defiant and rebellious behaviour of some Congress leaders in Punjab is unexplainable. So is the silence of the high command that is allowing them to hold the party to ransom. The Congress, so far, continues to be the main challenger to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party for the 2027 assembly elections in Punjab. But the way the rebel leaders are trying to upset the party’s applecart, it looks like they are keen to snatch defeat from the jaws of a probable victory.
The Congress remains the principal opposition party in Punjab and the main and serious challenger to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which is faced with strong anti-incumbency sentiment. As the rest of the opposition remains fragmented between the BJP and various Akali groups, Congress remains the unified and uniformly distributed party across all regions, castes and creeds in the state. Only the Congress can claim with credibility that it enjoys the support of all sections of people across the state, which neither the AAP, nor BJP, nor the Akali groups can claim.
However, the developments within the Congress have raised doubts whether the party leaders are really keen and serious to ensure return to power. Currently the Congress is in a complete “state of civil war”. Rarely does it happen that the party workers come to blows in presence of the senior leaders and the general secretary in charge. It happened in Sangrur yesterday.
The Congress has launched the campaign ‘Harr booth mazboot’, to strengthen the party at the grassroots level. So far it has organised four programmes in Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Patiala and Sangrur. In Patiala and Sangrur there were voices of dissent. In Sangrur it turned ugly with supporters of Charanjit Singh Channi raising slogans in his favour in presence of Bhupesh Baghel.
The ‘harr booth mazboot’ has received encouraging response. All the programmes of the party went houseful. But the ugly patches as seen in Patiala and Sangrur on Saturday have come as a grave setback for the party. It has never happened in the Congress in the past. The rebel leaders may not be directly responsible for these ugly scenes, but they cannot escape the accountability. After all those who disrupted the proceedings were raising slogans in favour of Charanjit Singh Channi, the leader of the rebel group.
Also read: Punjab continues to pose serious challenge to Congress
The party high command has repeatedly made it categorically clear that there will be no leadership change in Punjab. Still the rebels are insisting on change, without realising that they cannot force the high command to succumb to any pressure. For the high command it is not only Punjab. In case the high command caves in to pressure in Punjab, it will unfold across the country in other states as well.
The party has done reasonably well under the leadership of incumbent president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, having won seven of the 13 parliamentary constituencies in Punjab in the 2024 General Elections. If all goes well and if the party manages to set its house in order, the Congress in all likelihood will improve the parliamentary performance in the assembly elections.
The high command has no other option but to make the rebels fall in line even if it means taking some drastic action. The rebels are trying to leverage the Dalit identity of their leader Channi. The rebels know it well that the Congress cannot afford to take any such action against Channi lest it antagonise the powerful 32 percent Dalit population in the state. That would mean inflating Channi’s influence. The Dalits do not vote uniformly and en-bloc for or against any political party. By that logic the Congress should not have lost in 2022 when it appointed Channi as the Chief Minister while superseding many senior leaders. Not only did the Congress lose, Channi lost in both the assembly segments he contested from.
Unless and until the Congress does not take some firm disciplinary action against the rebel leaders, they are unlikely to fall in line. The party high command has tried enough motivation and persuasion. The carrot is no longer working for the party and it is time to resort to stick. Once the high command initiates action against even one prominent rebel leader, rest will fall in line.
Expelling a former MLA like Madan Lal Jalalpur will serve no purpose or deterrent. Congress needs a serious and strong surgical strike, before it is too late. If things continue to go like this in the Congress for a little long, it may actually snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
And the high command will have to blame itself for not acting on time against the defiant rebels. They need the Congress more than the Congress needs them. If a towering leader like Capt Amarinder Singh could not retain his family bastion Patiala without the Congress, it is highly unlikely that anyone else can either.
Follow us
