Salman Khurshid, a senior congress Politician, wants his party to think large like the BJP and refuse to consider the “pessimistic view” that the party has become too fragile and poor to reclaim lost land.
“One take-away that I have from (West) Bengal and Assam (Assembly elections) is: You should never, never accept that you are too small, you are too weak and that you can’t make it big in a particular region or State”, he told PTI in an interview on Monday.
I believe the BJP has implemented this (think-big strategy) in areas where they previously had no presence. They tried it in other ways where they still don’t exist,” Mr Khurshid said.
The former Union Minister stressed that the Congress could not embrace the negative opinion that it has “lost so much ground and cannot now recover.”
I believe we will, and should, do it with resolve and conviction.
Mr. Khurshid agreed with some analyses that tactical voting occurred in West Bengal’s latest Assembly elections, in which the Congress and the Left were wiped out.
“That’s true. One analyst said the extent of tactical voting that happened in Bengal may not have happened in Assam but obviously tactical voting happened in both the places,” he said.
“…what do you do with it (tactical voting) as a party for the future, it’s something that we will have to consider”.
Mr Khurshid was questioned about his opinion of some of his party’s leaders, who argued that a tie-up with the Indian Secular Front contributed to the party’s defeat in West Bengal and that the alliance with the AIUDF cost the party dearly in Assam.
When you don’t excel, you get this kind of justification; when you do succeed, you get a different kind of explanation, he added.
So, while post-hoc interpretations can help you analyse the decision-making process and the merits of that decision, I don’t think they’re necessary. All I would say is that both sides have a lot to say.
Mr. Khurshid also said that the Congress manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh would be “from within” the voters.
“Idea is to be a little more analytical about what is it that people want and see if we can give it,” he said.
“Of course, we continue to face the issue of unreasonable divide between castes and cultures,” Mr Khurshid said, “and that will be overcome over time.” That (the division) isn’t going to go away with a wish. Over time, it will be settled.
The Congress was decimated in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress secured 213 of 294 seats in the Assembly elections, which were announced on May 2.
In Kerala and Assam, Congress was unable to defeat incumbent governments.
The NR Congress-led National Democratic Alliance defeated the party in Puducherry.
The Congress, on the other hand, was a member of the victorious Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led coalition in Tamil Nadu.
