There is a camp that believes that the Congress has little chance of improving its 2019 tally. However, others contend that the party may be able to cross the 100 mark. But one thing is certain: the Congress is in no position to form a government at the Centre by itself. This was the Congress that had dominated the political scene in the country for more than 50 years. Even when it ceased to be a formidable player, it ran a coalition government led by Manmohan Singh for 10 years. However, such is the dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the dynamic and exceptional leadership of Narendra Modi that the Congress forming a government on its own looks like a dream.

At present, the Congress is truly fighting a near-existential crisis despite having governments in three states and a 19% vote share. To regain its past glory, the Congress needs major surgery, with clear vision and a gladiatorial instinct. Today, it looks like a mirage, but a glimmer of hope cannot be ruled out when one peeps through its manifesto for the 2024 elections. It seems the party has finally attained clarity about the direction in which it is planning to move to regain its new social base. I can see traces of a new Congress.

The decline of the old Congress started after the 1989 election. Three events sealed the party's fate: the campaign around Bofors, the implementation of the Mandal Commission by the V.P. Singh government, and the Ram Mandir movement led by the BJP. The Congress, which had won 404 seats after the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi, was reduced to its pale shadow in 1989. It won 197 seats........

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