Rahul Gandhi interacts with Congress leaders from Haryana
By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
New Delhi: The Congress party has embarked on a significant initiative to appoint District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents across Haryana, marking the first such exercise in 11 years, spurred by Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state last week. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) have dispatched observers to approximately half a dozen districts to commence a consultation process aimed at establishing a robust district-level organisational structure. These observers are tasked with collecting applications for the DCC president posts, meticulously scrutinising each candidate’s credentials, and forwarding recommendations to the party’s high command for final selection. This comprehensive process, encompassing all 22 districts of Haryana, is set to conclude by June 30, 2025, with the objective of strengthening the party’s grassroots network. The Congress leadership has introduced a new slogan, emphasising that DCC presidents serve as a vital link between the party’s top leadership and its grassroots workers, ensuring a seamless flow of communication and coordination.
Historically, until 2014, the selection of DCC presidents rested with state unit chiefs and the leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP), a method frequently criticised for fostering factionalism and nepotism, which often sidelined merit in favour of loyalty. This approach allowed significant discretion to the two leaders, leading to widespread concerns about fairness and ultimately undermining the party’s organisational integrity. In a departure from this practice, the Congress has established a new institutional mechanism to conduct elections based solely on merit at the grassroots level. AICC and PCC observers are now actively engaging with grassroots workers in Haryana, gathering their feedback to ensure a transparent and inclusive selection process. For each district, observers will prepare a panel of six leaders, aged between 35 and 55, after extensive consultations with district-level leaders and those below, ensuring that the process reflects the aspirations of the party’s rank and file.
This initiative originates from the AICC session held in Ahmedabad on April 8-9, 2025, where the Congress leadership resolved to undertake a massive organisational reshuffle to empower DCC units and enhance their responsibilities. The plan includes granting DCCs a significant say in the selection of candidates for elections, outlining duties for booth-level management, and establishing additional functional units known as mandal committees to bridge the gap between district and block-level units. Each DCC will also form a Political Affairs Committee to formulate the party’s response to significant national political developments as well as those specific to their state, enabling a more dynamic and localised approach to political strategy. Initially, the Congress planned to implement this restructuring in Gujarat as a pilot project, but Haryana has taken the lead in executing it on an experimental basis. Party sources indicate that if the Haryana selection process proves satisfactory, the same methodology could be rolled out to other states, potentially transforming the party’s organisational framework nationwide.
In mid-April, the Congress headquarters in Delhi organised workshops for DCC presidents from across India, conducted in three phases based on regions. Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and General Secretaries participated, engaging in detailed discussions on booth management, voter list verification, ideological training, and strategies for effective media and social media campaigns. During these workshops, Rahul Gandhi emphasised that the party’s predictable approach has provided an advantage to rivals, urging leaders to adopt innovative strategies to counter this challenge and enhance the party’s competitiveness.
The Congress faces substantial challenges as the Narendra Modi government marks its 11th anniversary in office, with the BJP’s vast resources and well-organised party machinery presenting a formidable obstacle. Having lost the last three Lok Sabha elections, political observers question whether the Congress can mount a credible challenge to the BJP by 2029. The party’s organisational strength has gradually eroded, paving the way for regional parties to consolidate their influence in several states. The Congress has not had a Chief Minister in Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh for over 30 years, in Bihar since Dr. Jagannath Mishra’s tenure in 1989, in West Bengal for 48 years, in Odisha for 25 years, and in Tamil Nadu for 58 years. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls and subsequent assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Delhi further highlighted these setbacks, underscoring the party’s diminishing electoral footprint.
In response to these challenges, a special Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Belagavi, Karnataka, at the end of 2024 declared 2025 as the year of organisational empowerment, setting the stage for a comprehensive restructuring. The Ahmedabad AICC session built on this commitment, deciding to revert to the organisational model of the 1960s, when DCCs were the cornerstone of the party’s structure. During that era, DCCs served as the critical link between grassroots workers and state-level leadership, playing a pivotal role in selecting party candidates for elections and shaping campaign strategies. Over the decades, the rise of a centralised High Command culture at the national level, coupled with the emergence of powerful Chief Ministers and PCC presidents as state-level power centres, has marginalised DCCs, reducing them to mere supporting roles. Party veterans recall that in the 1960s, the Congress was organised around its district units, before the shift toward a High Command culture and the influence of power brokers and vested interests altered its dynamics.
The current initiative seeks to decentralise decision-making powers, restoring DCCs to their former prominence by empowering district units to take on significant responsibilities. Haryana’s experiment represents a crucial step toward rebuilding the Congress’s organisational framework, with a focus on grassroots involvement and merit-based selections. By reviving the old DCC structure, the party aims to address past shortcomings and strengthen its foundation. The success of this process in Haryana could determine whether the Congress can replicate it across other states, potentially reshaping its role in Indian politics. For now, Haryana remains the focal point, as the Congress works diligently to revitalise its organisational roots and prepare for future electoral battles, hoping to recapture the dynamism that once defined the grand old party.
*Senior journalist
