By Liz Mathew, IANS
New Delhi : They were meant to deepen and widen its support base. But the Congress is painfully realising that flagship projects meant to widen its support base among the masses are doing no good for its image as a champion of the poor and underprivileged.
A frustrated Congress leadership is laying the blame for the state of affairs on a variety of factors. But independent analysts say the Congress needs to look inwards because it alone is responsible for the programmes’ failures or their proper projection to the people.
Both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and general secretary Rahul Gandhi are concerned over the poor implementation of dream projects such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the implementation of central government funds allocated for various welfare schemes.
Also, since taking office in May 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition government has hiked spending on education from Rs.120 billion to Rs.320 billion, on health and family welfare from Rs.76.20 billion to Rs.175.60 billion, and on farm and rural sector from Rs.200 billion to Rs.600 billion.
It has also introduced path-breaking legislations like the Right to Information (RTI) Act, under which citizens can seek information on the functioning of government agencies, the Domestic Violence Against Women (Prevention) Act and the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, which gives people living in forests the right on forest produces.
Collectively, all these programmes had been expected to increase the Congress appeal among the poor – sections who once voted for the party overwhelmingly but who have in recent times moved away from it.
Political analysts say the Congress leadership needs to strengthen the party in order to ensure the proper execution of its flagship programmes and also to take credit for them. That is not happening.
“The Congress is not working like a federal party. There is no coordination between central and the state leaders. That is one reason for the party’s failures,” said Sudha Pai, a professor at the Centre for Political Studies in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
“It is no longer working with a central command. There is too much (favouritism) in picking up state leaders. Efficiency and organisational capabilities do not play much role,” Pai told IANS.
Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a professor in JNU’s School of International Studies, pointed out another reason. “The popular programmes are undone by wrong political moves of the Congress.”
According to Chenoy, some of the Congress-led government’s moves including “shifts in foreign policy” have upset its traditional voters. He added: “The party does not have mass leaders. Sonia Gandhi is the only mass leader.”
In an article in the party mouthpiece Sandesh, Sonia Gandhi has noted that the NREGA, which seeks to provide at least one member of every poor family guaranteed employment 100 days a year, “has not been systematically implemented across states”.
Gandhi is also worried over her party’s failure to get credit for these populist steps. She has urged party cadres to “come forward and work with NGOs involved in the sector to weed out corruption and mismanagement”.
Gandhi has reasons to worry. The first audit of the ambitious NREGA found the absence of a monitoring mechanism in the job guarantee scheme in many states, leading to rampant corruption.
Political analyst N. Bhaskar Rao said the Congress needed to introduce effective checks and balances to oversee the implementation of programmes like NREGA.
“Party members should be able to monitor the programmes. There should be a party cell in every district to monitor their implementation. There should be frequent reviews and mid-course corrections too,” Rao said.
Congress sources admit the shortcomings and want their leaders to chalk out strategies to highlight its people-friendly programmes and welfare schemes ahead of assembly polls in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi this year and the general elections scheduled next year.
Pai pointed out that the Congress had “historically” failed to highlight its own achievements.
“(Former prime minister P.V.) Narasimha Rao had done many good things for the country. But did his party ever manage to get the credit?” she asked. As of now, many in the Congress are asking the same question.