Brick by brick, from the ground up

One can sense the urgency. It was palpable at the recently concluded AICC (All India Congress Committee) session in Ahmedabad, the choice of venue a strategic declaration of intent. The Congress wanted its adversary to know that it wouldn’t be intimidated, that it would reclaim what was inalienably a part of its own hallowed history. Gujarat is the state of Sardar Patel — an icon of the freedom movement, a man who stood shoulder to shoulder with Pandit Nehru, before and after Independence.

He is also the man the Sangh Parivar as an adversary of Nehru’s, and to appropriate him as one of their own. This, it has no way of doing without peddling fake history about the differences between the two leaders, or desperate recourse to grand memorialising, as if to declare: ‘we built the Statue of Unity, the tallest in the world, so he (the Sardar) is ours.’ Sorry, says the Congress, look someplace else.

The with Mahatma Gandhi as well, not quite sure whether to make him theirs or make a hero of his assassin. Hence the choice of Gujarat to hold the latest AICC session — incidentally the first in the state after 64 years.

Indira Bhawan, the new Congress headquarters in Delhi, inaugurated in January 2025, houses a collection of photographs that proudly display, for eyes that can see, the party’s ease with dissent and difference; you’ll find in this collection not just its most revered heroes but also people who fell out or walked out of the grand old ‘tent for everyone’ party over differences.

This, too, is a sign of the new Congress in the making that party president Mallikarjun Kharge talks about. At its Belagavi conclave in December 2024, the Congress had declared that 2025 would be the year of organisational empowerment.

Ahead of the Ahmedabad session of the AICC, which concluded on 9 April, general-secretary Sachin Pilot reiterated the party’s focus on organisational reforms, to its commitment in the Udaipur Declaration (of May 2022) to create more space for youth in the party organisation. The ‘’, adopted in Ahmedabad, is a roadmap to rebuild the party from the ground up.

At the heart of the revamp is a structural overhaul — the Congress wants to invert its top-down decision-making model, and reimagine the party’s district units as its engines. Each District Congress Committee (DCC) will now have its own Political Affairs Committee, observers from both the AICC and state units — and the power to take critical decisions. “We will make the District Congress Committees the foundation of the party,” said Rahul Gandhi in his address, marking a significant departure from the era of centralised decision-making. In Gujarat, observers have already been appointed to all 41 DCCs.

The list includes senior leaders like Manickam Tagore, Praniti Shinde, Imran Masood, Balasaheb Thorat and Meenakshi Natarajan. AICC general-secretary K.C. Venugopal announced that both Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi plan to conduct day-long workshops in every state. Later, speaking at one such workshop in Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi made the plan abundantly clear: performance — not proximity — will determine leadership roles and cabinet berths in government.

“This revamp opens a new window for those who want to contribute to public life, help formulate policy and politics with a difference—and shuts it for those who don’t,” he told party workers.

One of the most radical aspects of this transformation is the party’s push towards internal democracy. For decades, the Congress has faced criticism for letting elitist, upper caste and wealthy leaders determine the course of the party. That, it seems, is beginning to change.

In Bihar, which goes to polls later this year, a Dalit leader now heads the state unit; Ajay Kumar Lallu, an OBC and former UP Congress chief, is now in charge of Odisha. Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, also an OBC, has been put in charge of Punjab.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, also incidentally a Dalit himself, told National Herald that while the party stands for all sections of society, “those who have historically lagged behind — like OBCs — will now be given their rightful space”.

The appointment of Anil Jaihind — a key organiser of the Samvidhan Sammelans Rahul Gandhi has been addressing — as head of the OBC department is seen as part of this course correction. Once considered appendages of the party, the Congress’s front organisations now have pivotal roles in its revival strategy.

The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) is visibly re-energised. Under the stewardship of Krishna Allavaru, it has launched initiatives like ‘Young India Ke Bol’, a talent hunt for future party spokespersons. At the culminating event of the party’s recently concluded ‘Palayan Roko, Naukri Do Yatra’ in Patna, Allavaru told aspiring leaders: “Today, you don’t need to do parikrama; if you have talent and understand ideology, you’ll get a platform.”

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI), under the leadership of Kanhaiya Kumar, is seeing a similar resurgence. It won the post of DUSU (Delhi University Students Union) president and did well in the recent Patna University elections. The All India Professionals’ Congress has launched the Manmohan Singh Fellowship Programme, which seeks to bring mid-career professionals into politics through structured mentorship and training.

The Seva Dal, founded in 1923 as a front organisation that organised volunteers for picketing, enrolled new Congress members and supported civil disobedience activism, has found renewed purpose.

Its cadre played a crucial role in both the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, prompting fond reminiscences from old-timers of the Congress’s ground-level organisation back in the day. The Seva Dal’s women’s wing — which was banned by the British, a ban never formally revoked after Independence — has also been revived, adding a new dimension to the party’s re-engagement with its legacy.

Seva Dal chief Lalji Desai told National Herald that the organisation’s ‘Ravi Milan’ programme, aimed at revitalising and expanding the party’s grassroots presence, has been a big success. On the last Sunday of every month, senior members of the Seva Dal meet with new recruits across the country. “We have organised meetings in over 300 districts,” he said. About the Seva Dal’s ‘Har Park Mein Tiranga’ campaign, Lalji said: “The RSS holds shakhas in parks and unfurls the saffron flag; our message is clear — neither saffron nor green, only the tricolour should be displayed in public spaces.”

The eponymous Minorities Department has started outreach programmes, under the leadership of the eloquent Imran Pratapgarhi, whose rousing speeches in Parliament have made him a minor social media phenomenon.

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For the first time in years, the party seems to be fighting back with not just slogans or nostalgia but with structure, planning and grassroots engagement. The ongoing transformation is simultaneously a reckoning with past failures, a battle plan and a blueprint for the future. Political observers are watching the party’s re-organisation moves with interest. Those who see the Congress at the nerve centre of the pushback against the BJP–Sangh’s divisive politics are also keeping their fingers crossed.