By Renjith Thomas. Originally published by him on Medium, 11 January 2021
Many political thinkers and commentators argue that the Indian National Congress can return to power only if it creates a cadre to spread its message to the masses. In my view, Congress can never become a cadre party. If it attempts to do it, it will fail, and lose time and resources in the process.
THE ROLE OF THE CADRE
The political cadre is a socialist/communist concept that evolved from concurrent labour movements among the working-class, primarily in Europe during the 19th century. The cadre is usually a group of people who are extremely loyal to the party they belong to, and trained to implement the programs of the party-state or disseminate the party propaganda to the masses.
In a single party-state like China, cadres have always work to do. They collect information from the people and government, inform the people about the government’s work and function as the people’s nearest access point to power.
In a democracy like India, when the party is out of power, a cadre undertakes the responsibility of activism and of disseminating information at the grassroots level.
MOTIVATING THE CADRE
The grassroots level cadre is not paid for their work in India. Most members voluntarily devote time and energy for party work, apart from their day jobs. Some also contribute money from their earnings to the fund the party. They are loyal to the party and its ideology, constituting the bedrock of the party against all odds.
We see people who are ready to die for the Hindu Rashtra or a Proletarian State. Thinking about the ideology should make the cadre’s heart swell so much with emotion that they are ready to do anything – the ideology and the party become a religion that some people would die to advance. It must be pointed out that to have someone willing to die for an ideology, the latter usually needs to be extreme.
Then there are the cadres who are paid, who do not have an ideological affinity for political parties. They are not passionate about the party’s cause and will not sacrifice anything for the ideology. In India, they are usually paid to attend political rallies. They are as loyal as employees of a company that pays them salaries. Their loyalty ends when someone else offers better.
CONGRESS AND CADRE DO NOT GO TOGETHER
An extreme and puritanical ideology is the most important requirement of converting a party to a cadre-based one. The Congress does not have an extremist ideology. On the contrary, its cause is close to the centre of the political spectrum. It never went to an extreme on any issue since Independence.
How many people are ready to sacrifice their lives for a subtle “Live and Let Live” kind of ideology? The lack of animosity fails to pump your heart faster or make your blood boil. There are no sworn enemies, created out of stretched imaginations, to hate.
Congress leaders and sympathizers often use the phrase “party workers”. Have they ever put a count to the number of party workers? Does Congress have one lakh workers across the country, or twenty thousand? We do not know. There are a handful of party workers around each state or local leader. Most are loyal to their leaders, rather than the party. That’s why you see scores of people switching sides when their leader does. If the Congress counts these people as their workers, then they are mistaken.
WHO SHOULD THE CONGRESS COUNT ON?
If you listen to common people who still vote for the Congress, many complain that BJP workers come home asking for votes many times during the elections. In Kerala, I have personally seen most other party candidates and workers visiting homes several times during the recent Panchayath Elections. The Congress candidates or workers went barely once for house visits.
However, think about it this way too: despite other party workers visiting and talking to them many times, in the 2019 general elections, the Congress got 19.5% of votes and the UPA coalition got 24.6% of total votes polled. What motivated these 12 crore voters to vote for the Congress against all odds? How can the Congress increase their tribe? If the party can find an answer to that, they will have a practical way to storm back to power.
The votes that the Congress gets are mostly from sympathizers who are sober people, who do not push themselves to an extreme. They are people who support the Congress passively. They are busy with their daily work and unwilling to support the party in the open – attend a rally or forward posts – factual or baseless – on social media.
What the BJP did to these unsuspecting people in 2014 was to exploit their aspirations by selling pipe dreams. Once they were drawn into their propaganda network, the party started slowly injecting them with a heady religion-politics concoction.
THE CADRE: A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
The cadre helps in building as well as destroying a political party. When you are out of power, it helps you in your propaganda to come back to power. However, when you are in power, a loyal cadre could be a burden for the party. Leaders and cadre motivated by money will extort from people to get things done, for example. These high-handed men drunk on power spoil the image of the party at the grass-roots level. It’s very difficult to creatively engage the cadre when you are in power. They need to be fed their daily dose of poison and hatred.
SO, HOW CAN THE CONGRESS COME BACK?
The Congress needs to bring back half the 44% people who voted for the NDA in 2019. The communal-religious venom injected into the common man needs to be treated first. Then, the Congress needs to showcase a set of tangible and practical offerings to them.
All of these needs to be communicated in a manner that gets people truly excited about the prospects. Most Congressmen talk about the need to create a network like cadre parties. My take is that the network is an outcome of a party program and not vice-versa. If there is a compelling message worth spreading, it will eventually reach the masses. It will happen even if you do not create a network.
The Congress is not a narrow one-leader, one-religion party. It is a mass-based, pan-Indian party that represents the aspirations of all sections of the society. The party must focus on people from whom it draws its strength. There is no “one size fits all” approach in politics. So spend the energy that you might devote to building a cadre, to instead design your narrative and engage people with it. Perhaps that’s the only path to power.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. AlignIndia does not take any responsibility for the content of the article.
(Renjith Thomas is a Software Professional interested in Social Issues and Politics.)