Besides the media, are the sun & moon also responsible for Congress's loss?

Feature

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

The Congress , after a lot of ‘soul searching', has finally arrived at a conclusion on what failed it in the general election this year. According to the party, it is the media and not the top leadership which was responsible for the grand-old party's worst-ever loss since 1952. [Read: Rahul Gandhi not responsible for Congress's loss

Can this be more ridiculous than?

In the Congress, the doctor is down with the disease

The Congress's problem is even its doctor is down with the disease. The party knows very well that it is unable to uproot the ills that plague its fortune for they lie in the very top leadership which has exhausted itself. It is tragic that when the ordinary leaders have turned vocal against the failure of the Gandhis, it is the middle rung of the party which is still desperately trying to shield the top leaders. The culture of sycophancy in the Congress is immortal but why blame the media for its self-inflicted damage?

Narendra Modi faced a more hostile media: Wasn't the Congress happy then?

To say that the Opposition succeeded in manipulating the media in its favour before this election is only half the story. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won the general election this year, it was not because he manipulated the media. On the contrary, a number of mainstream media agencies had put every effort to derail his election campaign by raking up the 2002 Gujarat riots again and again and airing caution about riots gripping the entire nation if Modi became the PM.

Wasn't the Congress happy to witness those projections? Modi rather banked more on the social media, a form of the new communication model which is yet to compete with the reach of the mainstream media, to achieve his goals. Is that aspect making the Congress jittery?

Did Congress congratulate the media after LS poll victories in the past?

The Sonia Gandhi-led party never complained after bagging an unexpected victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha election and cited the political failure of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as the reason for its defeat. Now, when it is at the receiving end itself, the gun has been turned towards the media. This is a astonishing ostrich-like act of the Congress and it will help it little in the next round of elections due in some time.

Congress leadership never cared to engage with the media

The Congress leadership, despite being in power for a decade, did not bother much to engage with the media for greater transparency and accountability. While the Gandhis maintained their traditional media-shy style of functioning even under today's new realities, the helpless prime minister struggled each day in office and yet did not master the art of using the media for the sake of saving the grace of his prestigious office. This practice did no favour to the party. Its first casualty was Singh. Its second casualty is the Gandhi family.

Congress could have learnt from its enemy No. 1 on how to succeed in today's times

The Congress couldn't use a favourable media to its advantage and one cannot blame the media for that. It should have learnt from the foe on how to utilize the media for an electoral victory today for in these days, polls in any part of the world are largely known to be social media elections. The Congress, might be because of its pathetic support system, could not understand the basic rule of the modern-day warfare besides other failure and paid dearly.

There is a contradiction in the Congress on evaluating the Gandhis' role

The latest report card explaining the debacle is just an act to please the top leadership. But with dissent growing stronger in the party with each passing day, such action is bound to boomerang and the Congress of 2014 has no Indira Gandhi-like personality to counter that.