Congress Needs to Do Some Homework as It Searches for a USP

With its electoral fortunes badly hit after 1984, when it won a majority, does the Congress need to look for a USP?

Political parties in India are often judged by the voters on the basis of their USP and therefore, it is sacrosanct for any party to have a distinct identity of its own. Lalu Yadav ruled Bihar for 15 years despite non-existent governance, simply because he maintained a USP that he is the one who would salvage the self-esteem of the Yadav community and redeem Bihari pride. In 1977, the Janta Party came to power by projecting the USP that they would save democracy from a dictatorial and berserk Indira Gandhi.

When Raj Thackeray parted ways from his cousin and floated his political outfit MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena), he knew that in order to create his political space, a strong and an instantly saleable USP was required. Taking a cue from his uncle’s political life, he projected himself as the ultimate torch-bearer of Marathi pride.

His ‘Marathi Manush’ rant stirred the politics of Maharastra initially but later lost acceptance among voters.

What is Congress’ USP?

If Congress has to come out of their current state of misery, they need to come up with strong selling points and that too very quickly. All their past selling points have been meticulously encroached upon and snatched away by other parties. For years, Congress boasted that it can bring stability as the party has pan-India presence but it was 32 years ago when the Grand Old Party last achieved complete majority in the Lok Sabha on its own.

Congress has been telling voters all along that it is the only party which knows how to govern. It was a hot selling point for them till the late nineties as they used to quote messed up governance at the Centre during the turbulent years of 1977-80, 1989-1991 and then in 1996-1998. But after completing a full tenure at the Centre during 1999-2004, NDA-1 relegated Congress’ claim. More than a decade’s rule of BJP in Gujarat & MP and of BJD in Odisha set a new benchmark of governance, and further decimated this selling point of Congress. There is no taker of Congress’ self-proclaimed secular tag either as the word itself has lost its sheen in Indian political landscape over the past decade.

Burden of UPA’s Legacy

Lastly, they don’t have any success story to sell either (like Indira had after the 1971 triumph). It is not that they didn’t have any but they themselves negated all those success stories with rampant corruption and scandals during UPA-II. So for Rahul Gandhi, building organisation and team at grass-root level is one challenge but equally important is to create a strong USP and to successfully sell that to the voters.

If there is no such USP then Congress can only make a comeback if other parties implode in days to come, but that is quite unlikely. Thus, Congress has to do some brainstorming. Since their drubbing in the 2014 General Election, decimation of Congress continues till date. They are losing all their bastions. UP is next big battle. Congress needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat, quickly. Roping in Prashant Kishor, Priyanka Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit is certainly not the answer.

If a voter asks, “Tell me Rahul Gandhi, why should I vote for the Congress and not others?”, then Rahul should have an irrefutable and convincing answer. In marketing management, it is taught that buyer buys benefits and not features, and this is where most of the sellers commit mistakes. They start bragging about features and Congress is on the same spree.

So Congress can talk about their magnificent past and achievements, the legacy of Nehru & Indira, it can boast of Prashant Kishor and Priyanka Gandhi, but all these are just features and there is no taker for features. Congress leaders need to tell benefits to the voters. After all politics also is all about how you market yourself and in Indian political system, buyer has matured a lot now.

(The writer is is an IIT graduate with passion for sports, history and politics and can be reached at @pankajag1973. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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