Mallikarjun Kharge has been elected as the non-Gandhi president of the Indian National Congress for the first time in the last twenty-four years. Kharge has been expected to succeed the former president of the party Sonia Gandhi, who had been serving as interim president after Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the post following the poor result of the Congress party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Who is Mallikarjun Kharge? Kharge was born on 21 July 1942 in Bidar district, Karnataka. He lost his mother and sister at a very young age, their deaths left a deep impact on him. Mallikarjun Kharge’s story is truly inspiring.
The personal accomplishments of the current president of Congress are quite extraordinary. He has attained fluency in five different languages (Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, and English). Apart from these achievements, Mallikarjun Kharge had also been a state-level Kabadi and hockey player.
The former union minister of railways has also claimed to be an ardent follower of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. After his victory against his party colleague Shashi Tharoor, he paid a visit to Dr B.R Ambedkar’s memorial in New Delhi.
He started his career as a student union leader at Gulbarga university. The political rise of Mallikarjun Kharge happened in the year 1969 when he joined the Indian National Congress. He immediately became the leader of the Kalaburgi Town congress committee.
Out of the 12 elections (both assembly and Lok Sabha) he had participated in, the veteran leader has lost only once. The defeat came in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019. He is also the second Dalit president of Congress, after Jagjivan Ram who was elected as the president of Congress in 1970.
It’s almost five decades since Congress has had a Dalit leader in the party.
Tharoor vs Kharge:
2022 Indian National Congress presidential election was held on the 17th of October. The results of the internal election were announced on 19th October, with Mallikarjun Kharge smashing 7,897 or 84.14% of the total votes as compared to his colleague Shashi Tharoor who managed to secure 1,072 or 11.14% of the total votes. Upon winning the elections by a mountain of difference, the congressmen showed the spirit of sportsmanship and congratulated each other. In the first media address after being elected as the president of the congress, the president stated about strengthening the Indian National Congress and working for the growth of the nation. He also paid his regards to the former INC president Sonia Gandhi and wished to have continued collaboration with her in future.
The Gandhis congratulated the appointment of the new president. They claimed a change is necessary for the proper growth of the organisation. Ms Sonia Gandhi escorted her successor to the office of the congress president.
Soon after Mr Kharge took the throne of the congress, all the existing members of the congress working committee resigned making a path for the newly elected to have his team. Until the new members of the committee are elected there will be a formation of a steering committee. All the members who have resigned from the posts of the congress working committee (CWC) will be a part of this committee.
The reason for the change:
Rahul Gandhi being elected unanimously as congress president in 2017, had to resign from the post of Congress president following his defeat in the Lok Sabha that took place in 2019. The empty seat of the presidential chair was filled by his mother Sonia Gandhi who took over the role of interim president in the national party until a new president was elected. Due to the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, the internal elections were delayed. The ballot was postponed until 2022.
What waits ahead for Indian National Congress?
Soon after being elected as the president, Mr Kharge emphasised his commitment to implement the Udaipur declaration. This declaration demands that 50 per cent of the seats that were created by the vacancies should be given to those who are below 50, the establishment of a public insight department and an election management department. The declaration also mandates the formation of a political affair committee in every state.
The veteran leader claimed the vision of the party is to improve the standard of labour, remove unemployment and alleviate poverty. He also attacked the philosophy of the current government, stating the government has failed in providing jobs, reducing the prices of commodities and rising atrocities against women.
According to the party insiders, Congress is all ready for restructuring its strategic and political structure. The key areas they will be focusing on include organisation, better communication and proper utilisation of the party’s resources.
Challenges for the new congress:
Mallikarjun Kharge has to prove his worth to the party, and he has to show what he has achieved in the party internally could be gained outside. He has to show he is just not a proxy for the Gandhi family. The greatest challenge for the southern leader will be how he is going to win the seats in the northern states, where the party’s position is in shambles.
Bhartiya Janta party duo Narendra Modi and Amit shah won’t make it easy for the veteran leader to land his fleet easily in the northern province. It is going to be a long way out for congress to establish its control in the lost states.
Written by Pratham Khemka
Edited by Labdhi Shah