Why did India's Congress lose in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections?

Answer 1

Here are 7 reasons provided by various leaders:

Lack of transparency within party: A number of Congress leaders came forward to stress on the fact that there needed to be more accountability and transparency within the party. Congress' Mumbai South candidate Milind Deora in a recent interview with theIndian Express,"A lot of us felt our voices were never heard. We felt our voices don't matter. This has to change. The MPs and ministers should not feel we are being not heard". Former minister of Corporate Affairs Sachin Pilot also said that, "that our party needs a complete revamp of organisational structure. There should be election to all party positions."

Failure tocommunicate with voters: As compared to the Bhartiya Janata Party's ginormous social media campaign with almost all senior leaders of the BJP having Twitter accounts, the Congress' campaign seemed miniscule. Even the Congress party's official website was not as accesible as that of the BJP. On reworking the Congress' communication cell Milind Deora said, "We did a lot of work. But we could not take it to our voters. Look at how Modi has used communication tools."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: A number of senior leaders of the Congress have reiterated that the outgoing prime minister needed to be more vocal. Kamal Nath in an interview with Headlines Today said that the 2G scam could have been handled better. Manmohan Singh government was bombarded with scams and the prime minister couldnt assert his authorities -- both with the allies and the party (Which seemed to respond more to Sonia Gandhi, undermining Singh's authority)

The Rahul Gandhi coterie: Post elections a number of senior leaders of the Congress came out in defence of Rahul Gandhi. There is said to have existed a communication gap between the top ranks of the party and the MPs. As Deora was quoted saying by the Indian Express, "The party needs to open up and promote avenues for dissent and debate internally." BJP leader Jagdambika Pal, earlier today, said that, "Rahul Gandhi never used to communicate with the Congress. He never talked about MPs." Perhaps a little more interaction with ministers of the party and better coordination would have helped the Congress perform better. Sachin Pilot also said that "It was a vote for Modi. He showed leadership which our party could not project. Our leadership was seen as indecisive." This also shows loss in confidence within the party in its top leadership.

Bad decisions: Ill-handling of the 2G and coal scams by the Congress is also seen as a major setback for the party. Even though some leaders have blamed the ex prime minister for being incapable to check the corruption in his cabinet, the party as a whole suffered due to this mishandling. Kamal Nath also said that the bifurcation of Telangana was a disadvantage for the Congress. In his interview with Headlines Today he said, "You cannot bifurcate a state combatively; you have to do with people's consent."

The RSS bogey: Digvijaya Singh in a recent interview with Economic Time said that former Congress allies like Mamata Banerjee and Sharad Pawar should join the party so that they can "face challenges unitedly". He also added that one of the reasons Congress failed was that "it did not pay attention to the RSS and also did not realise the extent of RSS whisper campaign."