Congress at 140: Is the grand old party ready to make a comeback in 2026?
The Indian National Congress, now 140 years old, is at a critical juncture. Facing upcoming assembly elections, the party is recalibrating its campaign calls and alliances. Efforts are underway to rebuild credibility from the grassroots. The Congress is navigating complex political landscapes in states like Kerala, Assam, and Tamil Nadu.
Mahatma Gandhi once envisioned a future where the Congress would quietly dissolve itself into a Lok Sevak Sangh after Independence, having fulfilled its role and returned power to the people.
History, as it often does, chose drama instead. The party stayed on, grew older, heavier with legacy -- and now, at 140, finds itself older than independent India and still very much in the business of electoral survival.Founded in 1885, the Indian National Congress didn’t just witness the making of modern India; it scripted large parts of it. But fast-forward to the present, and the party that once defined the political centre is struggling to locate it.
The slogans are loud, the marches long, the symbolism familiar—but dominance has been replaced by damage control, and nostalgia no longer guarantees votes.
Rahul Gandhi Attacks Modi Govt In Germany, Says 'West, India Handed Over Production To China'
Now, stepping into its 141st year, the Congress has little time to blow out birthday candles and even less room to get things wrong. A series of assembly elections across five states is lining up as its next reality check, testing whether fresh campaign calls, revived alliances, and lessons from a bruising 2025 can finally add up.
From rebranding protest politics to fighting key battles in the south and the northeast, the grand old party is once again at the crossroads -- older, wiser, and under pressure to prove it still knows the way forward.
Does Congress need to change its campaign calls?
Save the Constitution, vote chori, caste survey -- these are some of the battle cries Congress tried to campaign on. Rahul Gandhi walked miles for it. While the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha may have charmed those he walked with, the votes did not enter its account.2026, however, would see a break from these campaign calls as the Grand Old Party announced nationwide protests against the BJP-led central government for replacing the rural employment scheme - MGNREGA - with VB G-RAM-G law."We also pledge to democratically oppose every conspiracy to remove Gandhiji's name from MNREGA," Mallikarjun Kharge said at the CWC meet as he announced the campaign from January 5.But the question is, would the people who need the scheme relate to "conspiracy to remove Gandhiji's name from MNREGA"?While the CWC release does highlight what it describes as the systematic dilution of MNREGA, including unilateral changes to the scheme’s structure without consultation or parliamentary debate, the beneficiaries in whose name the Congress is mobilising are unlikely to engage with or prioritise such detailed party statements.
