TROUBLE AT THE TOP

It’s been a torrid year for the Indian National Congress since the May 2019 drubbing in the Lok Sabha election. The country’s main Opposition party has lost out to the BJP’s machinations in two states where it had won elections—Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh—and is fighting to save its government in another—Rajasthan. It has helplessly watched one of its most promising leaders, Jyotiraditya Scindia, defecting to the BJP while another one, Sachin Pilot, is almost on the verge of quitting. Optimists will point out that the party has also become part of the government in two states, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, though there is a caveat to this—in both states, the Congress is a junior partner. And seven months into power, the Jharkhand unit of the party is now witnessing some turbulence.

If all this was not enough, a civil war among party colleagues is playing out on public forums on whether the Congress should begin a much-needed introspection of the legacy of the UPA-II government. As expected, public patience with the party is wearing thin. Of the 12,021 respondents the INDIA TODAY Mood of the Nation poll