The year-long review strengthens the Haryana Congress, but problems persist

GURUGRAM: When workers of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) last month blocked Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s convoy and showed him black flags over Gurugram University infrastructure, the friction signaled a newly coordinated grassroots mobilization reflecting the results of the party’s year-long Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan Srijan Srijan campaign.

But this newfound grassroots momentum remains overshadowed by questions raised about appointments based on recommendations rather than entirely on merit, disregard for caste equations and a deficit in women’s representation at the district level.

The arrest of eight workers on August 21 and the subsequent protest on August 25 led by Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee President Rao Narender Singh stemmed directly from an intensive, year-long reshuffle to rebuild the Haryana Congress’ grassroots organization – a structure that had remained completely dysfunctional from district to booth level for more than a decade.

The party launched the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan a year ago to correct its course after three consecutive assembly defeats and years of internal factionalism. To sustain this newfound momentum, the party overhauled its structure by appointing district and block presidents and creating executive committees at both levels.

Regular dialogue, feedback

The organizational restructuring is accompanied by an effort to bring more responsibility into the party. Management strives for regular dialogue between senior leaders and local workers, regular evaluation of officials’ performance, and a formal monitoring system.

“Soon after Sanjay Dutt took charge of the state in June, a meeting of all senior officials from across the state – MPs, MLAs and district presidents – was convened. This was followed by interaction with district executives and active workers in each assembly to get their feedback under the ‘Samvad’ programme,” the Haryana Congress chief told The Hindu.

The next stage is the formation of mandals, each covering around 20 booths, followed by village and stall committees. The party also revived the disciplinary mechanism, set up a disciplinary committee and considered separate municipal district presidents for Panchkula and Faridabad, apart from one for the newly created Hansi district.

It covers 78 out of 90 Haryana Assembly constituencies, he said. The party started holding block conferences in September, with Mr Singh himself attending five and Mr Dutt four so far.

At the same time, the party introduced a performance-based rating system. The heads of Sirsa, Hisar (Urban) and Faridabad are under scrutiny for their performance in the ratings based on monthly reports submitted to the All India Congress Committee. “Appointments are no longer enough. Everyone is evaluated on the basis of their work,” Mr. Singh said, jokingly adding that the performance of the state watchdog is also being reviewed.

A fixed reporting cycle was also put in place. Block meetings are held between the first and fifth of each month, district meetings are held between the fifth and tenth days, and between the 10th and 15th are followed by a national level meeting, usually attended by the state representative and other officials.

Good humor

According to party workers, the effort has begun to change the mood among rank-and-file members.

“The mood is upbeat. After several years, the state leadership of the party has reached out to local workers to interact with them and seek their feedback,” said Raju Maan, national convenor of All India Kisan Congress.

Former Hisar MP Brijendra Singh said the Congress organization is finally taking shape after 12 years, with party activities now more visible in the state and districts, with Youth Congress and NSUI being activated. But he said the focus should go beyond creating a structure to make the offices of district presidents functional and authoritative while ensuring coordination between district presidents and elected representatives.

Challenges remain

“The central challenge for the Congress in Haryana has been to ensure that it is not perceived as a party representing a particular caste. While the new organizational appointments have tried to address this problem, more needs to be done,” said Lal Bahadur Khowal, Haryana Congress legal department president and Pradesh Congress Committee delegate. He said the state leadership needed to project a united front.

“The BJP tried to polarize the previous assembly elections on Jat and non-Jat lines and the Congress played on that, causing its defeat in an otherwise winnable battle,” Mr. Khowal said.

Mr Maan also warned that appointments are based on the recommendations of senior leaders rather than merit, lack of attention to social engineering at the grassroots and financial constraints remain problems.

For example, Charkhi Dadri where all the four block presidents are Jats and are said to be associated with various senior leaders. “If appointments are made on merit and not on the recommendation of senior leaders, loyalty lies with the party and not with an individual leader. It ensures better coordination and strengthens the party,” he said.

Another problem is the imbalance in the representation of women. Of the 33 district presidents, only one is a woman – a gap that is growing in importance as women have become an increasingly important constituency courted by all political parties.

Published – 9 Sep 2026 22:43 IST