An eventful 2022 for Congress but bigger challenges await the new year

Electoral challenge includes wresting back Karnataka and retaining Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

The year of 2022 has been defining one in many respects for the Congress party with internal election happening for the first time in 22 years, launch of the ambitious Bharat Jodo Yatra and an electoral victory in Himachal Pradesh.

This year, the party not only conducted internal elections in which Mallikarjun Kharge become the party chief, but also managed to silence Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) consistent attack on Congress that it cannot choose anyone outside the Gandhi family.

Mr. Kharge may have been seen as an 'unofficial' nominee of the Gandhis, but the fact that Shashi Tharoor, another contender who contested against the former, managed to get over 1,000 votes in an electoral college of 9,000-odd delegates lent credibility to the electoral process.

A non-Gandhi at the helm to manage party affairs also allowed former party chief Rahul Gandhi to undertake his ambitious Bharat Jodo Yatra, a 3,570-km-long Kanniyakumari-to-Kashmir padyatra to fight what the party claims "BJP's politics of hate".

"I did not see any violence or hate during the Yatra, but when I watch the TV (news), all I see violence and hatred,” said Mr. Gandhi on Saturday while addressing a public rally outside Delhi's Red Fort.

Though the Congress claims that the yatra is non-political, it is certainly being used to mobilise workers, infuse fresh energy into the organisation and change the narrative against Mr. Gandhi.