Why Congress Lost the Narrative War: Communication Failure, Symbolic Politics and the Collapse of Opposition in Contemporary India
Abstract
Indian National Congress (INC) has been struggling to stay relevant in national politics since 2014. The party failed to challenge the Bhartiya Janta Party’ dominant narrative in public discourse. Electoral arithmetic alone is not adequate to explain this phenomenon. Electoral outcome is not the cause but the effect of the sustained marginalisation of Congress in public discourse. This indicates a far more serious structural issue with INC's political approach. When examining the Congress party’s anchor narratives from 2014 to 2025, We find systematic shortcomings in its communication strategy: first, a misinterpretation of the aspirational voters of
Fields of Study & Subjects
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
Cultural and political discourse analysis
News Media Framing and Political Communication
Publication details
- Journal / source
- International Journal of Political Science and Governance
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 350–356
- Publication date
- 1 February 2026
- Language
- EN