If not for the voters, the nomenclature ‘Congress’ continues to captivate the imagination of our netas launching their own political outfit. The plethora of parties with the suffix ‘Congress’ bears witness to it, though the grand old party has lost ground in many parts.
At the time of elections for the first Lok Sabha of the country, there were 14 national parties and 53 State parties. But, there has been a tremendous ‘growth’ in the past 63 years, due to various factors, including rise of regionalism in almost all parts of India. With this, the political fabric has seen emergence of many strong regional parties. The result is, as on date, there are 29 national and State parties besides 1,593 registered, but unrecognised political outfits.
While some argue that this is indicative of the fragmentation of the polity, for others, this is a sign of greater democratisation.
As if to keep a link with tradition, leaders who launch their parties continue to add ‘Congress’ , ‘National’, ‘Communist’, Kazhagam, ‘Rashtriya’ etc., to the names of the new ones.
A glimpse of the names of political parties on the Election Commission website reveals that over 110 parties have Congress in their names. There is even a Congress party by name All India Homeless People Congress!
Interestingly, some of the political outfits which are dysfunctional in Tamil Nadu - Congress Jananayaka Peravai, Tamil Maanila Congress and the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress too find a place in the EC’s list.
Similarly, there are many political parties who share the kazhagam tag. After the birth of the Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), it has become a ritual for every new party claiming to profess the Dravidian ideology to have this tag.
Coming back to Congress again, one of the meanings of the word congress is coming together and listed here are a few which share the Congress tag in Tamil Nadu: Tamil Maanila Kamaraj Congress, Tamil Nadu Makkal Congress, Tamil Nadu Jananayaka Congress, Thamizhaga Munnetra Congress, Thondar Congress and Dravida Makkal Congress.
Some of the parties which share the Congress and Rashtriya tags together are: Gandhiwadi Rashtriya Congress, Poorvanchal Rashtriya Congress, Rashtriya Bahujan Congress party and Rashtriya Congress. Some other parties share Bharathiya and Congress tags together: Akhil Bharathiya Congress Dal (Ambedkar), Akhil Bharathiya Janata Congress and AB Rajivwadi Congress.
The following parties launched in different States and Union Territories have ‘Congress’ tag: Andaman Nicobar Vikas Congress, Arunachal Congress, Bundhelkhand Congress, Goa People’s Congress, Gondwana Congress party, Jharkhand Vananchal Congress, Kerala Congress, Kerala Congress (B), Kerala Congress Secular, Loktantra Congress party, Manipur State Congress party, Maharashtra Congress party, Maharashtra Vikas Congress, Mizoram Congress party, Orissa Congress and Telangana Congress party.
Apart from Nationalist Congress party and All India Trinamool Congress, there are some other parties which sport this tag: Adarshwadi Congress party, A-Chik National Congress (Democratic), All India Babu Jagjeewan Ram Baba Saheb National Congress, All India Indira Congress (secular), All India Rajiv Krantikari Congress, All Indians’ Gandhi Congress, Ambedkar National Congress, Congress (secular), Democratic Congress party, Federal Congress of India, Hindustan Swaraj Congress party, National Congress of Youth, New All India Congress party, Republican Backward Congress, and United Secular Congress party of India.
