• Arun Garg

This is the first time I am attempting to write something, I am sharing my experiences here, as what unfolded in front of me in the National War Room (NWR) of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC).

From my active politics days in 2008, I have had the opportunity to work very closely with many veteran Congress leaders and Youth Congress Presidents. In this interesting journey of two decades, I have worked on the ground during elections in almost every state and district of India, be it Youth Congress elections, State Assembly elections, or Lok Sabha elections. The Party gave me the opportunity to work in the Election Control Room of many states. I had the privilege of working in the “AICC Election Control Room (ECR-2014)” during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, then again in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, later at the “AICC Election Control Room (ECR-2019), and now for the third time in the 2024 General elections at the “AICC National War Room”. I was feeling tired after working in the war room for the third time in a row (2014, 2019, 2024). I was thinking that it was merely the same monotonous work. But the war room of 2024 was much more dynamic and youthful than the previous ones.

Despite all this, I went ahead with an open mind- This time the Chairman of the War Room was Shashikant Senthil ji, who was an IAS officer, who quit the service after abrogation of Article 370. He briefly worked with some NGOs and then formally joined the Congress Party soon. Senthil ji is a young, simple, kind, patient person- He mentioned that it will be exciting to work with him and the team, “We are going to have a lot of fun while working in this War Room”. I had heard about Senthil ji, because he has previously run successful War Rooms in the Assembly Elections of Karnataka, Telangana, and Rajasthan. There is a lot of talk in the Party that the War Room played a very big role in winning the elections in Karnataka, Telangana, and coming very close to forming the government in Rajasthan. Senthil ji wanted to call this organization “Connect Centre 2024”- essentially as the role it was performing was connecting all Congress candidates/functionaries across the country to the AICC nerve centre in New Delhi. He felt we were not at war with anyone to call it the War Room- but finally the usual name ‘stuck’!

My initial sense about the place was spot on! War Room 2024 had much younger people and was more structured. A lot of young people who felt they had a stake (and also an angst) in the current politics were recruited by the HR team. The NWR basically had two divisions, the Connect Centre and Communications Division- whose Chairman was Vaibhav Walia ji. Apart from this, there were four Co-Chairmen, which included Capt. Arvind, Naveen Sharma, Varun Santhosh, and Gokul Bhutel.

When the first meeting of the Connect Centre was held, some decisions were taken, such as State War Rooms (SWR) to be initiated in all the states, which will be led by Chairman and Co-Chairmen. Initially, one of the objectives of the Connect Centre was also to fill the vacancies at the organization level. At the Udaipur Sankalp Shivir which was held after the 2019 general elections, emphasis was laid on the formation of Blocks and Mandals in all districts, and later on identification of BLA (Booth Level Agent) below the Mandals. This entity would play a very vital role during campaigning and then around the activities during elections.

HR department was formally started in NWR, which worked with recruitments, work allocation between departments, monitoring etc. Ms. Sindhu played a vital role in identification and selection of talent pool along with Hitesh, Tarun and Vikas.

The country was divided into 5 parts, each was called a Cluster, every cluster had some states under it. Initially Shiju P Joy and myself were heading Cluster 5 (included 7 states of North East, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal). Later our team expanded with the addition of the soft-spoken Vivek Bhatnagar who was responsible for trainings. Desks were set up at the Head Office to assist us, in which 3 (Young Fellows) colleagues were allocated to help the Cluster Heads. In Cluster 5, we had Rajvardhan, Deepak, Adarsh etc. who worked round the clock to help us in research, to connect and be in touch with the candidates’ teams, manage data, social media, news monitoring etc. Most of the clusters had a similar structure.

Apart from this, a team of social media outreach was formed, the same structure was adopted in all SWRs, so that both NWR and SWR can work in tandem. Nikita Rao and Tuhina ji were from the Social Media team, who played a significant role in taking Social Media Outreach to the mandal/booth level and among civil society organizations.

A Legal team was formed in NWR which could expedite legal issues, that were so many during the campaigning and the phased elections, the team was working under the supervision of experienced Supreme Court lawyers. I met some very talented young professionals, like Nishant Mandal and Ranjit Ji from the legal team, who turned out to be experts in their field with so much less experience. Legal teams were also formed in SWRs, which would work in coordination with NWR legal team.

Training teams were formed in both NWR and SWR. Finance team was put in place, which would take care of all of finance related work. Documentation and content creation teams were formed. I may be right in saying that after a while, I got a similar feeling like I was working in a coherent, carefully planned, result-oriented organization, having a cheerful and youthful atmosphere. The Guarantee Card with “The 5 Nyay” was distributed to almost every household across the country under the supervision of the War Room. This campaign was run at the grassroot level and proved to be a highpoint in the results of the Congress Party.

As we had to establish War Rooms in all the states, my colleagues and I started touring these states. Due to the tough terrain in the NE states, traveling took up a lot of the time. Once it took us about 25 days to travel across all the 11 states. The ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ was also passing through these states around that time, and so all the attention of the state units were focused on it. However, gradually we established War Rooms in all the states with the help of the state units of the Party.

Thus, SWRs were set up in all states throughout the country, and all these War Rooms were coordinating with the National War Room. I saw this happening for the first time in the Congress Party. We had an effective network in place. Information could be exchanged to all the states from one central place.

This was also possible because every evening at 8 pm we had an online meeting of all the Cluster Heads. Each person’s accountability was ensured. If any state unit was taking undue time to implement the instructions of AICC or the NWR, then its accountability was directed to GS Organisation, K C Venugopal ji. He maintained contact with all the State GS Heads and Secretaries, PCC Presidents, and SWR Chairmen routinely.

In Cluster 5, the suggestions given by the National War Room were taken in full earnest by states like Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Tripura, and Mizoram. We have the distinction of the Assam State War Room as the first state war room that was opened in the whole of India. The in-charge there - Jitendra Singh Bhanwar ji - and PCC President Bhupen Bohra ji assured us that Assam will follow the guidelines of NWR. Under their able guidance, more than 30 volunteers worked tirelessly in the Assam war room for about 4 months- The result of which we have now seen. SWRs worked very hard in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. However, personally Nagaland certainly surprised me! When we started the War Room in Nagaland, they welcomed us very warmly on our visit to Kohima. Even after continuous defeats, they were resilient and spirits were high. State President Jamir Sahab was ready to sacrifice everything to mobilize the Congressmen in the state, SWR Chairman Yanger Tamjen ji was diligent and dedicated. I felt we will win this seat, though this was not a priority seat. Despite repeated requests, no star campaigner could go there, but Jamir Sahab’s spirit proved right and was well-rewarded, as Congress won the Nagaland seat.

Something similar happened in Manipur too. Everyone knew about the turbulent times Manipur was going through. Congress State President Meghchandra ji too was beaten up by the rioters, booths were looted, every possible effort was made by opponents to thwart the democratic process. But finally, the power of the people shone bright through the malicious designs of the rioters and democracy triumphed!

The Political Intelligence Unit (PIU) was formed which was looked after by young Gaurav, who has also worked with NSUI. The team here was made up of people under 25 years of age in all clusters. PIU team members kept an eye on the ground regarding electoral equations of Congress and our candidates. It played a major role in framing the election strategy of the War Room by working in close coordination with the Cluster Heads.

I met Wing Commander Anup who was working on Operations and Logistics, a driven and cheerful person. Mr. Kannan always fascinated me! He had so much knowledge that I call him an ‘encyclopedia’ of data and practical research. Vikas Okaly- I have never seen anyone working with so much passion and energy at such a young age. Shashank and Anusha were the most popular pair among Cluster Heads. Shashank had the qualities of a drama/theatre director, producer. The video content he helped create is beyond imagination. Even more commendable as most content was done in-house, without much additional expenses.

Bhupendra ji and Lokendra Tiwari were very hardworking and result-oriented. Rocky Tuseed brought his experiences from the NSUI and that augured well. Lalit Meghvanshiji’s way of working in civil society was very interesting. Meenakshi Zaidi ji used to create an energetic atmosphere during training sessions.

Hitesh Motwani and Vikas Budhania, both took up the training work exceedingly well in their clusters. Hitesh was a great multi-tasker, well-versed with latest technology. Finally, I would not do justice to this piece if I do not talk about our Admin in-charge Tarun. One person who burnt the midnight oil, worked continuously from the first day of setting up NWR till the last day was Tarun. Innocence on his face, smile on his lips and sincerity in his eyes, saying - Yes Sir, Yes Sir!! Right Sir!!, Ok Sir!! He was so polite with everyone. We used to call him ‘Amma’ of the War Room, because he used to take care of everyone like a mother.

The point why I am writing this of course is to share my experiences with you and to request the Congress Party functionaries to keep this set-up going on. It is to appeal that AICC strongly needs a continuous ‘War Room’ kind of structure in place, with a mix of people, some well-versed and experienced, semi-experienced, but most importantly the beginners. These are the people who bring in new ideas and ensure that the place is buzzing with energy and liveliness.

Author is a Cluster Head - Cluster 5, which comprised of 11 states in the Eastern part of the country

Translated from Hindi to English by Ms. Sindhu George of NWR-24