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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Congress’ solo path for ‘ideological survival’

Mumbai: The Congress party’s decision to contest the forthcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently is being viewed as an attempt to reclaim its ideological space among the public and restore credibility within its cadre, senior leaders indicated. The announcement - made by AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala alongside state president Harshwardhan Sapkal and Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad - did not trigger a backlash from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi...

Congress’ solo path for ‘ideological survival’

Mumbai: The Congress party’s decision to contest the forthcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently is being viewed as an attempt to reclaim its ideological space among the public and restore credibility within its cadre, senior leaders indicated. The announcement - made by AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala alongside state president Harshwardhan Sapkal and Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad - did not trigger a backlash from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT). According to Congress insiders, the move is the outcome of more than a year of intense internal consultations following the party’ dismal performance in the 2024 Assembly elections, belying huge expectations. A broad consensus reportedly emerged that the party should chart a “lone-wolf” course to safeguard the core ideals of Congress, turning140-years-old, next month. State and Mumbai-level Congress leaders, speaking off the record, said that although the party gained momentum in the 2019 Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was frequently constrained by alliance compulsions. Several MVA partners, they claimed, remained unyielding on larger ideological and political issues. “The Congress had to compromise repeatedly and soften its position, but endured it as part of ‘alliance dharma’. Others did not reciprocate in the same spirit. They made unilateral announcements and declared candidates or policies without consensus,” a senior state leader remarked. Avoid liabilities He added that some alliance-backed candidates later proved to be liabilities. Many either lost narrowly or, even after winning with the support of Congress workers, defected to Mahayuti constituents - the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, or the Nationalist Congress Party. “More than five dozen such desertions have taken place so far, which is unethical, backstabbing the voters and a waste of all our efforts,” he rued. A Mumbai office-bearer elaborated that in certain constituencies, Congress workers effectively propelled weak allied candidates through the campaign. “Our assessment is that post-split, some partners have alienated their grassroots base, especially in the mofussil regions. They increasingly rely on Congress workers. This is causing disillusionment among our cadre, who see deserving leaders being sidelined and organisational growth stagnating,” he said. Chennithala’s declaration on Saturday was unambiguous: “We will contest all 227 seats independently in the BMC polls. This is the demand of our leaders and workers - to go alone in the civic elections.” Gaikwad added that the Congress is a “cultured and respectable party” that cannot ally with just anyone—a subtle reference to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which had earlier targeted North Indians and other communities and is now bidding for an electoral arrangement with the SS(UBT). Both state and city leaders reiterated that barring the BMC elections - where the Congress will take the ‘ekla chalo’ route - the MVA alliance remains intact. This is despite the sharp criticism recently levelled at the Congress by senior SS(UBT) leader Ambadas Danve following the Bihar results. “We are confident that secular-minded voters will support the Congress' fight against the BJP-RSS in local body elections. We welcome backing from like-minded parties and hope to finalize understandings with some soon,” a state functionary hinted. Meanwhile, Chennithala’s firm stance has triggered speculation in political circles about whether the Congress’ informal ‘black-sheep' policy vis-a-vis certain parties will extend beyond the BMC polls.

Power Plays: Fortifying India’s Energy Grid for Wartime Resilience

In an age of cyberwarfare and hybrid threats, India must rethink its electricity grid as a strategic defence asset.

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A sprawling, humming web of pylons, substations and cables powers the world’s most populous nation. India’s electricity grid - one of the largest and fastest growing on the planet - is the backbone of its economic ambitions, from the bustling megacities of Mumbai and Bengaluru to the farmsteads of Punjab and the solar parks of Ladakh.


It fuels factories in the ‘Make in India’ initiative, irrigates fields and illuminates over 900 million lives daily. Yet, in a world where warfare has expanded from the battlefield into cyberspace, satellites and servers, this very lifeline is increasingly a liability.


India’s energy grid is as much a target as an asset. In a future war, its sheer scale and centralisation could make it vulnerable to hostile acts. Picture a coordinated cyberattack that shuts down load dispatch centres, or a missile strike that disables a key substation. The result would be blackouts across cities, disruption of military and emergency operations, paralysis of supply chains, and an erosion of public trust. Modern adversaries no longer need to invade; they only need to switch off the lights.


This is not the stuff of fiction. In 2015 and again in 2016, Ukraine suffered blackouts due to cyberattacks widely attributed to Russian state-sponsored hackers. In 2020, Mumbai experienced a massive grid failure, which reports linked to a suspected Chinese cyber incursion. Malware has been found inside Indian nuclear facilities.


The answer lies in fortification. India must begin to treat its energy infrastructure not merely as a civilian utility, but as a strategic, even military, asset. Resilience must become the new doctrine. That will require sweeping reform, substantial investment and an openness to rethink the very architecture of power delivery.


First, decentralisation must become a strategic imperative. Rather than relying predominantly on massive, centralised power plants and long-distance transmission lines, India must embrace a mosaic of distributed generation. Rooftop solar panels on millions of homes, community wind turbines in breezy coastal belts, and microgrids in remote villages can together create a web of redundancy. Distributed systems are also easier to protect and quicker to repair.


Second, India must harness its abundance of renewable energy not just for climate reasons, but for national security. Solar and wind, unlike coal or imported gas, cannot be blockaded or embargoed. Solar photovoltaic systems coupled with advanced battery storage should become standard in critical infrastructure from hospitals and airports to military installations and communication centres. These ‘islandable’ systems must be capable of operating independently when the main grid fails, ensuring continuity of vital services.


Third, key components of the existing grid must be hardened. Substations, transformers and load control centres should be housed in reinforced, blast-resistant structures. Equipment must be duplicated wherever possible. Drawing lessons from countries like Israel and South Korea, India could build ‘energy bunkers’ around its most essential nodes. These physical barriers can buy crucial time in the event of attack, enough to prevent cascading failures.


Fourth, the national grid itself must become more flexible and better interconnected. High-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines, already being deployed, should be expanded to allow power to flow seamlessly across regions. This enables unaffected areas to support those in crisis. Advanced grid management software, powered by artificial intelligence, can optimise load flows in real time, detect anomalies and isolate damaged sections automatically.


Fifth, India needs boots on the ground in form of a dedicated national task force for rapid power restoration. This elite ‘energy SWAT team’ must be trained to deploy at a moment’s notice, with tools and technologies to identify faults, replace damaged components and get electricity flowing again within hours, not days. Their work must be tightly integrated with disaster management agencies, the military and intelligence services.


Most critically, the digital realm must be secured. The grid’s control systems are alarmingly susceptible to cyber infiltration. India must invest in modernising Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, deploying AI-driven threat detection, segmenting networks to prevent lateral movement by attackers, and mandating end-to-end encryption across all grid communications. A centralised Cyber Command, working in tandem with the Ministry of Power and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), must be empowered to monitor, pre-empt, and neutralise digital threats.


India would also do well to consider electromagnetic pulse (EMP) protection. EMP weapons, whether nuclear or non-nuclear, can disable electronics over wide areas. Shielding critical components and creating EMP-resilient redundancies is a prudent insurance policy in an increasingly unstable world.


A nation that aspires to be a global power cannot afford to be plunged into darkness by a few keystrokes or missiles. The energy system must be seen not just as infrastructure, but as infrastructure for deterrence.


The government has made encouraging noises. Initiatives such as Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) and the Green Energy Corridor are steps in the right direction. But more is needed. A national mission on grid resilience, with clear milestones, multi-sector collaboration and a war-gaming approach to testing vulnerabilities, should be launched without delay.


As India electrifies its economy and digitises its society, it must not forget that power, in every sense of the word, is about control. To lose control of the grid is to lose the nation’s pulse. The next war may not begin with a bang but with a blackout. India must be ready.

(The writer is a digital product leader passionate about energy innovation, manufacturing and driving impact through technology. Views personal)

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