Politics is predatory, but sometimes all pretence at civility is abandoned and politicians, like gladiators, don't mind letting blood show on their hands. Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh are instances, though not the first and certainly not the last.
The BJP had, before coming to power in 2014, coined the slogan "Congress Mukt Bharat". The 2014 win was heady and the slogan was a refrain in the party's victory song. This aggravated the acrimony between the Congress and the BJP, now ruling.
The first direct fallout was the Congress' retaliation in Parliament especially in the Rajya Sabha, where the opposition outnumbers the government. The Congress - which has 69 members and the support of 12 members it had nominated to the Upper House - has used its muscle to teach the BJP-led government a lesson, effecting a gloves-off massacre of parliament's legislative time and a paralysis of the government's legislative agenda.
The upper house has been perpetually disrupted session after session, with the Congress creating tactical alliances on the floor of the house on every issue with other opposition parties- reminding the government that it was still a force to reckon with
As the government's flagship bills fell like nine pins, the Prime Minister, who had led the "Congress Mukt Bharat" slogan had to visibly retreat to signal the significance of the Congress - he invited the party's president Sonia Gandhi and former PM Dr Manmohan Singh to discuss the GST Bill.
The Congress has managed to inflict deep wounds and brutally. The rollout of GST was delayed by more than a year and the one-tax-for-all is still at the Congress' mercy. The land acquisition bill, which the government needed to push to ease opening up land for infrastructure and development projects, is as good as buried. The real estate bill was passed in March only after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi acquiesced.
The Congress also crushed a lot of "big party egos" to play a pivotal role in getting Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav in an alliance against the BJP in Bihar. The loss there was a major setback for PM Modi, also diminishing the chances of the BJP and its allies of improving their numbers in the house of states.
During this period Rahul Gandhi has found his feet, and a voice, and has been waging an all-out war against PM Modi.
As the BJP has taken blows it has retired the "Congress Mukt Bharat" slogan at least from public discourse, but is still wielding a sword. Uttarakhand and Arunachal are the proof - the BJP's focus is states.
The Congress cannot afford to ignore the BJP's strategy. If it glances at the latest political map of India, it will see the very real risk of a "Congress Mukt Bharat."
From Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala and Gujarat to Arunachal, the party's footprint has shrunk - even more so after the Uttarakhand government was removed last month. The Congress, that for decades pegged itself as the only pan-India party, now has only seven states. The only big state it controls is Karnataka. The others are small states like Himachal Pradesh, where too corruption charges are snapping at the heels of Congress chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
Assam is election bound, and the Congress now rules only three states in the north east - Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur.
Eleven states are ruled by non BJP non Congress parties. The BJP and its allies govern 12.
The Congress' outrage at the imposition of President's Rule in its two states is understandable. Uttarakhand slipped out of its hands ultra fast with the BJP dynamiting the fissures in its state unit. But the fissures in both Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were the Congress' own creation.
Senior Congress leaders say that in both states the party's lawmakers unhappy with chief ministers had attempted to sound out the "high command" or the Gandhis long before rebelling to a point of no return. In both cases, the BJP waded in and helped the rebels.
When Congress rebels in Arunachal were in Delhi and attempted to meet the party leadership last September, they were thrown out of the state guest house.
There are many complaints from states that their link with the central leadership is weakening at a time when the BJP is waiting to pounce on any opportunity. Party general secretaries, the key link between the state and central units of the Congress have tended to support the chief ministers, ignoring voices of dissent.
And that's why the Congress needs to consolidate before it rejuvenates. It will have to take a good, hard look at its organisational structure and ensure that the party and its state governments are in sync if it has to avoid another Arunachal or Uttarakhand.
The Congress averted a rebellion in its ranks in Karnataka last year and in Manipur, an Arunachal-like crisis simmers. About 25 rebel leaders have hinted at toppling the Ibobi Singh government and crossing over to the BJP.
The BJP under Narendra Modi is working actively in Congress-ruled states. More states under its belt will mean more members in the Rajya Sabha to push it's legislative agenda.
In Kerala, the BJP has been trying to woo a section of Christians who are known to be Congress loyalists. Recently, the Prime Minister met KP Yohannan, founder of the Gospel for Asia.
"Being out of power at the Centre and in a state is a blessing. Those who don't benefit directly from the party being in power in the states manage to get a share of the power cake. But now the Congress doesn't rule Delhi. Dissidence is natural as the cake has shrunk. At this moment the organisation needs to keep the cadres and the leaders engaged like never before. The blood curdling war cry shouldn't be missed. The enemy is ruthless. Generals need to tend to the army while trying to win the war," said a senior Congress leader.
(Rahul Shrivastava is Senior Editor, Political Affairs NDTV 24x7)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.