Some of the most consequential political decisions made by the Congress do not begin with a phone call, a WhatsApp message or even an official letter. They begin on a discreet sheet of green paper.
Known within the organisation simply as the “green paper” or “office note”, the document forms the backbone of the Congress leadership’s confidential internal communication system. Recommendations for appointments, candidate selections, expenditure approvals, political strategies and sensitive organisational decisions move quietly through the hierarchy on these green sheets before eventually reaching Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for approval.
Congress insiders say that once an issue reaches the green paper stage, it signals that the matter is politically sensitive and intended strictly for a restricted circle within the leadership. Select details from these documents are brought out into the public domain as and when required.
Within the Congress structure, the green paper follows a clearly understood chain of authority. At the base are AICC general secretaries and state in-charges. Above them sit general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, communications chief Jairam Ramesh and AICC treasurer Ajay Maken. At the apex are Kharge and the Gandhi family.
“The green paper’s use is bottom up,” says former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh. “As an AICC general secretary, I have used that paper to get the Congress president’s approvals.”
According to AICC administrative officer Narayana Das, the practice goes back decades. “I have been in the party for 42 years and, as far as I know, it existed during Nehru’s time, perhaps even before that,” he says. Das adds that the party maintains printed records of many such notes. “If a document has served its purpose and is no longer needed, it is destroyed. Others are preserved.”
The precise origins of the green paper within the Congress remain unclear. But the practice almost certainly evolved from the bureaucratic file system India inherited from the British colonial administration. Under the old British administrative system, proposals were circulated on light green sheets. Once a decision was finalised and deemed suitable for public release, it was issued as a “white paper”, giving rise to the term still used in governance today. Versions of the green-paper tradition continue to exist in several state governments, lower courts and revenue offices. An IAS officer describes “green notes” in government administration as internal note sheets used by officials to record recommendations, objections and approvals before a final order is issued. But while the British and Indian bureaucratic systems largely use such papers as administrative tools, the Congress version carries an added aura of political authority and secrecy.
The endpoint of a green paper is not always the Congress president. Media strategy notes, for instance, may conclude with Jairam Ramesh, while expenditure-related files are often routed to Ajay Maken for clearance.
The system also functions in offices linked to constituencies represented by the Gandhi family, including Rae Bareli and Wayanad. Former office functionaries say expenditure files in these constituencies are often prepared on green paper by accountants, signed by office in-charges such as K.L. Sharma, approved by members of the Gandhi family and then routed back to the accounts department. “Maken would never send the paper back, hold it or seek adjustments,” says a former office bearer.
The green paper assumes much significance during elections. Once shortlisted names are forwarded to the central election committee, headed by the Congress president along with Rahul Gandhi and the general secretary (organisation), internal communication quietly shifts almost entirely to green paper.
Narayana Das says the Congress has its own printing presses to source the paper. The party reportedly gets it from trusted private presses. One office bearer jokes that the newer green paper is “fresher and thicker”. Physically, the paper itself is distinctive. A thick black line divides it into two sections. “AICC” is printed on the narrower side, while the broader section carries the words “office note”. Interestingly, many leaders and former office bearers refer to the system simply as the “office note” rather than the “green paper”. Even today, some remain reluctant to discuss it openly.
Beyond appointments and elections, the paper is also used to signal political seriousness within the organisation, whether to approve a programme, endorse a political line or communicate a directive carrying the weight of the leadership. “If any name appears on the green paper for an appointment, it means the appointment is almost final and only awaits the signature of the Congress president,” says Sanjeev Singh, AICC chief national media coordinator.
Many party veterans, however, say the culture surrounding the system has changed over time. Today, sensitive communication within the Congress leadership increasingly happens through WhatsApp messages and phone calls, particularly as several senior office bearers no longer follow the culture of regular attendance at the party headquarters. “In Sonia Gandhi’s time, there were people monitoring how many days general secretaries attended office,” says a Congress insider. “Senior office bearers came regularly. Now many are not as active in the office or in meeting people.”
Yet, despite changing technology and evolving political habits, the green paper endures. It remains a part of the Congress party’s old command structure, quietly carrying some of its most consequential decisions.
