Political Diary

New Delhi, 14 December 2014

Crisis Of Leadership

UPA FIZZ JUST RAN DRY

By Poonam I Kaushish

A week is a long time in politics. And it has been a tumultuous one with the Congress being hit by a body blow of losing four Assembly elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to bête noire BJP. Leaving it not only red-faced and sputtering but naked what with its leaders trading punches, MPs blackmail and allies raucous and below-the-belt observations alongside a dysfunctional Parliament blocked by MPs lambasting Manmohan Singh’s Government. Whereby, the truism of rats deserting a sinking ship has come to haunt the Grand Dame and how!

The signs are already there. First off the block was NCP President Sharad Pawar’s bombshell: “People don't like weak rulers, they want strong leaders. The ruler must be strong and one who ensures effective measures and also have the capacity to implement decisions taken.” Though Pawar did not take names, his target was obvious, read Rahul and the Congress’s leadership. 

This is not all. He took a swipe at Sonia by recalling Indira Gandhi who implemented “decisions with vigour and abhorred the ‘jhola gang’ who offered free advise.” His reference was palpable, Sonia’s National Advisory Council full of NGOwallahs who put forth new unrealistic and untested ideas without any answerability.

Add to this, see how latest ally Jharkhand’s puny regional set-up Shibu Soren’s JMM is now pressing for a 50:50 seat-sharing formula in the next general election. 

If this is bad worse followed. Post debacle the knives are out in the Party. The ball was set rolling by dethroned Delhi’s erstwhile Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who accused the State unit and its leader for not backing her and instead running a parallel campaign to defame her.

Next, Madhya Pradesh leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi tore apart his arch-rival Digvijay Singh. Said he, “People of MP detest him.” Added Chattisgarh’s Mahant, ex-Chief Minister Ajit Jogi sabotaged the elections by setting up his stooges against the Party’s candidate. 

More turmoil ensued. Six Congress MPs from Seemandhra region have given a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Meera Kumar for moving a no-confidence motion against the Union Council of Ministers on the bifurcation of Andhra and carving of Telengana. They are also wooing the TDP and others opposed to the division of Andhra Pradesh or creation of smaller States. Whether the motion is disallowed or the Right Honourables withdraw it, the damage is done. They have successfully embarrassed the Government and Party leadership.

Undeniably, one thing is crystal clear: All is not well with the Congress-led UPA Government and, indeed, with the Congress itself. Any which way. Not only a sense of uncertainty prevails but a perception is gaining ground that an embattled Manmohan Singh UPA II is becoming increasingly enfeebled, buffeted from within and without.

The Prime Minister not only lacks authority but has no control over his Ministers who treat their Ministries as their personnel fiefdoms and do pretty much as they please. As a result, the Administration lacks a clear leadership structure and functions as a confused babble of vested interests, egos and animosities. Sans collective responsibility, accountability and transparency are a far cry. Manmohan Singh just has to lump it.

Thereby, underscoring the inherent weakness of the personal arrangement between Singh as Government head and Sonia as Party Chief. Notably, exposing the Prime Minister as weaker than the Party contributing to a political and moral void. Compounded by the Congress President who asserted she would disclose the Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate at “an opportune time.” Bluntly, Manmohan Singh’s days are numbered.

Any wonder, a country boasting off a billion-and-growing population is swinging like a yo-yo between hope and despair, thanks to a Government under relentless siege, compounded by coalition blues between the ruling partners, its adversaries and friends-turned-foes or vice versa. All bogged down by tantrums, one-upmanship and clash of egos.

The plight of the Congress is understandable. A weak Party is fodder for its allies who are busy extracting their pound of flesh. Moreover, it is critically dependent on the support of enemies and friends all rolled into one.

It is no secret that the NCP shares a relationship of compulsion with the Congress both at the Centre and State. In Maharashtra, both are wary of each other with each Party nursing grand ambitions of ruling the State independent of the other, the strain in this marriage of convenience is widening.

The RJD’s Lalu, LJP’s Paswan, Samajwadi’s Mulayam and the BSP’s unreliable Mayawati too are there as long as it suits them and till another and better alternative to the Congress-led UPA Government does not emerge on the national scene. Till then they are busy striking hard bargains ad nauseum. Exposing the fragile nature of the UPA.

Alongside, Mulayam, Left Parties and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD make no bones of trying to cobble a non-Congress-BJP Third Front with eyes on the Prime Ministership. While DMK and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) play coy. Complicating this, neither Sonia nor Manmohan Singh seems willing or capable of stemming the rot. Pummeled between the aam aadmi pressing for action and Sonia’s Congress which prefers status-quo ante the present crisis will continue.

Raising a moot point: Is the Congress caught in the vortex of game-changers? Can it afford to be bullied and blackmailed for the remaining five months given that the situation is skidding out of its hands.  Importantly, polls 2014 hold no beacon for the Party’s revival. Ironically, while its allies have done their electoral calculations, Sonia has yet to decide the Party’s “lead actor and guest artist,” even as BJP’s Modi is busy yapping at its heels.

What next? Events have their own momentum. More so in the farcical nature of the Congress-UPA allies and the inherent contradiction of being arch rivals in the State election arena. One hopes this political game of kiss and tell based on convenience and opportunism, crony capitalism and opportunistic covenants does not reflect the emerging truth of today’s India. As the recent poll verdict underscores, the janata shows increasing signs of steeply falling public tolerance of political turpitude.

As a Chinese saying goes in every crises lies an opportunity. The need of the hour is a paradigm shift in how Parties and politicians function. Any attempt to stifle a new Aspirational India’s call for change of business-as-usual would be opposed vehemently. The Congress and its UPA need to remember that leadership is not merely an exposition of ones abilities or honesty. Intrinsic to leadership is the ability to enforce and demand the highest standards.

At the end of the day, are we going to mortgage our conscience to “fair-weather fliers” and “hot-house leaders”? How long are we going to continue to look for giants among the pygmies and allow the latter to ride-roughshod over us? Time for people to look for real leaders Or else let the UPA fizz will continue to run dry.  ------ INFA

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)