Political Diary

New Delhi, 27 March 2014

Crisis Of Leadership

POWER WALKS OVER SONIA

By Poonam I. Kaushish

What makes a leader? Birth, experience, cunning, acumen, stature, charisma or the magical star quality? A bit of each with luck on your side. What if a leader lacks most of these qualities? The organisation withers away, as seems to be happening with Sonia’s Congress. Mama Mia!

Call it sweet irony or what you may, but the Grand Dame of Indian politics is in the throes of a crisis of leadership. It has hit rock bottom. Just 44 MPs in the Lok Sabha, wiped out of the Hindu heartland, debilitating corruption cases, has to grapple with its vanished Prince, political confusion, organisational demoralization, and dichotomy within, with no new ideas to revive the moribund organization. This has left the Party more deflated than ever. Clearly, for all practical purposes, Sonia seems to have lost the plot.

Worse, for the first time there is a trickle of open criticism against Sonia for the Congress plight.  The latest anti-Sonia lambasting comes from old Gandhi loyalist and ex Union Law Minister-Governor HR Bharadwaj. Who succinctly nailed senior Congressmen angst, “Sonia is in the grip of sycophants and corrupt people and shared no responsibility and yet does everything. Does Sonia not understand what happened, why it happened and who did it (2G scam)?”   

Shocked? Not at all. Bharadwaj has not said anything which other senior Congressmen like Digvijay Singh, Janardhan Diwedi, G. Venkataswamy, Shashi Tharoor etc have not earlier. The criticism might have been subtle but the substance was identical. Not only is the Party buffeted by a slew of crises, including massive corruption scandals but is facing a predicament of programmatic identity and political strategy. In 2009, it rightly pitched its electoral campaign on the aam aadmi. But 2015, with BJP’s Modi in the saddle it is a different ball game.

Yet, Sonia continues to project a Congress rainbow on India’s future political horizon, even as the reality is harsh. The Party is today saddled with small time netas who at best can come up with tokenism and “me-tooism”. Whereby, it has become a prisoner of the highly personalized, even feudal, functioning and outlook. Only those who serve loyalty flourish in the “nomination culture”.

Worse, the Grand Dame is crippled by rank indiscipline, perennial squabbling among leaders resulting in a virtual free-for-all. The situation is worse in States. Weighty and petty leaders are all pulling in different directions. In Delhi bitter infighting continues between ex-CM Sheila Dikshit and PCC Chief Ajay Maken, ditto in Haryana between ex-CM Hooda and Opposition leader Kiran Chowdary. In Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot-Sachin Pilot dog fight and a toss between pro-anti Chidambaram factions in Tamil Nadu.

This is compounded by Sonia’s “rudderless” coterie which is clueless and helpless in stemming the tide. This has not only demoralised the rank and file but is a perfect recipe for disaster. In such a Congress system the entire pyramid fastens leech-like feeds on the “undaate”, living off her goodwill. Said a disgusted neta, “The decision-making process is so slow. If Soniaji continues with her status quo policy then the Party will fall apart.”

The most unpleasant aspect is the withering of internal democracy. It has made the Party hopelessly dependent on initiative from the Congress President and tragically immobile in its absence. What is more, Congressmen keep scoring debating points against each other and turning every issue into a dissident versus loyalist question. Of sycophants who are as loyal as Valdimir Nabokov’s Lolita!

In Sonia’s defence, she was in retirement mode all set to hang up her political boots. But with son Rahul ‘vanishing’ she has no option but to continue till he returns, if at all. Notwithstanding Rahul’s coronation as Party President slated for later this month at the AICC session. Her critics dub her as India’s Empress. Yet Sonia continues to retain her trade mark: A mystery wrapped in enigma.

True, she is no iron lady like her famous mother-in-law Indira as she seems to believe in the politics of consensus. Some may snigger that this attitude smacks of her being unsure; others put it down to her “don’t-want-to-rock-the-boat attitude and many dub it as smart real politik of a consummate politician.

A leader who willy nilly gets her “loyalists” to build a consensus of what she wants done among Party men which is perceived as originating from the larger Congress family.  Not only that. Sonia has infinite patience who gives her stooges a long rope to hang themselves with. Key ‘Family’ retainer Natwar Singh’s brutal axing a couple of years ago on the Volker food-for-oil scam underscores that Sonia is no pushover who can be a butcher when the occasion demands.

Therein lies the Congress’ tragedy. It is so besotted by the Dynasty’s mystique that no outsider would be acceptable. Gripped in the all-powering tentacles of deep-rooted sycophancy it makes Congressmen moribund in outlook with no fresh flow of ideas as all look at appeasing the Mistress.

See how Congressmen await Rahul return as if he has a magic wand which will make the Party numero uno once again. This is all the more ironical as Congressmen complain that it isn’t that the Party lacks talent or initiative, but they are not asked to contribute. Worse, many General Secretaries and State observers were too busy promoting themselves and creating their band of loyalists instead of concentrating on those whom it projected in the States.

What next? Even as the Party continues to shield the shehzada it must shed the time warp of the 60s., old feudal mould of one-person centric style in an era of inter-active internet and computerised electioneering. Regardless of whether Rahul returns and wants to lead the Congress, a big question mark hangs whether our Indian Hamlet has the guts and leadership to revamp a Party in crisis and give it a unifying purpose.

Sadly, it seems the Party cannot survive without him. Quintessentially it has put itself in a place where it needs to answer Chalna hai, par kahan?

What then is the Congress salvation? It needs to look beyond Sonia-Rahul and the Dynasty and find answers. Remember, no leader is indispensable. The old order has to give way to the new. Congressmen need to quit being tail-waggers and jee-huzoors and re-inject the potency of the Congress mystic.

This means radically restructuring the Congress to acquire an entirely different political image. Undo the Sonia-Rahul duo constitution No 1, 2, 3….10 in the Party hierarchy. Sic. A tall order, but not an impossible task.

Can Sonia and her colleagues summon up the will? Said an aspiring youth, “In today’s world, politics is indeed rocket science. Only those who practice it know the nuances and science of it.” She would do well to remember a Talmud saying:  Power buries those who wield it.

In sum, the time has come for the Nehru-Gandhi centric Grand Dame to realize that charisma alone doesn’t work. It needs dedication, honesty, progressive policies, organisational revival and democratization to pull itself out of its self-dug grave. Is it capable of turning a new leaf? Or else its epitaph could well read: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)