Political Diary
New Delhi, 22 December 2020
G 23-Sonia
Meet
WILL WINDS
OF CHANGE BLOW?
By Poonam
I Kaushish
Political Delhi
resembles a battle field as Parties trade charges and finger point on the
ongoing farmers’ maelstrom. With the Government refusing to blink, the BJP
daring, the Opposition is in a pickle, amidst this the crisis in the Congress
is stark. How does one react to the continuing Grand Old Party’s Circus? As the
‘G 23 rebels’ audience with Ma-beta
duo Sonia-Rahul Saturday has deepened the swirl within.
It is too early to
say if the ‘thaw’ will lead to sweeping changes to get the Party out of its
moribund morass and shed its inertia. From a “visible, effective and full time
leader”, free, fair and democratic elections at all Party levels and
establishing an institutional leadership to collectively guide the Party. Presently,
by the looks of it, there is no comfort for the Congress in the short, medium
and long terms
Specially against the
backdrop of two subsequent general election washouts and a battering recently
in Bihar, the Grand Dame has not learnt any lessons. It looks like a bunch of
prisoners of war: defeated, demoralized and disarrayed mourning its golden
years instead of a determined Opposition to hold the Government accountable. For
all practical purposes, the Gandhi’s seem to have lost the plot.
Consequentially, how does it stay relevant in a world where the political dice
is stacked against it?
Slowly but surely it
finds itself in an existential battle and faces multiple challenges: Crippled
by rank desertions, indiscipline, perennial squabbling among senior leaders
resulting in a virtual free-for-all with big, small and petty leaders all
pulling in different directions who at best can come up with tokenism and
“me-tooism”. The older entrenched leaders refuse to let go and the Rahul
brigade waits anxiously for him to helm the Party as it stares at an
abyss.
The problem is self
created on multiple levels. One, it is to do with the Gandhis. With Sonia seen
as an aging interim President, Rahul as a ‘reluctant leader’ who lacks the
reliable and dependable quotient alongside his sister Priyanka who carries the
albatross of her Vadra surname. In fact, Congressmen are quietly questioning
Sonia’s intentions and policy of protecting-her-son-at-all-cost. Reiterated by
the Party spokesperson that “99.9% leaders want Rahul”. Why not 100%? Who do
the 1% think worthy?
Two, part of the
problem is nobody realizes that charity has to begin at home. ‘Old guard’
leaders like Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Sibal, Moily et al refuse to let go and are blocking the way for younger
elements, if any left, and for the Party itself. Said a new youth leader: “When
will they allow us to lead so that the Party can grow? Given that most of them
are “arm-chair” oldies, tired leaders or ‘youthful leaders’ who are ‘placed’ for
personal loyalty having never won an election on their own steam, inspire
cadres or voters?”
Resulting in a blame
game between the veterans hitting back at Rahul’s “rudderless coterie with each
blaming the other for inertia, ghooskhori
and lack of grassroot desi connect to
counter NaMo’s Hindutva symbolism and nationalistic zeal. Bringing things to
such a pass that it has became increasingly difficult to decipher who are the
heroes and who the villains.
Not a few senior
leaders are worried that politics could spin out of control in the next three
months. Privately they count how many more such acts may be in the pipeline at
a time when the Party is caught in a whirlpool of political and electoral
crises and is confronted with a firmly entrenched BJP. 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.”
On the obverse, Sonia
loyalist asserts, “It takes two to tango. Till it suited the rebels they rooted
for the Dynasty but now they paint the President as a villain. Besides, with
only 52 MPs, three States things can only get better. So Congressmen can
continue to be slaves of the dynasty.” QED.
Alas, the Party has shriveled beyond belief and
is no longer
the giant tent under which a surfeit of views coexist as grassroots and senior leaders are sidelined, replaced
with a highly personalised, feudal functioning and outlook, chamchas who
leech-like
feed on the “undaata”, living off her
goodwill. Only those who serve loyally flourish in the “nomination culture”. Both disagreements and debate are viewed as
betrayal.
Ironically, even as Rahul Gandhi extolled his
great grandfather Nehru on his birth anniversary last
month by recalling “his values of brotherhood, egalitarianism and modern
outlook” and suggested the Party must conserve these, he should start within by
implementing Nehruvian ideals by embracing diversity of thought and being open
to debate, discussion
and a way forward.
The infamous letter bomb by G 23 “rebel” to
Sonia a case in point. Warning against the drift in the Party, asking for
full-time leadership and elections to the CWC and calling for sweeping reforms to
salvage the Party, it was treated as betrayal and icy coldness by the Dynasts
resulting in a jee huzoor packed CWC
denouncing and negating the letter.
But the Bihar results have only underscored the
rot leading to more voices of dissent. The Party which had won 27 seats in 2015 contested 70
but won just 20. Adding salt to wounds Rahul only campaigned for three days and
addressed three meetings compared to Prime Minister Modi who addressed five
meeting. Worse, he preferred to ‘picnic’
with sister Priyanka in Simla’s cool climes.
By the looks of it,
the Congress cannot hope to return to power even in election 2024. What it can
do is to use the interim to start from the bottom, shore up youth power, hold
organisational elections, which are honest, and co-opt those elected to form
teams of office-bearers at all levels, right up to the CWC.
To give Rahul the benefit of doubt perhaps he has
the right ideas of the way forward by the need for primaries to select
candidates and decentralisation of decision making. Yet, he either doesn’t want
to, is disinterested or is unable to implement changes.
Now with the clamour for his return as President
it is obvious the Party wants to cling to the Gandhi brand irrespective of them
being passed their use-by date. And if Rahul decides to wear the crown of
thorns again, he must clean out the Aegean stables with a firm broom. He needs
to start
from the bottom, hold organisational elections, which are honest, and co-opt
those elected to form teams of office-bearers at all levels, right up to the CWC.
Alongside he needs to shore up youth power and ideas, infuse fresh blood---young people who are
ambitious and hungry for a win and build the Party ground up and retire senior leaders
ensuring they are not involved in decision-making. Towards that end he needs to
amalgamate multiple viewpoints, accept and respect them else it can write of
hope of making a decent bid for the 2024 elections.
Clearly, the time is
far gone for a cut-and-paste job of mending fences and building trust but
nothing ventured is nothing gained. The Party should use the interim to, or
whatever remains to stay relevant. It needs to look inward urgently and do some
serious thinking to grapple with the internal contradictions and work towards
intra-Party harmony. The Party needs to look beyond Sonia-Rahul and find
answers. Remember, no leader howsoever mighty and powerful is indispensable.
----- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
|