Congress infighting: Will it reinvent itself or split?

FUTURE OF CONGRESS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s family have been in the news these days. Modi for bringing the BJP back to power in four states and the Gandhi family for bringing down the Congress to a level where it faces an existential crisis. There are a few options before the Congress to reinvent itself. But before getting down to discussing them, it is pertinent to highlight some recent developments where the Gandhi family disregarded proper deliberations at the party fora and showed total disdain for inner-party democracy in decision-making.

Let me take up the case of Punjab. The decision to make Navjot Singh Sidhu state president of the Congress last year, was reportedly made by Sonia Gandhi’s daughter, Priyanka Vadra, in view of Sidhu’s proximity to her, leading to a heightening of factionalism within the party. The allied decision to change Capt Amarinder Singh as chief minister and replace him with Charanjit Singh Channi, as is well known, was taken by Rahul Gandhi, hoping that the party would be able to use the Dalit card and return to power. The consequences of those ill-thought of decisions were disastrous for the party.

The Captain walked out of the party and started his outfit and fought the elections in alliance with the BJP. It is a different matter that he lost. The consequences of Priyanka-Rahul Gandhi's decisions were catastrophic for the party. Disenchanted with the state of affairs in the party and yearning for a change, the electorate rejected them at the hustings and delivered a landslide victory to the AAP. All that Sonia Gandhi did was to remove Sidhu as PCC president.

The happenings in Uttarakhand before the Assembly elections make for another case study to highlight the ad hoc manner in which the party affairs were conducted by the Gandhi family. They had almost replaced Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand as the party chief, but sensing that he may quit the party, Rahul Gandhi placated him and made him stay in the party. In the end, the party did poorly in the elections.

As for Uttar Pradesh, it is well known that the entire campaign was handled by Priyanka Gandhi who conducted nearly 200 meetings. But poor coordination with the state leadership and the disconnect with voters, though they attended Priyanka’s election rallies in huge numbers, led to the party bagging just two seats. While Sonia Gandhi sought the resignation of the UPCC chief, she has not initiated any action against Priyanka. The message is: the family can do no wrong.

Following the party’s abysmal performance in Assembly elections and media criticism, Sonia Gandhi held a meeting of the Congress Working Committee which was attended by her and Rahul loyalists and a few members of the G-23 like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma. In order to drum up support for herself, Sonia Gandhi announced the willingness of the family members to resign from positions in the interest of the party.

Her statement had the desired effect: the members present, including Azad and Sharma, reaffirmed their faith in Sonia’s leadership stating that the poll debacles were a collective failure and that the process of electing a new president for the party would be expedited, etc.

Options before the party

1. The Gandhi family should firmly resolve not to contest for any party position. Bringing in Kamal Nath, a family loyalist (as it is being rumoured), as party president would be rule by proxy by the Gandhi family.

2. The search for a new middle-aged full-time president for the party can begin with the Gandhis themselves suggesting the name of, for example, Sachin Pilot, who has so far demonstrated his commitment to the party even in times of adversity. That he can communicate his views coherently in English and Hindi should make him acceptable to the partymen and eventually the voters in north, east, west and south. A newly elected AICC and CWC, based on the secret ballot, consisting of members in the age group 30 to 60 in due proportion, as party leader P Chidambaram says, needs to be in place to vigorously prepare the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to take on the BJP behemoth.

3. A reinvention of the party on the above lines, with a clear ideological underpinning based on a perspective wedded to the values enshrined in the Constitution and its Preamble, should guide the party. Enrolling fresh members and rebuilding the cadre are of paramount importance.

4. If what is advocated above cannot be pursued, the inevitable option before the members of the Congress is to bring about a split in the party, (after all, the party faced splits earlier in 1969 and 1978), with the G-23 group, which is attracting new (but old) faces to it as was seen in its recent meeting, taking the lead. The result may be the emergence of a Sonia (or her siblings)-led Congress with her loyalists. The breakaway group, with a new name, maybe Indian Congress (D or Democratic), can come into being. Such a group, with no baggage of the Gandhi family, should try to bring to its fold the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee, the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar and the YSRP led by Jagan Mohan Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, or work with them without any ego, in the interests of the Opposition unity as a requirement of our Parliamentary system. Additionally, they should strive for establishing a network of formal/informal arrangements with regional parties operating in various parts of the country.

(The writer is former Professor of Political Science, Bangalore University and former Senior Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi)