At some point in life, most people realise whether they are on the side of the problem or on the side of solution. The Gandhi family today is at a cusp where they must realise this existential truth soon. Else, they will end up destroying the 136-year-old Indian National Congress. The immediate trigger for the rising despair is the party’s crisis in Punjab, which was entirely self-inflicted.
The departure from office of Capt Amarinder Singh, an octogenarian, may not be such a big blow to the Congress electorally, but the way it was done — by bringing in his bête noir, Navjot Singh Sidhu, who repeatedly humiliated Amarinder Singh — was certainly lacking in grace and tact. The ensuing crisis, with Sidhu squabbling with the new CM and resigning from his post, may have come as a rude shock to his ardent supporters and patrons — Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. The fact that Sidhu came in and immediately staged a revolt against Amarinder Singh and then scooted without taking any responsibility for the crisis amply proved the latter’s assessment of him as an ‘unstable man’. A clever sub-editor would probably have headlined the whole episode: ‘Nut screws and bolts’
Turning to the internal crisis in the party, it was indeed laudable of Rahul Gandhi to resign from party presidentship, owning up responsibility for its poor show in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Since then, his mother Sonia Gandhi has been the interim president. Yet, for all practical purposes, Rahul Gandhi behaves like he’s the party president. Sonia Gandhi has the ‘old guard’ as her advisers and Rahul had his younger group that initially consisted of Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasad and a few others. The fact that he could not meet their aspirations, whether justified or not, led to the departure of both Scindia and Prasad from the party while Pilot tried and failed. During the Punjab crisis, it seemed that mother and son were not on the same page. The mother now wants her son to take over, but he seems unwilling to step up. An unsettled family issue has become a crisis for the party, and the nation waits, with hope and despair, for the major opposition party to stand up as a viable political force.
For the last one year or so, several senior members of the party, including some from the Congress Working Committee (CWC), have been agitating for certain urgently needed reforms within the party, such as greater internal democracy including elections for all the top posts, retiring the deadwood within the CWC, and infusion of young and fresh blood, strengthening the rank and file, and generally preparing the party for a good fight against the BJP in 2024.
A perfectly sound and unequivocal idea. But the nub is that most of them want the dynasty to continue its rule. They are beseeching Rahul Gandhi to take back the mantle of leadership that he has so firmly and resolutely rejected. Like Caesar, he was offered the crown thrice and thrice hath he refused. So, where do they go from here?
The fact is that the Congress party matters more to the nation than the Gandhi family. Presently, neither the ‘high command’ nor the G-23 want to split and go their own way. They all realise that Congress remains the only viable alternative to the BJP in almost 200 seats at the national level. Can this disjointed outfit really take on the mean electoral machine of the BJP? Is it organisationally strong at the grassroots level? Is it ideologically consistent?
As for the ruling BJP, it couldn’t have been in a worse situation. Failures in governance on the economic front (increasing unemployment, usurping rates of taxes on fuel and food items, etc.), and on the health front in handling the Covid pandemic should cost the ruling party severely. But is the Congress in a position to capitalize on any of it? Is the ‘high command’ ready for it? Rahul Gandhi’s tweets are not enough to mobilise people.
Yet, Congress is the only party that sustains the ‘Centrist Consensus’ in the political spectrum and safeguards the constitutional promise of equality, secularism, liberalism and democracy against the bigotry of Hindutva and its hate politics that has deeply polarised the country. But it continues to lose power in state after state, either by design or default.
Thirdly, the minorities feel safer and protected under Congress rule than under the BJP, which has relentlessly pursued an anti-minority agenda through Hindutva mobs, through legislation meant to disadvantage them, through the political choice of denying election tickets to Muslim candidates, and by encouraging vigilante forces to brazenly assault and lynch Muslims in the name of cow protection, etc. Has the Congress stood firmly behind the minorities or is Rahul Gandhi keen on proving that he is ‘a sacred thread-wearing Brahmin’?
Fourthly, the outstanding performance of Manmohan Singh as prime minister in the spheres of economy — lifting over 270 million people out of poverty in his 10-year tenure – and foreign policy is a remarkable success story in modern India. Why is the Congress shy of projecting its proven track record from 2004 to 2014?
Finally, most regional parties do look up to the Congress to provide leadership at the national level so that they can join a coalition to defeat the incompetent, authoritarian rule of the present regime. Will the Congress be pragmatic enough to not demand disproportionate shares of seats from regional parties and let them win and rule in their strongholds?
The mowing down of four farmers on October 3 by a car belonging to a Union minister’s son in Lakhimpur Kheri has suddenly electrified the political atmosphere in UP by highlighting the relentless brutality of the Yogi Adityanath government in dealing with such tragic incidents. With Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reaching there ahead of the rest of the Opposition and the police arresting her, while letting the alleged killer remain free, the Congress seems to have been galvanised. It is possible that the optics of her act may change the fortunes of the party in the upcoming polls. Perhaps it is for election strategist Prashant Kishor to do the rest.
(The writer is a former Cabinet Secretariat official)