Leaders kept up the party’s tradition in sycophancy for the Gandhi family, even as the party faces its worst crises.
NEW DELHI: The plenary session in Chhattisgarh’s Nava Raipur was notable for its obsession with more of the Gandhi “mystique” than any ideas for reviving the organisation. The conclusion that the leaders seem to have reached there was that the slogans “Sonia Gandhi Zindabad”, “Rahul Gandhi Zindabad” and “Priyanka Gandhi Zindabad” will alone fetch power for the Congress. The leaders seem to be under the impression that Sonia’s “sacrifice”, Rahul’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” and Priyanka’s “Indira-like image” are sufficient to ensure the party’s victory in elections. All the leaders who spoke during the session made it a point to keep up the Congress tradition in sycophancy for the Gandhis. The main attraction was that tonnes of rose petals were scattered on the road to welcome general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Raipur. This type of grand welcome for any leader was seen for the first time in Congress’ history. Several interpretations are being made about this ‘welcome style’ in the Congress circles. Mallikarjuna Kharge, who is the first non-Gandhi leader to be Congress president after 24 years, demonstrated loyalty to the family. Politically experienced leader Kharge knows that it is a challenge to maintain balance in relations with the three Gandhi family members. So he preferred not to float any new idea for the organisation. Nothing new was expected from the session either. But the workers looked disappointed at the end of the session. In fact, they were expecting the party to come up with some new strategy in view of the crisis that the Congress is facing presently. Sonia’s speech was just the repetition of whatever she has been saying so far. Certain remarks of Sonia at one point during the speech were also interpreted as a hint of her retirement plan. But Sonia has no such plan as of now. By increasing the number of CWC members to 35 from 23, the party has amply indicated that the Gandhis will remain members of the body. The party also avoided holding elections for the CWC. Earlier, Rahul was in favour of election for the CWC. But some of the party leaders were aware that the election for the top body may spoil their game-plan. These leaders have already caused major embarrassment for the party at the time of presidential polls. Kharge had to be made president out of compulsion amid the political drama. Meanwhile, there will be no big changes in CWC. KC Venugopal will continue to be general secretary in charge of the organisation. In fact, Venugopal’s value is like that of Ahmed Patel in the party. Only the leaders who are close to 10 Janpath, 12 Tughlak Road, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be seen in the new CWC. The plenary session may have promised reservation to backwards and women, but Kharge will find it difficult to do the balancing act among various sections. In this case, the party may delay the decisions on posting and reshuffle, as has been the practice in the past. Kharge alone cannot make decisions. So there will be no change in the functioning of the party. What is surprising is that the grand old party is not able to understand the changing politics. The organisation is getting weaker. The infighting is rampant in state units, with no fear of high command visible. The Congress lost government due to the infighting in MP. The government in Rajasthan could be saved somehow. The rebels of Rajasthan Congress were later given protection. Now the situation is such that Congress is left with just 16% of total MLAs strength in the country. The party had 24 per cent MLAs in 2014. In four states, there are no Congress MLAs. Only three states have Congress governments. The unfortunate part of this is that the plenary did not discuss these facts. Rahul is not giving importance to state politics. His politics is limited to targeting PM Narendra Modi and Adani. Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yara was quite encouraging in the beginning. But it lost focus after reaching Delhi. Workers were expecting that Rahul would give some new ideas to be spread across rural areas during the plenary. But his speech was disappointing one. The strategy on how to fight the problems like price rise, corruption, unemployment, etc., was missing. Rahul Gandhi was unable to explain why people should vote for Congress. There is no dearth of issues on which Rahul Gandhi can speak. But he doesn’t speak out, much to the surprise of workers. Right to Information, MGNREGA, farmers’ loan waiver, welfare schemes of the Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh governments, are some of the effective political weapons that can help Congress return to power. But Rahul Gandhi remains silent on core issues that could benefit Congress.
On the contrary, the Gandhi scion’s remarks sometimes go over the top, as they make no sense at all. Even he appears to be confused about what he speaks about. People wonder whether Rahul Gandhi himself understands what he speaks. For example, speaking recently at Cambridge University, Rahul Gandhi recalled how he once faced terrorists when Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Jammu and Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi said, “Terrorists saw me, I saw them, but they did nothing.” Does it make any sense? This is how Rahul Gandhi gives the BJP an opportunity to score over Congress politically. While the BJP’s ground is still intact in the Hindi belt, the regional parties in southern states would not let Congress consolidate its position. The ruling party of Telangana, BRS is already forming an alliance with SP and AAP. TMC is also in mood to work with Congress. Leaders like Mayawati, Owaisi, Chandrashekhar Pran will field their candidates which will harm Congress. Despite all this, the grand old party looks to be unconcerned as Kharge is not ready to address the question of alliance or that of PM face. Rahul Gandhi is overconfident after the “success” of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Nobody in the Congress is in a position to apprise Rahul Gandhi of the reality that nothing has changed on the ground. As a matter of fact, Rahul Gandhi needs to change himself. It will be possible only if he interacts with leaders and workers in Hindi. He has already landed the party in embarrassing situations several times while using the script of speech translated from English to Hindi.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s politics is also beyond comprehension. The Gandhi-centric plenary gave BJP a big chance to raise the issue of family politics more forcefully in election year. Now, Rahul Gandhi must focus on the upcoming state elections, taking lessons from poor performance in recently held polls in the three NE states. Otherwise the road to 2024 will be more difficult and tougher.