Congress is at a loss to find senior leaders to contest the elections. Apart from two former CMs, Digvijaya Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and former Rajasthan Speaker C.P. Joshi, no senior leader apart from Rahul Gandhi is in the fray.
Till the advent of the British who brought tools of modern warfare to this subcontinent, Indian kings used to lead their troops to battle riding on elephants. The reason was obvious. They wanted their soldiers to see that their king was leading upfront. While this proved strategic in victory, axiomatically any setback to the king used to create panic in his army, leading to dispersal of troops and subsequent defeat in battle. The best example is the vanquishing of Hemu by 13-year-old Akbar in the Second Battle of Panipat, November 1556.
In modern India, political parties depend on the charisma of their leader in electoral battles. Narendra Modi leads BJP upfront. Having risen from the grassroots, his feet are firmly grounded in organisational politics. He has told his cadres to seek votes on the Kamal (Lotus) symbol, whosoever is the candidate. Naveen Patnaik in Odisha, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, the Lalu Yadav clan in Bihar, Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh, M.K. Stalin in Tamil Nadu and Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are also icons on whom their parties rely. Their cadres swear by them. The recent “Mai bhi Kejriwal” campaign by AAP cadres is an example of their devotion and dedication.
In Congress the niche is reserved for Rahul Gandhi, though Mallikarjun Kharge is the elected Congress president. As pointed out by many senior leaders who have left the party in recent weeks, Congress has five power caucuses which surround Kharge, Rahul, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra and organisation secretary K.C. Venugopal. Though Priyanka emerges as a better, reasoned, campaigner, the strobe light does not shift to her as Rahul remains the fulcrum. The caucuses work at cross purposes. Confusion abounds in the ranks and this confounds their sagging morale.
Rahul’s inaccessibility to party leaders is legendary. Though he was videographed during his two Yatras hugging common people and even occasionally playing football with kids (he did not use his feet, he lobbed the ball from his hands instead), leaders seeking appointments for serious parlays are made to wait indefinitely. Some lose patience and leave the party itself.
Rahul’s high and mighty “entitled” attitude is not confined to party leaders alone. When I.N.D.I. Alliance was in its nascence after Mamata Banerjee had given up her initial hostility towards Rahul (she has equity with Sonia), she sent nephew Abhishek Banerjee, General Secretary of Trinamool Congress, for a meeting with Rahul in Delhi. Abhishek was asked to meet Rahul at six in the morning, which he did. The impact of the meeting was that when Rahul’s Yatra entered West Bengal basic facilities like space for parking vehicles and setting up tents were denied by the administration.
In the Yatra’s Bihar phase Rahul camp gleefully cascaded videos of RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav driving a jeep with Rahul as a co passenger. But in Bengal not only did Trinamool stay away. Mamata Banerjee held simultaneous rallies in the same very districts which the Rally was traversing. Trinamool stayed away from Rahul’s yatra.
The Yatras are deemed to have galvanised the Grand Old Party. The mass exodus of leaders, including former chief ministers and Pradesh unit presidents as well as common workers suggest otherwise. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP has been forced to organise special camps to admit former Congresspersons—an estimate puts the number of desertions in this state alone at around 25,000. Even Chhindwara, which has been a Congress bastion since 1952, has been affected, with MLAs and mayors joining the exodus. Similar stories are coming from other states. Past week, 113 crossed over en masse in Rajasthan.
Braving her health problems Sonia Gandhi addressed a poll rally in Jaipur on Saturday, a day after Congress declared its manifesto. A day earlier, in tribal Banswara, the candidate who had been given the party ticket failed to show up for nomination and the covering candidate filed instead. (To avoid the eventuality of nomination papers not being found in order and being rejected, all parties name an extra person who is referred to as “covering candidate”).
A week earlier, party’s spokesman, Rohan Gupta, who had been seen on television defending sometimes the indefensible, quit after having been given the ticket for Ahmedabad (East), citing his father’s health issues. Another prominent TV face, Dr Gaurabh Ballabh, quit the party a week later saying it was not possible for him to continuously abuse wealth creators. He also flagged his disaffection on the Congress stand on Ram Temple pran pratishtha. Same day, Anil Sharma, former Bihar state chief, also quit. He said the party which boycotted the Ayodhya event had no qualms in sending a delegation some years back to Rome during a beatification (admission into Sainthood) ceremony in the Vatican.
Congress is at a loss to find senior leaders to contest the 18th General Elections. Apart from two former Chief Ministers, Digvijaya Singh (Madhya Pradesh) and Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and former Rajasthan Speaker, C.P. Joshi, no senior leader apart from Rahul Gandhi is in the fray. Unable to find strong candidates Congress has been liberal in accommodating I.N.D.I.A bloc partners. The allied parties have not been reciprocal—Congress requests for specific seats are turned down categorically. The case of Purnia in Bihar is symbolic. Congress admitted Pappu Yadav, who merged his party itself, on the promise that he will be the party’s Purnia candidate. Lalu Yadav’s RJD gave the seat to a lady legislator who had recently defected from JD(U). Pappu Yadav has now filed as an Independent and Congress has little choice but to break ranks with the bloc and extend support to him in this seat.
The way ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) compelled Congress not to carry its flag when Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Wayanad earlier last week shows the extent to which the Grand Old Party has become malleable. The presence of IUML flags, which have stark resemblance to Pakistan’s flag, in Rahul’s past Wayanad rallies had drawn flak from BJP spin-doctors, who alleged that Pakistan flags were being used by Congress. Wary of a repeated salvo from BJP, Congress requested IUML to keep away its flags this time. They agreed with a caveat that Congress too shall not hoist its flag. Thus Congress’ star leader Rahul Gandhi entered the 2024 poll fray scared of BJP and pressured by his bloc allies. This despite his oft repeated clarion, “Daro Mat” (don’t be afraid) throughout his Yatra rallies.
The Grand Old Party has lost its grandeur. Rahul Gandhi’s sabre-rattling notwithstanding, a scared and beleaguered Congress is at the head of the I.N.D.I. Alliance, which is challenging the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the elections to the 18th Lok Sabha.
TAILPIECE
The mandatory disclosure of his assets by Rahul Gandhi at Wayanad provides an interesting aside. He owns an impressive portfolio of shares of blue chip companies, including those of leading multinationals. Nothing unusual for a person of his stature. What is interesting is that his shareholding in public sector (PSU) shares is nil. He trusts private wealth creators while investing.
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), the PSU at whose gates in Bengaluru a few years back Rahul Gandhi accused Narendra Modi of demolishing the public sector, last week reported its highest ever revenue. India’s defence exports have crossed the Rs 21,000 crore mark. Yet Rahul Gandhi continues to see red and feels that PSUs and defence interests are being compromised by the Modi government. Rahul’s penchant for alleging wrongdoing in the Rafale deal is included in the Congress manifesto announced on Friday.