The Gandhis Can’t Discover Key to Post-Modi Politics Until They Rediscover Themselves
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”—Napoleon Bonaparte
Even after 193 years of his death, the great French Emperor’s words resonate with ageless truth. Napoleon’s bon mot fits
the current Congress leadership to the last vowel. The 129-year-old
party is not only in a state of political paralysis, but its leadership
too is unable to raise the banner of hope proclaiming its relevance on
the political battlefield. When even senior leaders like former finance
minister and invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) P
Chidambaram feel desperation, it is evident that the High Command is
losing control over loyalists.
A casual visit to the Congress
website makes it obvious that the party is living in the past. The
homepage opens with a video of a bearded Rahul Gandhi wishing the nation
Happy Diwali. So far so good. Most other sections only speak about the
NDA government’s shortcomings. Another section deals with the history of
Congress, with each page talking about the sacrifices made by its
leaders, including the Gandhis. The site offers no roadmap for the
future. The party is oblivious to the fact that the current political
war is being fought in cyberspace and not on the dusty warfront in
various states. Its workers would find no worthwhile plan or agenda on
the website which could enthuse them to fight for the party. They are
waiting for Sonia and Rahul to change not only their style and
substance, but also the political company they have been keeping for the
past few months.
The Gandhis are not known for their easy
accessibility. But no partyman ever questioned this exclusivity, as long
as the Family kept winning elections for them. Now partymen are urging
them to step out of their SPG-protected fortresses and mingle with the
grassroots. Ever since Congress’ defeat in the Lok Sabha elections,
party workers have been expecting a major organisational surgery to rid
the outfit of those who occupy high posts without accountability. Most
Congress leaders are saddened by the fact that Sonia hasn’t thought it
proper to call an emergency meeting of state and district-level
officebearers to review the causes for the debacle and chart the future
course. Four months have passed since the defeat, but not a single
satrap’s head has rolled so far.
In the cacophony of dissenting voices lies the urgency of creating a new Congress under a leadership which can ensure ‘Achhe Din’
for party workers and leaders who can’t exist without power for long.
Party members at all levels are seeking the answer to just one question:
“Can Sonia and Rahul bring Achhe Din for them?” Humiliating
defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra also seem to have shaken their faith
in the Gandhis who once appeared infallible. It is not for the first
time that the Family is under attack for its failure to lasso voters for
the party. When the Congress lost many Assembly and Parliamentary
elections in 1998-99, Sonia was accused of shrinking the party’s
national base. Of late, the Gandhis have been facing virulent attacks
for winning the minimum number of Lok Sabha seats and losing major
states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to the opposition.
Politics,
too, has become a business for making profit by exploiting a premium
brand. If over 100 ex-Congress MPs, MLAs and officebearers have left the
party to join the BJP or any other party in the past six months, it
reflects the plummeting faith in the High Command. The defectors forgot
that it was Sonia Gandhi who brought the party to power in 2004 and
2009. Chidambaram’s comment made the headlines without making news. If
in the past, many non-Gandhis could become party presidents, it could
happen in the future too. But all matters regarding the authority and
utility of the current and future leadership has to be resolved if
Congress wants to survive in politics.
However, as usual, the
Congress is all about the Gandhis and Gandhis alone. Chidambaram, too,
spoke about them and expects that one day a non-Gandhi may helm the
party. Technically, he is right. Constitutionally, he is absolutely
correct. Of the 16 Congress presidents since 1947, 12 were
non-Nehru-Gandhis. However, three Gandhis—Indira, Rajiv and Sonia— have
occupied AICC presidency for 30 years out of 68. It is also a reality
that the others were anointed party chiefs only after prior concurrence
of a Gandhi or Nehru. It’s natural for Congress to be reconciled to the
idea of a Gandhi-led Congress on a permanent basis, albeit with scary
expectations. At the moment, both mother and son haven’t been able to
provide either a slogan or an agenda to face the Modi juggernaut. The PM
is flinging gauntlets by coining new slogans and announcing fresh
schemes, whose merits cannot be opposed.
Veteran Congressmen are
expecting the Family to deliver a brand new Congress. Each Gandhi
created his or her own apparatus, apparatchiks and agenda soon after
taking over as party boss. Indira got rid of the syndicate and coined
‘Garibi Hatao’. Even Sanjay Gandhi created an aggressive young brigade,
which pushed his five-point programme that included family planning and
environment. Rajiv Gandhi brought in his own team from the corporate
sector and chose technology as his mission. But the Sonia and Rahul team
haven’t come up with any inspiring epiphany to energise the party. Old
loyalists remain entrenched in powerful bodies like the CWC. Out of its
40 members, over 20 have hardly ever won an election or carried the
party to victory in their respective states. Most Pradesh Congress
Committees have become centres of group rivalries. Unless the Gandhis
rediscover themselves, their rediscovery of India’s post- Modi politics
will never succeed. For the Congress, the Gandhi brand is like Reliance
or Tata, which can go through many crests and troughs but will never
vanish. They will always remain top of the mind. But like the Tatas and
the Ambanis, the Gandhis have to sculpt a team which can repackage and
market a 129-year-old brand, the Congress.
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
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