Er P L Khushu
The supposedly great Indian National Congress is unfortunately being made to decay under its own weight of the hypocritical family fiasco, when it is claimed by a self-selected few, presently in the congress hierarchy, as a legacy in their heritage. After a two-month-long high-octane campaign, by all the prominent political parties of India including the Congress party, in the elections of the five states viz, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, the performance of Congress in all these states shows that Congress has now lived its life and is almost an archive of the past. BJP turned to be the super star winner in the four states by getting praise worthy majority, when AAP has flooded Punjab extracting roots of Congress in Punjab from its base. Congress lost badly in all these state elections. It was in power in Punjab and lost not only power, but also its existence and identity as a national political party almost across the whole country. The often-repeated slogan ‘Congress – Mukt- Bharat, since 2014, by the majority of Indians, when congress lost its elections and the government badly, is probably now coming as a truth and not a fallacy. It was looking like a joke at that point of time, when one could hardly visualize that the condition of the congress party will be so much implacable that it cannot even have a full-fledged congress president and functions with adhoc president at its helm of affairs. Unfortunate for the nation about such a party, which is as old as the independence movement of India and supposed to deliver better, as a prudent and reliable opposition party, both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha? Democracy and its intrinsic values demand that for a better governance, by a ruling party particularly with a sizeable majority, that there should be a healthy and a meaningful opposition party to serve as a watch dog for the ruling party, in its disposition of various policies and programs for the welfare of the people of the country. But unfortunately it is squarely missing because of the dissent, chaos, fusion and confusion in the congress party, which was supposed to be a leading opposition party. The high command of Congress during Nehru era used to be an elite conglomeration of prized politicians of highest political and democratic wisdom. It was carried forward for a major time by Indira Gandhi as well, to a larger extent till she succumbed to the lure and lust of adhering to political power through the arm of dynastic web, when she imposed emergency in the country for remaining in power perpetually, after her election was declared null and void by the high court. In this process of trying to stick to the political power perpetually, she throttled and choked the voice of media, along with circumventing the constitution to her taste of retaining the power and got almost each and every political entity and member of the opposition parties tied to jails for longer durations beyond imagination. It was a havoc unleashed across the country during that period of the imposition of emergency across the country. Nevertheless, it did not last long. She lost the reins of power miserably when the elections were held subsequently, reducing the Congress party to a big minority. In fact, the die was first cast during that period only which saw Congress mostly declining from time to time, when it has now been routed from its base in this country. The present Congress high command is reduced to just three creatures of mother and her two progenies, viz the Queen, the Raj Kumar and a Raj Kumari.
Congress is facing a countrywide identity crisis with the party not having come up with enough numbers to even qualify as an opposition party in the polls. They are reduced to just almost fifties in the parliament. Congress party has this time an interim Congress President, as this party is in turmoil due to internal bickering and is not able to fine a full-fledged President for its party. Six years after the party’s electoral rout pushed it into a continuing downward spiral, 23 senior leaders of the Congress, including five former Chief Ministers, many Congress Working Committee members, sitting MPs, and several former Union Ministers, have, in an unprecedented pushback, sent a letter to party chief calling for sweeping changes, from top to bottom. The letter, learnt to have been sent some time back, details a reforms agenda that is, in effect, a stinging indictment of the current leadership. This letter of dissent mentions that the revival of the Congress is ‘a national imperative’ fundamental to the health of democracy. The letter, sources said, underlines how the party’s steady decline comes when the country faces its ‘gravest political, social and economic challenges since Independence.’ It is now a situation of leadership crisis in the Congress, which is now manifesting in a farcical battle of the generations. The fact, India’s Grand Old Party seems unable to look beyond ‘the family’ for the top party post, when in recent months a few leaders have openly expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which the party is run. The cognizant group of 23 senior Congress leaders, including former chief ministers, Union ministers and party general secretaries, are calling for ideological clarity, an overhaul of the party’s organization and addressing the leadership vacuum. In the recent Congress Working Committee meeting, these issues were not discussed; rather those pointing them out were accused of undermining the party. This is the time for the Congress to rethink. The winner takes it all. So is the case with the, 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections when Narendra Modi tsunami dismantled the entire opposition barring a couple of states where regional satraps still rule the roost. The mandate was not only for Prime Minister but also a referendum on Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and acceptance as a leader who cannot replace Modi. The mandate shows that people not only rejected Rahul Gandhi but also the top brass of the Congress. Has the Raj Kumar of Congress party, Rahul Gandhi become a liability for this grand old party? With this degree of performance, can Rahul Gandhi continue to successfully function as the leader of the biggest opposition party? Should he quit and make way for some other deserving candidate? Will the mother, son and the daughter trio allow it to happen? It is question bigger than its size. This election was an electorate mandate of the people of India between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. While people invested faith in Modi they also opted for rejecting the Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial candidate. The mishandling of the congress situation in Punjab and the other states of the country, by the so-called aspirants of the prime minister’s posts speaks volumes about the incompetent and inexperienced state of their political acumen and vision. So is the case with UP, when another byproduct of dynastic progeny of Congress, reduced the position of Congress in UP to a disgraceful equation, when UP would once upon a time used to be the pride for Congress.
Jitin Prasada’s, Jyotiraditya Scindia’s and RPN’s exits are a major setback to the Congress leadership and existence. Veterans in the party having been sidelined are on the fence watching the doom of their party due to dynastic holds of this party. 35 per cent MPs/ MLAs who switched parties between 2014-2022 joined BJP, when prominent defectors were from Congress party. Kapil Sibal a vocal and a prominent member of G-23 said that he wants a ‘Sab Ki Congress’ and expressed that the ‘Gandhis’ should step aside’. “Leadership is in cuckoo land. I want a ‘Sab ki Congress’. Some want a ‘Ghar ki Congress’,” Sibal told the media, adding that Gandhis should step aside and give some other leader a chance to lead party.
These remarks come after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) met just a few days back and after almost five hours of deliberations, urged Sonia Gandhi to continue to lead party and initiate changes to strengthen it. Well understandably, the veterans within the dissenting congress leaders are negating these deliberations as cooked tales of the sycophants working around the Trio based Mother, Son and Daughter combination that is representing the Congress High Command now. Demoralized, leaderless, the Grand Old Party of yester–years is now a pale shadow of its former self. Not quite dead yet, but life is ebbing away little by little with nobody seemingly in a hurry to call for help within the trio so called CWC, till it’s perfect doom and extinction, which is the writing on the wall for the Congress party across the country.
The point is, what to save it from whom? The Congress party is its own biggest enemy, bogged down by dynastic ruler ship with an organizational dysfunction, a pathological aversion to change, for reasons to retain power on dynastic legacy, apart from a culture of sycophancy. With much of its traditional support base heavily eroded and nobody new coming on board, Congress is playing to an empty house. The truth is that the party is absurdly out of touch with the new political landscape and it is not even trying to get its head around it seriously, hoping that the electorate believing in congress are still the same ignorant lot who will get them back in their laps. It has not worked so far, and it is not likely to work in future. What is often forgotten is that no party, whatever magnificent its ancestry and history be has a divine right to exist forever, let alone continue to reign supreme and remain unchallenged without making any effort to change. The flora of a garden gets its shine of worth and a smell of ecstatic aroma with the seedlings it is planted with. Once such seedling is mutilated and out of functional base, such a garden is thus going to prove as a liability for its worth, as it has no charm of attracting others. That is the case with the present Congress, when the seedlings which are adorning it are either foreign to it or are of weak genetic formation to grow to a full size to magnify the glory of this garden, to its original grace.
(The author is a Chartered Consultant Civil Engineer,
passionately attached and devoted to his
motherland – Jammu & Kashmir).