Why the Congress ‘dissenters’ got it wrong?

 

Why the Congress ‘dissenters’ got it wrong?

The letter by 23 Congress leaders-‘dissenters’-to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi on August 7, complaining of the party’s ‘drift’, lack of  ‘effective leadership’ that is ‘visible and active’, was ill-conceived.  The leaders included four CWC members- Gulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik and Jitin Prasada- besides Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tiwari. When the letter was leaked a day before the CWC meeting, scheduled for August 24, to the media, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh reacted: “ The move by these Congress leaders to demand a rehaul of the party at this critical juncture would be detrimental to its interests, and the interest of the nation. What the Congress needs is a leadership that is acceptable not just to a few but to the entire party, through its rank and file, and the nation at large.”

The letter was written at a time when Sonia Gandhi was in hospital and the Congress was fighting to save its government in Rajasthan.  An angry Rahul Gandhi questioned the timing of the letter: “the letter was written at a time when the Congress President was ill and attacked her … when the party was vulnerable,fighting the BJP in MP and Rajasthan.” The Congress veterans Manmohan Singh, A.K.Antony and Ahmed Patel described the letter “cruel and unfortunate” and requested Sonia Gandhi to continue in the post till a new President is elected by the AICC

A hurt Sonia Gandhi asked Gulab Nabi Azad, "You know me so well, Azad Sahib. How could you think that I will take any decision on the leadership issue without consulting party leaders? I retired long ago. I don’t want to hang on to this chair. So, what is the motive of this letter?” It may be recalled that, after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, Sonia Gandhi had refused to take the leadership of the party.  It was only in 1998, when the party was facing the crisis of leadership, after a great deal of persuasion by the leaders and the rank and file, that she had reluctantly conceded and was elected as the Congress President, defeating Jitendra Prasada, replacing Sitaram Kesri. She not only rescued the party from disintegration but also brought it to power in 2004 and 2009.  In 2017, Rahul Gandhi was elected as the party President for five years. However, owning moral responsibility for the party’s debacle in 2019 general election, he resigned as the President in May 2019.  And Sonia Gandhi was once again persuaded to take the charge of the Congress. On August 10, she reluctantly agreed to continue as the Interim President.  And these very leaders now saying that the Congress needs ‘visible and active’ leadership is an affront to her. That for the last six months the nation is facing unprecedented lockdown due to the pandemic crisis is conveniently forgotten.

None of these leaders was willing to expose the Modi government’s failures.  Modi-Shah duo and the BJP, as a strategy, have been attacking relentlessly Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, calling the latter derogatively ‘Pappu’ and making fun of him every time he spoke. They are unsparing in their personalized attack on the Gandhi family and denigrating the Nehru legacy. And yet, none of them thought it necessary to defend the Gandhis or counter the distortion of history to defame Nehru.  They  could have presented  to the people  the achievements of the Congress and what the Nehru’s legacy means for India, which the younger generation are simply ignorant, and countered the false narrative of Modi and the ruling party. They have not raised any voice either against the mishandling of the Covid-19, the collapse of the economy, the job losses, the plight of the migrant workers and the Chinese aggression in Ladakh.  In fact, some of them want to go soft on Modi, abdicating the role of opposition in a democracy. They enjoyed the fruits of office all these years, and when the party is facing existential crisis, they are finding alibi for their failure to work for the party’s revival.

The ‘dissenters’ do not have a mass following. They are aware that none of them has an all India stature to lead the party from the front.  Who among them can fill the vacuum of the leadership, if Gandhis retire? An overwhelming majority of the party’s MPs, elected legislators, PCC Presidents believe only a Gandhi could save the party from decimating. To them, Gandhis are a glue that holds  various factional groups together.  People may criticize the style of functioning of Rahul Gandhi, but he comes out as a well read intelligent person, sincere and single handedly taking on the Modi-Shah juggernaut.  None of the ‘dissenters’ has the nerve and the courage to take on Modi.

The narration ‘dynasty trumps the Congress’ is a myth.  As P. Chidambaram says when in every other party, including the BJP, there is ‘dynasty’, why target the Congress alone.  What is this bogie of ‘dynasty’ in a democracy when the people are elected with popular support?  Rahul Gandhi is sincere when he says no Gandhi should continue as the President.  And yet the party insisted on Sonia Gandhi continuing as the Interim President. It is strange to think Rahul is acting as de jure President and making the decisions. When he resigned as the President, he made it clear that as the Congress worker he would continue to work for the party and take up the issues that matter to the people and the nation.  We can’t expect him to retire into oblivion. It was he who resolved the Rajasthan government crisis, after all. And no credit is given to him for wresting power from three BJP ruled states in Hindi heartland -MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan- in 2018 when he was the President.

Consider this possibility: If a non-Gandhi is elected as the President at the next AICC session, the other leaders in the party and the rank and file across the country not accepting his leadership. And even if the President thus elected is an eminent person and tries to reach out all sections of the party and diverse segments of the Indian society, the people, particularly a section of media and the thinking class would still accuse the Gandhis exercising the ‘remote’ control.  This antipathy to Gandhis is difficult to rationalize. Do we expect the Gandhis to retire from public life altogether and watch the party, which the family resurrected time and again, disintegrating or splitting into several factional groups? It is strange the people who accuse the Gandhis promoting ‘dynasty‘do not want to understand the ground reality of their indispensability to the party, and thus to the service of the nation.  It is for this reason the Gandhis are the target of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.

The crisis in the Congreve is not ‘dynasty’ of the Gandhi family, as Ramachandra Guha or Sagarika Ghosh makes out to be. It is the inability of the leaders to take on the Modi government. Sonia and Rahul are doing their best in exposing its failures.  But other leaders are not willing to come out against  the style of functioning of Modi, his divisive agenda and his systematic destruction of democratic institutions that the party ancestors have built.   No doubt the overwhelming majority of  leaders and the rank and file  repose faith in Gandhis as saviors of the party, due to their lineage and secular and liberal credentials.

There is a mystique about the Nehru-Gandhi family, which is outside the scope of this piece to discuss. It is suffice to say that 48 out of 52, who  participated in the marathon CWC virtual meeting that lasted 7 hours, have heavily came out against the ‘dissenters’, who unwittingly  reinforced a well orchestrated propaganda of the BJP that the Congress is ‘drifting’ because  of  the ‘Gandhi dynasty.’ If the Congress has performed badly at the last two general elections, it is because of the phenomenon called Modi, money and muscle power, hostile electronic and social media and intimidation and coercion of the opposition.  The ‘dissenters’ lost sight of all this and their silence on the burning issues confronting the nation is inexplicable. It is a wishful thinking that if the present leadership is replaced by a non-Gandhi it would galvanize the party and provide a formidable opposition to Modi. The Congress leaders should unit and speak in one voice to challenge the Midi’s authoritarianism instead of carrying internal bickering into the open.

The ‘dissenters’ are perhaps worried that in the emerging scheme of things under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, their future is not secure. Their attempt to ‘reform’ the party not only backfired, it boomeranged on them.  They found themselves isolated and at the receiving end.  They owe their positions to the very Gandhi family, which they tried to corner. Though they are committed Congress men of caliber, they acted imprudently, disowning their share of responsibility for the present state of affairs in the party.