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5 criteria Rahul Gandhi’s successor must meet – even if it means burying Congress

Loyalists of Sonia Gandhi have prepared a list of about half-a-dozen leaders for her to select Congress’ next president before CWC meet Saturday.

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Can a Dalit leader do what a ‘janeudhari’ Brahmin, Rahul Gandhi, couldn’t — that is, defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024?

The Congress party has no answer yet. It has held up the succession plan in the 134-year-old party for over two months. The loyalists of Sonia Gandhi have prepared a list of about half-a dozen leaders, with those belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) outnumbering others. But she can’t make up her mind. She will have to select an ‘interim’ or ‘provisional’ president before the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, meets on Saturday.

This is what one hears from senior Congress insiders. You can’t grudge the opposition party’s fixation with caste matrix — Dalit or non-Dalit in the current context. This is the way the Congress has always conducted its politics. It won’t let Modi change its core beliefs. The principal opposition party probably thinks the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have gone the OBC Prime Minister’s way decisively. Or, may be, it believes Dalits, its traditional supporters, still have some sympathy left for the Congress.


Also read: Rahul Gandhi made 3 big mistakes in politics and didn’t learn much from them


Congress’ Dalit leaders

But it would be premature for Kumari Selja, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik or any other Dalit leader to start daydreaming. The proverbial slip between the cup and the lip happens too often in the Congress.

Speaking of Dalit leaders, Rahul Gandhi acolyte Ashok Tanwar may be justified in asking: If you can consider Shinde and Wasnik, why not me? After all, Tanwar has presided over the decimation of the Congress in Haryana — just as Shinde and Wasnik oversaw the exodus of Dalits from the Congress in Maharashtra, while sitting in their ministerial chambers in New Delhi.

Many party veterans don’t buy this Dalit-non-Dalit debate though and believe it to be a diversionary tactic. Their understanding is that Sonia Gandhi has set the eligibility criteria for candidates aspiring to succeed her son and that is the reason for the delay. After extensive discussions with Congress leaders, I have been able to collate the following five unwritten criteria for the next Congress president:

Criterion 1: Loyalty first to the First Family

No surprise here. In the Congress, loyalty to the first family is considered synonymous with that to the party. If a leader, at any point of time in future, must make a choice between the two, he mustn’t have any ambiguity. You can blame D.K. Barooah for seeding this idea but the family seems convinced that it is the Congress and the Congress is the Nehru-Gandhi family.

I have written about this earlier but must repeat it here to illustrate this point. During an interaction with reporters on a winter afternoon during the UPA 2 regime, a senior journalist had asked Rahul Gandhi that while his belief about the Congress being “an idea” and not just a party was fine, how did he hope that idea to prevail when there were no strong regional leaders to take the message to the grassroots? “You don’t need many people to convey the idea. Even one person can embody it. Didn’t (Jawaharlal) Nehru symbolise the Congress? You don’t need to go to jail to become that person…,” Rahul Gandhi had replied, clearly suggesting he himself personified the Congress. You may gasp in disbelief but that’s how the family thinks.

The Congress is full of D.K. Barooahs today but they must meet other criteria, too, to be eligible to succeed Rahul Gandhi.


Also read: Harsh criticism of Rahul Gandhi unjustified because Congress slide began in 1996


Criterion 2: Readiness to sacrifice

To step into Rahul Gandhi’s shoes, a leader must uphold what his family stands for: sacrifice. Indira and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives; Sonia Gandhi sacrificed prime ministership; and, Rahul Gandhi sacrificed “power” (Congress presidentship).

His successor, the ‘interim’ or ‘provisional’ Congress president, should be deeply imbued with this sense of ‘sacrificial’ tradition. The prefix is meant to convey clearly that it’s for a limited period — until the All India Congress Committee (AICC) elects a new president some time next year. Having made his point by giving up the ‘poison’ of power, Rahul Gandhi may decide to return at the helm after this interregnum. Else, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would be requested to take over the reins of the party to save it.

If, in 2020, Rahul decides to take a longer break and also continues to veto his sister’s elevation by arguing for a leader outside the family, the interim or provisional president may get to serve a full-fledged term or be replaced by another titular president. It’s difficult to predict for how long this interim arrangement will continue. One can, however, predict safely that one of the siblings would officially take over the reins of the party towards the end of 2023, well in time to be in the reckoning for the top job in 2024.

Criterion 3: Lack of ambitions in case of ‘young’ aspirants

What would you expect from a party that has been wringing its hands in despair and helplessness, seeing the youth follow Modi the Pied Piper? To field a young, educated, tech-savvy, articulate and resolute leader with sharp political reflexes, connect with the grassroots, and ears on the ground to lead the fight. There is no point judging the outgoing Congress president by these yardsticks now. But the Congress has options galore — Sachin Pilot (41), Deepender Hooda (41), Jitin Prasada (45), Jyotiraditya Scindia (48), Manish Tewari (53), and many, many more. They are all loyal, battle-hardened, and motivated leaders who can fight it out on the streets.

But, that’s precisely why they must stand disqualified. What if a Pilot or a Scindia were to rejuvenate the party and emerge as a national leader with mass appeal! What if the Congress were to win even one of the three states — Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand — under the leadership of a Hooda! The party rank and file would suddenly make a dash for the new leader whose ambitions may also start soaring then. Remember the case of Jagan Mohan Reddy, who thought he had the support of the masses to become the Andhra Pradesh chief minister after his father’s tragic death? He may be the chief minister today but not as a Congressman.


Also read: Rahul Gandhi must sort out professional ties with sister Priyanka — for Congress’ sake


Criterion 4: Lack of fire in case of veterans

The criteria for veteran Congress leaders are stiffer. For one, lack of ambitions, required for young aspirants, is applicable to veterans, too. To add to that, they must not be excited about power at the dusk of their political career, the way P.V. Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri were. Think of a Siddaramaiah, a Capt Amarinder Sigh, a Digvijaya Singh, or even a Bhupesh Baghel becoming the Congress president. They would hit the roads to galvanise the cadres, raise a stink against the ruling political rivals, and have their ears on the ground. They would know if people didn’t care a hoot about a defence (Rafale) deal and the questions raised by a tainted opposition when a Prime Minister was at the peak of his popularity. They would know that they should not talk about reviewing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and scrapping sedition laws when a strong, nationalist Prime Minister had just taught Pakistan a lesson. And they would be as ruthless as petty, and as diabolical in their politics as their political rivals, if not more.

In the past, 10, Janpath would have loved all of these from its veterans, who would still do it for the family and the party. But can they be trusted when the family’s chips are down? It’s a mighty call to take. Nonagenarians such as Motilal Vora meet this criterion but someone with the same attributes but a few years younger could be preferable.

Criterion 5: Belief in the Gandhian satyagrah to oust Modi

Last but not the least, a Congress presidential aspirant must have faith in the Gandhian satyagraha to get the better of the politics practised by two other fellow Gujaratis — Modi and Amit Shah. Rahul Gandhi espoused love and jhappi to counter Modi and his politics. His successor should also be equally patient and love-driven, not belligerent, no matter what Modi or Shah does and no matter how many Congressmen leave in frustration and disgust.

It’s definitely not easy to step into Rahul Gandhi’s shoes.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. To get away with sawarn jatiwadi party , the oligarchs under new India banner we Indians who cares for equality must support Congress in its revival , to get away for castiest and communal politics

  2. Do or don’t do
    There are number of Congressi loyalists faithful to the family that family would not find it difficult to find slightest disobedient , power hungry and brainless person to head it

  3. Let them make decisions of election of new congress’s president after plus three months. The young man with commitment make changes of old and established systems atleast.

  4. This party won’t be freed from the chains tied by that family. Congress means the Gandhis.If at all they elect or nominate a party president he/ she may be a dummy being operated by the remote control of that family.Now they are trying to highlight Mrs. Vadera, whose hands will grab the steering wheel of the party.And he will become the lone policy maker kicking away all others including the Gandhis. No leader with backbone. Why can’t some of the efficient leader’s break open the clutches of that family and save the party.Why should all be that family’s slaves?

  5. Aren’t you Fed up of this guy Rahul, his party’s unending facade about selecting a leader and all the rubbish…pl do not waste others time…

  6. This outdated party without linked to the common man will need decades, if at all to recover from the mess the Gandhi family and it’s bootlickers have created in the last decades. Let’s all wish them luck

  7. Then why the delay Sir?! Mallikarjuna Kharge meets all the first four demands overwhelmingly. Only about the last one, I am not very sure but I don’t think Sonia Gandhi or Congress would really give two hoots to Kharge’s faith in ideology of Mahatma Gandhi. This demand seems only for public consumption, isn’t it?

  8. By the criteria given above, almost all the old and young politicians in the khangress will not be eligible to become president. The only leftout is PIDI. PIDI is still lacking in one criteria which can be rectified. Show all old films if Mahatma Gandhi to PIDI and make it aware of gandhian principles and make it the president of khangress.

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